Well, why not?

Oprah Winfrey. Copyright 2009: Knut Skjærven.

Well, why not?

You probably didn’t think I had a picture of Oprah Winfrey. True, this morning I didn’t, but now I do. Just to remind you that absence can be turned into precence if you work on it. Please read this post and stay alert for more .

As I told you, Oprah Winfrey is in Copenhagen for the last push for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Chicago. Here leaving the lunch at the Royal Palace Amalienborg in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Yes, the Danish Queen was there too. In pink.

Go here for more images moving into precence .

Phenomenology: The Larger Picture.

Presence and Absence. Copyright 2009: Knut Skjærven

Following this blog you will agree with me that it stills needs a more practical approach to phenomenology. We need some tools that can be applied when doing, understanding and analyzing pieces of communication. Being it text or pictures or other.

Aspects of gestalt psychology have been pretty well covered in a number of posts. So have certain practical aspects of semiology. And there are plenty of useful information on both advertising efficiency and human behaviour, for readers that seek that kind information. (To be linked later).

The next series of posts will deal with a more practical approach to phenomenology. This is important since we have stated several times, already, that phenomenology takes up a special position within the barebones universe being both the basic of reflection as well as a particular area of investigation. Normally you refer to phenomenology as the method of phenomenology. The phenomenological method has been randomly covered by a series of posts taking it offset in the big book on phenomenology by late philosopher Herbert Spiegelberg. The big book being his The Phenomenological Movement. This however is by far not enough. Spiegelberg’s steps of phenomenology may be good, but not very practical.

Making the whole area more practical shall be very interesting since a similar effort had never been done before. Correct me if I am wrong here, but in my humble opinion this is the case. I am pretty sure that this effort have never been tried in anything that resembles a communication theory. So, it will be interesting to see what develops in the course of the future posts on barebones.

It is all in the photograph above. I call it Presence and Absence. There may be some presence, but there are certainly more absence. Let’s see, then,  if we can get more absence present.

Please take a note that this post is written the day before President Obama arrives for the IOC conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Michelle Obama arrived early yesterday and so did the Spanish King, The Brazilian President, and Oprah Winfrey. And many more celebrities doing a warm up of for the 2016 Olympics. Chicago Tribune calls it The Big Push. Friday all will be settled since the voter’s votes will have been cast. And all the presidents will leave.

What this last information has to do will phenomenology? Well, the facts are certainly there, aren’t they? And the celebrity information around IOC’s meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, is likewise missing from the picture above, right? That is precisely why this information belong to the photograph.

Confused? Just wait till you read the next post on phenomenology. That post will deal with presence and absence and everything will become clear to you .

Have a good morning.

………………………..

More posts in this section.

Library Thing.

Roland Barthes on Text and Image

I am going to continue a bit with Roland Barthes.

Not because his name is Roland Barthes, and since he already has made a name for himself within the broader field of communication. But for two other reasons. The first one being that the posts tagged “Barthes” seems to work pretty good on this blog, and secondly because he is central for the barebones themes in that he works with both verbal and visual communication.

A section in his famous article The Photographic Message is about Text and Image. Barebones want to make the points Barthes addresses, in that section, operational, and  show how they can be used both proactively when constructing a message e.g trying to communicate a thought, and reactively when deconstucting a message for e.g. analysis.

Barthes addresses three points in the combination of text and image. There are probably many more, but we will start with blog posts on these three:

1) Text as parasite to an image (post coming up)

2) Text as innocent to an image (post coming up)

3) Text as contradiction to an image (post coming up)

Even if the wording here is esoteric the content of what Barthes is saying is not that hard to grasp.

I will treat these three points/procedures in separate posts. Now you are warned. The separate posts on text and image will be linked to this introductory post.

And remember: reading blogs are not a substitute for reading books. And reading books are not a substitute for reading life. If you want to know more about Barthes, go get the book. If you want to know more about life, buy a camera.

You could start with the link below.

Library Thing. (Roland Barthes: Image, Music, Text, Fontana Press 1977, UK. Essays selected and translated by Stephen Heath).

For more posts on Roland Barthes go here.

The Light Enlightens

Pink Pathos (c).

I found this fantastic quote on a photo site recently. It says: “the light enlightens both the subject and the photographer”. Well, one can always hope. Some would call the quote an inventive phrase for “intentionality“.

Courtesy Federico Gentili. I picked the quote from his photosite.

And besides we had snow today. These Dutch tulips gives great aspirations of spring.

