barebones communication

Are these the bare bones? 

Yes, they certainly are. These are the bare bones of an ostrich. The struthio camelus is the largest living bird in the world. Originates in Africa. But it can’t fly, can it? It runs fast, though.

An “ostrich” is also the label of a person who refuses to face reality and accept facts. And a way to get your head chopped off if you are not careful as a photographer.

But is it even a photograph of the barebones bare bones? Well, we’ll see about that  In a while. Right now I am in the process of preparing a couple of posts on what I have, so far, labeled the notebook on phenomenology. You will be amazed how useful phenomenology is for understanding communication. And using it.

And here are some tasks for you to engage in - while you wait. Please elaborate on

a) parts and wholes in the picture

b) identity in manifolds

c) presence and absence 

And by the way, what are the connotations of this picture (semiology)? And how would you mentally close it (gestalt closure)? So all at once we speak of semiology, gestalt psychology and phenomenogy within the same universe. As a combined instrument of understanding communication. And for doing it.

Unless you want to bury your head in the sand that is (The context begged for this one, sorry).

Good luck with it.

I’ll be back

 Ostrich shot by the blog author.

Sorry, folks.

I have been away for a while, but hopefully I will be able to make some more substantial posts to the blog during the weekend. In the meantime, please take a good look at this picture.

Denotations could be describes as; man, sitting man, white pants, beer on table, table, motion blur, etcetera. Connotations could be described with these words; loneliness or solitude.

And here comes the question for you to elaborate on: if you were to describe a closure of this scene, what would it be?  

Please note how a title will lead your reading of a visual like this photograph. I call the picture Soul Salvation. The title could also have been Waiting For His Girl Friend, and all of a sudden there is more hope and positive anticipation connoted in the picture. 

In other words, connotations in visuals are influenced by text context. Here the title.

And of course, the opposite will be true as well: the content of a sentence is influences by visual context.

Not such a bad picture, eh? Wonder how it is done?

More on barebones notebook.   

Hi there

I am sure that this picture is pretty easy to decompose in terms of gestalt factors. Proximity and similarity could be some of the factors used for such a decomposition.

But, are there other striking features in this image that you would like to point to? That makes you want to take a closer look?

Be my guest :-) 

More on barebones notebook.   

It is late Saturday the last weekend of January 2008.

And I really think that Wertheimer would have loved this one too. I am sure Barthes would.

Reasons why? You tell me . Go here. 

BTW, this is shot outside Hotel Churchill in Dover, UK, April 2007. There is a tiny beach there.

It is really good that I have all these pictures, right . Since they all speak more than a thousands words.

Each.

Well I enjoy it, and if you too participate in the initial stages of the barebones community building, you will as well .

So here is another notebook brief for you. The white bus in Berlin. Shot this August.

I could ask you how this fit will a couple of gestalt factors, but that would be too easy. Obviously both proximity and similarity are at work here, as the two most dominant factors. Nearness and similarity of objects have me perceive this picture as a picture of two groups of people (not six individuals): one group upstairs and another group downstairs.

Let’s however make this notebook brief a bit more interesting by pointing to two levels of closure potent in the image. Do you remember, that I talked about a physical closure and a mental closure in the post on gestalt closure.

Closure is, in a quick word, the human capacity to perceive a bit more than you actually get. The whole is more than the sum of its physically given parts.  This is the gestalt basic.

Now, the picture that you find in this post is a pretty complete one. There are no blank spots or areas. Things that you need to fill in to comprehend them. You should be able to recognize, at first glance, what the picture is all about.

On the other hand, there are still things “missing” in the picture. Let me point to a few:  you don’t see the bodies of the talking heads on the bus, and you don’t see the whole bus. Yet, that is what you perceive; people with intact bodies, and a bus that will certainly drive away if the driver tends to it.  Your are not in doubt about these things.

So for reason that will be clear in future posts, I will introduce two additional layers within the closure concept. These are layers 2 and 3 below.

