Thanks for posting this content. We are taking some baby steps at our church in vis-comm and your 7- (no, 6-)part presentation was both affirming and indicting as to where we currently are in that journey.

Being a multi-generational church family, one thing I really want to discern from the King is how to speak the visual language that is native to the 20-somethings while still connecting with the 70-somethings. If you guys have any posts or resources that hit on this, I would love to see them.

Thanks for burning the Midnight Oil and making your work available.

As far as software, there are a lot of options. Free (e.g., Easislides) as well as pay (Easy Worship, MediaShout, Song Show Plus, etc.). Each has strengths and weaknesses, so it’s best to try them out and see what works best for you.

Thanks for your post. We agree that your five part typology is apropos, and that it is foolish to generalize on how people interpret visual images. We would strongly disagree with your citation from 1983. We’d also argue that a lot has happened since then.

It could be argued, as it has been in some of the texts we use in our class, that the strength, and weakness, of image is its ambiguity–its ability to allow multiple meanings, which is a very different characteristic than that of the printed word, which excels in and suffers from its ability to facilitate detached analysis. In fact, this is part of what is coming in our next lecture.

We hope you’ll continue to bring your knowledge and experience to the discussion.

Having taught media development in an education context for 40 years (and having had to follow rigorous academic approaches to the issue of media and learning) I am a bit concerned about the conceptual framework within which visual communication needs to be explored.

In teaching approaches to the development of media-based materials for learning, I find it necessary to draw from five areas – Communication, Visual Communication, Theories of Learning, Instructional Design, and Attributes of the Media.

One of the most telling judgements on media in education arose in 1983 from research (a metanalysis of a large number of research papers) carried out by Richard Clark. He concluded that “Media no more facilitates learning than the grocery truck facilitates nutrition”. It was really a criticism of previous research in media and learning, but it highlighted the need for very serious consideration necessary for the use of media in education.

I think the use of media in church requires similar serious critical appraisal. Visual communication is only one of the aspects that needs to be explored. A lot of research has been carried out over the years and we need to be aware of that. Many people have a low level of visual literacy, and it is very difficult (in fact it is probably very foolish) to generalise on how people interpret visual images.

Questions I hope you’ll answer throughout the course:

What software is #1 easiest to use for the novice and #2 affordable.

If a picture is worth a thousand words where can we find the right pictures that are not copyrighted.

Thanks!

Keep up the Great Work and keep on teaching and informing the more mature christian worship leaders. I am always willing to learn new things to further the gospel of Jesus Christ.