Barebones Orchid

I am a couple of posts behind schedule. I suggest you enjoy this photograph until next time.

By the way, have you ever wondered why some objects are seemingly better for visual communication, than others?

And another question that you may want to ask yourself; is there any causal relationship between what is beautiful, and what works in communication? I don’t have the answer, but maybe you have? Please give me a clue.

Have a good weekend.

Barebones Orchid (c).

The simple truth, however, behind this post is, in fact, that I am just trying to show off my new lens Hope you don’t mind. Barebones Communication is a very tolerant blog, it seems. The name of the lens,  that delivered this picture, is Zeiss Planar T* 1,4/50 mm ZE. So now you know. And besides, I am trying to pull some photographers to the blog.

Brief Tribute To A Red Car

 

Brief Tribute To A Red Car. Copyright 2008: Knut Skjærven.

 

Brief tribute to a red car.

Just  to remind you of  Roland Barthes’ connotation procedures.   His article from 1961 The Photographic Message tells the story. All but one, of his 6 procedures, have so far been treated on barebones. It you want to read the posts, you can start right at this page. Just follow the links.

1. Trick effects 

2. Pose 

3. Objects 

4. Photogenia 

5. Aestheticism 

6. Syntax 

Which reminds me that I have to write a post on his  ”syntax”, as well. Not forgotten. 

And while you are here: Don’t forget to listen to U2’s No Line On The Horizon. The reviews haven’t been all that good, but listen to it a couple of times and I am sure you’ll get over it. Let you cruise over the horizon, indeed. In a red car. In a masterpiece.

Best cruiser from the album is Moment of Surrender.

Good luck with it. 

Library Thing. (Roland Barthes: Image, Music, Text, pages 15-31, Fontana Press 1977, UK. Essays selected and translated by Stephen Heath)

Obvious Obtuse

Obvious Obtuse. Copyright 2009: Knut Skjærven.

Roland Barthes had another flamboyant  idea. Analysing stills from another great master, the Russian Serge Eisenstein, he lacked a word for the meaning that was bluntly there.  So he invented a label for that kind of meaning. He called it obtuse: the blunt meaning. You can read all about it in his essay “The Third Meaning”, or you can read a bit about how others interpret it, by following this link. The article on obtuse meaning was originally written in the French magazine Cahiers du cinéma in 1970.

As you clearly can see, the photograph above are embedded with obtuse meanings. Well, bluntly …. . You need to take a good look at the photograph, because as Barthes says, the obtuse meaning cannot be described. Good luck with it.

Picture shot at Lousiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark 2008.

On Hermeneutics: Strange Fruit.

Strange Fruit. Copyright 2009: Knut Skjærven.

I didn’t know I had this picture. Well, I knew that I might have a picture of a poster. I was testing some photographic gear, and this poster was positioned right outside the store. I wanted to check the sharpness on a fixed Canon 400 mm lens. At that time I had no idea that there was a little sticker attached to the poster. A sticker, that completely changes the message of the original poster. Brings in an unexpected layer of connotations.

It’s all about hermeneutics, and I will return to this post. Soon.

Now it is late. Too late. It ’s already the day after.

Eazyinternet – Master or Disaster.

No reason to make a short story painfully long.

It’s Sunday and I have just finished paging through the Sunday paper finding a 12 pages colourful insert from mobile operator 3. “It’s good to be 3″, they say.

Hey, I am in the marked for this product, whatever it is, so I better read the insert. Interest increasing as there is a picture of my almost new laptop on the front page: a silver shining and attractive MacBook. Or so I thought.

Reading the visual at the insert’s front page, there is a picture of the MacBook, and in the left, low corner a product shot of the mobile router that the insert is all about. Three downsized men in science fiction uniforms are placed  on the MacBook’s keyboard and watching a house take off into the air.

Main visual element is the MacBook, and the hand carrying it on its  fingertips. This hand is wearing a black glove, and you see that the person is wearing a black jacket. Gloves connote “lack of intimacy”. Black gloves connote, or is often a symbol for, “stealing” or “burglary”. Things that are not meant to be shown in the open. 

The black gloves are the carrying visual element in the rest of the insert, and that is what confuses me. What is the product involved here: an easy way to the internet, or is it an insert for a security firm having introduced a mobile security device preventing burglars to get away with my MacBook? Or the stuff on it. The most negative pictures are shown at pages 2 and 3 of the insert, where two pair of black gloves work on two Mac keyboards, strongly connoting that they are trespassing to forbidden information on the computers. 

