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visual basic visual

In a column for the newspaper El Mercurio (Santiago de Chile, 19-09-2009), Peter Gandolfo writes:

" A visually literate person is when, first, knows a part of the legacy of images that Western art has been created to date. Even more, we should require, in our mixed character, that knowledge extends to the basic iconography Pre-Columbian American peoples. Knowing implies, very primary, "have seen" and, secondly, be able to identify the author (individual or collective) and place it in its historical and cultural context. "

may wonder whether this concept of" visual literacy "is correct.
Let us to do so by the definitions, using the dictionary of the Royal Academy English Language:

illiteracy (illiterate)
1. m. Lack of elementary education in a country, inter alia the number of its citizens who can not read.
2. m. The quality of being illiterate.
Illiterate
1. adj. You can not read or write.
2. adj. ignorant, uneducated, or profane in any discipline.

Thus, being illiterate is not read or write or be ignorant in this case in terms of visual expression. But it is clear that everyone (or almost) is able to "read" visual images and, thanks to digital cameras today, many are those who can "write." Is this enough or should take Gandolfo requirements?
In fact, Gandolfo focuses on a particular kind of visual literacy: that of Western culture and local culture. But there are other forms or levels:

• basic or elementary level, any person gifted with vision and mental processing capacity is capable of recognizing and categorizing shapes, although the final allocation of meaning can vary according to culture
• advanced level: mastery of the rules of expression, which are those stated above

Between the two is the level to which it refers Gandolfo. We have discussed extensively in this blog (especially its first chapters) with respect to the advanced level. In a next installment will discuss the key aspects of the baseline. We propose here a little quiz to test our "cultural literacy." See if you can identify the icons that follows (answers below).

Western culture

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Columbian Culture

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15.	16.
Western 1. Code of Hammurabi (Mesopotamia) 2. Pyramid and Sphinx of Giza (Egypt) 3. Apollo Belvedere (Greece) 4. Colosseum (Rome) 5. Hagia Sophia (Istanbul, Byzantine) 6. Notre Dame de Paris (French Gothic) 7. La Pieta, Michelangelo (Italian Renaissance or "Cinquecento") 8. The Mystic Lamb, of Hubert Van Eyck (Flemish painting, Renaissance) 9. The Surrender of Breda, Velázquez (English Baroque) 10. Bal au Moulin de la Galette by Auguste Renoir (Impressionism French)	Columbian 11. Onservatorio of Chichen Itza (Mexico, Classic Maya, ages III to X) 12. Aztec calendar (Mexico, XIV to XVI centuries) 13. Sacsayhuaman (Cuzco, Inca, 1200-1535 AD) (course Machu Picchu is better known) 14. Puerta del Sol, Tiwanaku (Bolivia, 1,500 BC or more) 15. Petroglyph Atacama (Chile, 400-700 AD) 16. Jarro Diaguita (Chile, 900-1500 AD)