1) Closure, as the capacity to mentally close figures where visual information is actually lacking (as in the example with the dog in the blog post on closure). This is the gestalt original. 

Then, let me add some layers to this: 

2) Closure, as the capacity to mentally close figures where the visual information is actually hidden or cropped away (as the bodies of the talking heads or the parts of the bus that are not actually there).

3) Closure, as the capacity to mentally elaborate on the context of the actual visual stimuli. You clearly have a notion of what these people are doing on that bus, don’t you? And you have an idea of how they are going to spend the next hours, haven’t you? You even may have an idea of why these guys are in Berlin in the first place? How will you close this open context and continue the story?

It does not really matter how you close it. The important thing is that you have the ability to close it. Any way you want . Remember the last pitstop. I do .

So much for the nostalgische rundfahrt, apart from that tiny, but important thing, that what I just did was to link a gestalt factor to that popular idea of telling a story, as a communication means.  That passport to success, would you believe it? I think they call it storytelling, right? .

I also introduced another gestalt factor: the factor of experience or habit. 

More on this later, so stay tuned to a barebones blog near you.

And, sorry for taking all the notes myself.  I will make up for it .

Both gestalt proximity, and gestalt similarity works well here.

I would suggest, that this image would probably be perceived as two groups of two people each. Not as four separate people in a picture.

What other gestalt “tricks” have been engaged here? Can you figure that out? If any? I am sure you have an answer.

Good luck with it . 

More on barebones notebook. 

Gosh, I must have been preparing for the barebones for many years already .

Since I have all these pictures that seem to fit the theme.

I just loaded a post on gestalt direction, and while writing I had this picture in my mind all the time. And I left it for you, even if it would have been much easier for me to comment on, than the two pictures I included in the post.

So, now it is your turn. Take a crack at it, and tell yourself how this picture illustrates The Factor of Direction.  Don’t post a comment for everybody to read unless your are absolutely sure that you want to mingle with the rest of the world. Must easier to stay Web 1.0 . Right?

One photograph coming up. Max Wertheimer would have loved it .

More on barebones notebook. 

Good luck with it . 

Hi, you may want to take some mental notes here.

I am almost sure you have seen this master performance already, but if not; please enjoy.

Even if you have seen it, try engaging your left brain capacity, and figure out some reasons why this works so well. You could use the gestalt factors, and other things from the barebones toolbox.

Here you go - to youtube.

Another barebones brief. For your barebones notebook. Just to make sure that we reach an all time high on the blog even today .

Take a look at the picture below, and figure out why the two persons are linked, or grouped. There are lots of reasons, and you should be able to come up with at least 3 of them on the fly. If you are good, then 4.  All 4 are pretty obvious. 

Use the gestalt factors already given. Go to the tag cloud and read about them. Hit gestalt factors in the tag cloud.

If you feel for it, then communicate your thoughts as comments to this post, which I am sure you will not. Nevertheless, I have opened the blog for comments from today.

Shot in Arles France, 2002. 

This is the first brief for your barebones notebook.  Some of the things, that you will work with, are images. 

In the beginning, I will have the privilege of briefing, and you will, if you want to, have the privilege of elaborating on the task. We might turn that around at a later stage. In fact, I can promise, that we will do just that. You will do the briefing, and I will do the labor.

The barebones briefs go into your barebones notebook.  Go for the tag notebook in the tag cloud, and they will emerge. Eventually.

For resources you could go here, or simply to the tag (in the tag cloud) named gestalt psychology.

If you would like to communicate your notebook results, please do that as comments to this post. If you don’t want to communicate your notes, please don’t.

The brief is beneath the picture.

Picture shot in Arles, France, 2002. 

Barebones Brief:

Please comment on the denotations and connotations in this image. What are the denotative elements, and suggest what connotations they carry? Are there any gestalt factors, that you find striking here? How are they used?

If you would like to communicate your notes, please do that as comments to this post.

Good luck with it .