For a time I really didn’t know what was the message was since the visuals were so confusing. The intention of the promotion seemed to be one, and the visual execution of that intent quite another. I had to read through the whole insert to find out about the product. The promotion have nothing to do with security. It is a promotion for an easy way to the internet using the 3 mobile router. 

Well, these guys could have fooled me.

I could run this insert thought the CET test to see how this promotion falls out, but I will not. It is not necessary, since the visual execution should  not have left the drawing table at the ad agency in the first place. You will only get bits and pieces of a proper CET analysis. The promotion fails on at least three checkpoints. Here they are.

1. One Unified Impression.

 Evaluation Scale: -3***-2***-1***0***+1***+2***+3

The is no unified impression in this promotion. It falls apart though a conflict between ease of mobile internet, and connotation of the black gloves.

I rate -3.

3. Visual and Verbal.

 Evaluation Scale: -3***-2***-1***0***+1***+2***+3

The text says one thing, and the visual quite another. No consistence between visuals and verbals.

I rate  -3.

4. The Simple Truth.

 Evaluation Scale: -3***-2***-1***0***+1***+2***+3

Is this is a simple, easy to understand promotion? No, it is not. First and overall impression is that this piece of communication could have be done much better by being less complicated. and with fewer conflicting connotations.

I rate -2.

Since the idea is that if only one of the checkpoint in the CET checklist is rated below zero, the advertising/promotion in question is up for revision. Back to the drawing table or to the brainstorming room. This promotion from mobile internet from 3, you might even have to take a step further back.

Conclusion:

Not good, not good at all.

The 3 company has probably one of the best products for mobile internet on the market(s). Certainly their market penetration is an indication of that. They have even won several prizes for their technological solution. You really have to work hard to destroy these advantages. Promotion for their, seemingly excellent product, is from this position, no rocket science. No need to do this more complicated, and less straight forward, than it ought to be.

In the promotion, the 12 pages insert in a Danish newspaper, the company certainly do their best to camouflage their advantages. There is a severe clash between intended message, and executed message. Or more academically phrases: connotations conflicts, gestalt closure are obscure and might  be conflicting as well. Expected intentionalities are not met.

You know what? Take a closer look at the front page of the insert, if you get a chance to it. I am sure that it exist in several languages on several markets. The guys on the MacBook keyboard wear gloves. White gloves.

Let me finally excuse, on this visual blog, that I am not able to show you any pictures of the insert. If I could find who the agency was, I would have asked them for permission to use an illustration. This Sunday morning. But I have no idea. Probably a larger international agency.  The insert bears all the marks of an adaption.

In a proper handshake, anyway, I would never wear gloves. And the MacBook on the insert front page is not the new model. Might even be a MacBookPro. Old version.

you need to be able to cut through soft tissue to get to the bare bones

I have been told, off blog, that the barebones communication blog is difficult. So, I am going to deal with that in this post.

Do I agree that this blog is difficult? Yes, in certain respects I do. I takes a portion of work to grasp the content of the terms used on the blog. For instance terms like denotation, connotation, phenomenology, gestalt psychology, and the like. None of these are self explaining, and my task is only to point to  the “headlines” of these areas. You need to do the real hard work here by following the links suggested and elaborate and expand on the “headlines”.

But is it well worth the effort, in my humble opinion. That is if you have any intention at all of understanding the basic stuff about how communication works, and how pretty simple tools, in a short time, can make you a better analyst of acts of communication e.g pictures, other images, texts, et cetera, and constructer of such acts – writing a text, taking a picture, composing an add, et cetera.

That said, I will also argue that the understanding of the content of the this blog it not at all difficult once you grab the structure of the blog and the reasons why for this structure. But you have work with it, and do your training as we all do. This is the reason why one of the themes on the blog is simple notebook post: I set the stage and you are asked to act it out.

The blog project is not very different from what you find in other areas of serious work within an area. Within any area, in fact, if you want to do it right or at least try do to it right. Take the surgeon that are to operate on living persons. Could be on your own body. Or mine. I would very much appreciate, thank you,  that he had the proper education, and clinical training, before he started swinging his knife on my tissue. It does not really bother me that part of his training has been digging into dead meat of human bodies to acquire that expertise. He knows (or some do at least) beforehand where the heart is, and how it works; he know how my lungs function, and how they work; he are able to distinguish one leg from the other. In other words; I expect him to know his craft and do the right thing when I am laying there flat out on the table.

