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Vicki Bennett presents the uses and abuses of visual imagery in scholarly publications. She contends that there are four basic types of images: the raison d'etre of the manuscript, the crucial element of research findings supported by textual evidence, the insightful supplement to the text, and the decorative addition to the text. Bennett suggests, however, that all too often authors fail to provide publishers with imagery that is of appropriate quality for reproduction or neglect to secure the necessary permissions to reproduce the material. Imagery must be treated with the same respect that scholars accord to text, and that responsibility falls to the authors.
A substantial quantity of the material that shapes our thoughts and informs our opinions is received through visual imagery. However, while considerable discussion has been devoted to the augmentation of global literacy, proportionately less notice has been extended to the increased usage and mobility of imagery. It is widely acknowledged that people have transmitted ideas and learning through visual media for millennia, but it is only over the course of the last century and with the augmented physical and virtual mobility of the global population that imagery has swept into the daily lives of millions, if not billions, on a level unequalled in the history of humanity. Visual imagery can be an effective medium for conveying knowledge, and as such it is as valid as the written text and can function as an important - if not vital - component of a scholarly publication. This discussion will focus not so much on the philosophical aspects of image-validity as on issues related to the viability of imagery submitted for scholarly publication.(f.1)
The term 'visual imagery' will be used instead of 'art' for two reasons:
1. The term 'visual imagery' encompasses a wider scope of ideomorphic material than the term 'art.' When using the broader term 'visual imagery,' priority is placed on the ability of an image to carry and transmit information. What is understood by imagery or visual imagery in the context of this discussion is not a qualitative commodity that depends on its ability to appeal to the emotions of the viewer, but a message written with imagery - an iconograph.
2. The term 'art' is overly dependent on values...