It is not very different from you you should expect from a communication craftsman: he should know what he is doing.

So here is what my intentions are in this post.

1. I will list some reasons why this blog probably could be considered difficult.

2. I will, once more, explain the structure of the blog, and the reasons why.

3. I will argue why this blog, then, is not at all difficult to follow or to grasp.

4. I will argue that you need to do your homework, PARTICULARLY, if you are in the communication business.

Here we go then:

1. Reasons why this blog probably could be considered difficult.

The reasons are obvious:

1.1 The blog uses uncommon words.

I am sure that many find terms like denotation, connotation, gestalt factors, phenomenology, semiology rather uncommon in a blog on operational communication. The reasons for this is that these terms mostly are know from academic circles and seldom are used for operational purposes. I don’t understand why, but this seems to the way it is.

It is my opinion that “terms terminate”. By this I mean, that if you don’t know the term and are able to use it you will not understand the “problem” that it suggests or describes. I would, for instance, have a hard time explaining, and even look for connotations in a photograph, a text or a speech without knowing the word “connotation”. So, without the “right” words my consciousness and horizon of understanding are limited.

And so are yours.

Terms terminate, but  they also expand. That is the crucial point here. More differentiated words, more opportunities for interpretation and understanding. And in communication you are better off the more you have. You simply get new ways of looking at, and grasping things.

1.2 The blog uses scientific resources that are not among the most common.

Yes it does. Some of the resources that this blogs draws on, are simply originally written in such a language that you will find it a nightmare. This particularly goes for the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl. So, if you are not really interested, and have a lifetime to invest it is a good thing to stick to clever interpretations. You can uses Husserl for more special research if that it what you aim at.

Besides, did some of his writing are still unpublished, you you will have a hard time knowing what Husserl “really meant”. And there are schools of interpretations, as well. The good thing is that Husserl urges you do do you own phenomenological investigations, and that is really what phenomenology is all about: Doing your own thing bases on a/the phenomenological method, which of course require that you know the basics.

1.3 The blog combines there words and resources in a way that is new and original.

It does not make it easier that barebones communications tries to combine resources from quite different quarters, does it? There is, you might think, a long way from Ogilvy to Barthes, but they both have that in common that they seriously try to master parts of communication. They do even better doing so hand in hand. Ogilvy tries to master the art of advertising, Barthes tries to master the art of photographs.

It just so happens that photographs constitute a large part of most advertising, so Ogilvy benefits from Barthes. And the other way around. Who was it, by the way, who said about creative advertising people, that we have a lot of knowledge about what work and do not work in advertising? That was David Ogilvy many years ago, and his statement still stands. More so than ever. And he continued: creative people must learn to use that knowledge.

Good communication walk on three legs: creativity, experience and science. Pity so often this seems to be forgotten.

1.4 The blog combines resources with themes.

It is important that you distinguish resources from themes. Resources are where the things come from, themes are how they are treated in this blog. Resources are pretty fixed, but themes can change. I can e.g. chose to have resources materialise in more themes later on. For the moment, however, resources and themes are pretty congruent apart from the fact the notebook, and pitstop posts are not connected to any resources in particular. 

I realise, that this does not exactly make the intuitive reading and the understanding of the blog more easy. But now you know, and once you have adapted to it, it should not be too burdensome.

1.5 The blog used open ended techniques. 

Yes, definitely, it would be nice if every question had a fixed answer, and every challenge had the same solution? (Un)fortunately not so. If you work with the human sciences, or with human issues like communication, you need to get to terms with ambiguity. Therefore, barebones communication, often uses an open ended structure. Questions are asked, issues indicated, but you will not necessarily find an answer to the question, or a closure to the indication. 

If you have looking for definite answers, you are probably reading the wrong blog. Bare bones are more than one.

Handling an area with this kind of human uncertainty can pose a severe problem for many. On the other hand, being able to ask the right questions takes you more than half way to a reasonable answer. Think about.

I am sorry about this, but this uncertainty is part of the human predicament.. But, of course, some answers are better than others, but you need to bring the answer yourself. You need to get used to open ended processes. Troublesome, eh? Only make sure, that you join the process coming forward with the best and most reasonable “answers” . Science, experience and brilliant ideas are good pals in this process. Getting you closer to the truth.

Is there any reason, you think, that this blog should not reflect this human predicament?

1.6 The blog uses an indirect language.

There is a gap between how good, efficient advertising work and the way of this blog. Reason why? This blog is not an add and you don’t want to value it on the same principles.

I use a good portion of indirect language, for instance in  the heading of this post. Could this have been done otherwise, to promote a quicker understanding of the points in question? Yes, I think it could.

I could definitely, have used a more direct language, but that would have eliminated what for me is one of the more interesting parts of communication: the human predicament (once more), and the excitement of not knowing exactly where you end up when you go out for a walk There is also the teasing part of indirect language, that I enjoy. Sorry, my human predicament. Add to that a general fascination with what you can do with language.

Combine these things, and it definitely does not make thing easier. I admit.

1.7 The unfolding of themes, and resources do not come in a chronological order.

The  posts belonging to specific themes are not presented in a chronological order. First of all this a matter of convenience for me writing them. I don’t have to stick to a theme, but can load posts from different themes along the way. Hoping that I can glue posts to a specific theme by tagging them properly. Using this style I am able to “multitask” several themes at the same time.

I am well aware that this process is demanding for the reader, who have to pull in some extra weight to find our what is going on the barebones blog.

And besides this is a blog and not a book. The former is a lot more flexible than the latter. It also gives me the opportunity to go back and correct language as well as to make adjustments to whole posts, or series of posts, which for me is a good thing, as I sometimes post drafts later to be corrected.

The are plenty of places where you can pick up the themes if you want to read theme posts in continuity. Use the tag cloud, or one of the shortcuts to themes that the blog offers. Here is one window that you can use.

1.8 You, as a blog reader, are asked to take part in the unfolding of the blog.

It is, of course, deliberately that I ask the blog reader to do some thinking of their own. Who knows, it might come in handy some day .

Two of the themes are barebones notebook, and barebones pitstops. The notebook themes simply asks the reader to participate in more or less simple exercises bases on one or more blog posts. The pitstops are much more tricky since they simply bring you a quote and you have, as a reader, to elaborate on that on your own. The first one is pretty easy, the latter rather difficult if you are not used to abstract thinking. 

Is simply ask you to find your own way. A challenge not unknown from the real world.

You’ll find examples on both notebook exercises, and pistops by hitting the proper tags in the tag cloud. Go for it.

1.9 The blog is thematically unfolding as it goes along.

Yes, this is true, and I am not unaware that this might be an issue of some disturbance too.

From the start I had no clear idea of how this blog was going to develop. Let me rephrase this: maybe I had a more or less clear idea where I wanted to end up with the barebones blog, but not in such a way that I beforehand had a plan for what stones I has to step along the way. I still am not able to map future stepping stones.

Why is this? Well, having a precise agenda for each post would be asking me to complete the book before I ventured on the blog. I could have done that, but given such a task  I am quite sure that we would not even have a blog on barebones communication today. And certainly not a book. Working with an open end like this, means that we at least have a barebones communication blog under construction. For what that is worth.

The blog format suits me well. I can do bits and pieces whenever I want to or feel like it. And the order of theme posts could be “random” as long as I string themes together by tagging each post properly. For me this a a grand way of publishing.

So then, I am very exited to see where this blog ends up. Who knows, there might even be a book . Some day.

2.0 The blog  uses photographs to illustrate themes, resources and arguments.

At first I had picture in the posts simply because I have pictures. Lots of them. And to escape the monotony of the mere written word, I thoughts I could put them to some use here.

Along the way it ocurred to me that I could use the photographs in a more clever way than as mere illustrations to break the monotony of the text (and the blog visuals). As a picture speaks a thousand words I thought I could use them more intelligently and even cut down on some of the words. So, that us what I tried to do. I see now that this blog could hardly have been done without the pictures. Particularly in the posts that talks about visuals. I hope I succeeded with this.

On the other hand, I know that some people simply don’t have the ability to read pictures. They don’t intuitively see a composition, the don’t see colours or colour casts, and they have basically no idea if a picture is a well composed and precise message, or not. For people that are not good readers of pictures, the use of pictures in this blog might come as an obstacle for understanding. 

I am sorry if this is the case for some, but there is really not much I can do about it.

(This post is to be continued … The title may even change along the way . In the mean time please take a good look at the picture below, and try to figure out how it works in terms of barebones themes and/or resources. Elaborate on what the two people really are checking in this picture? Using the barebones toolbox, I would look for connotations in the shot, and gestalt closure. You could also elaborate on how well the shot communicate in terms of One Unified Impression. Just as a starter).

CheckPoint Charlie, Berlin 2006. Copyright Knut Skjærven.