The global reach of visual communication: Pitfalls and potentials

Today's digital, social communication technologies allow us to span physical boundaries in just seconds and with wide reach. In technical and professional communication, much of what is communicated digitally is done with visuals: icons, photographs, videos, and drawings. Visual communication is often considered to be more universally accessible than plain text, and while this consideration is true to some extent, all visual forms have cultural connotations. With the continued shift of technical and professional communication toward digital environments, and with such environments favoring the visual, this panel explores three cases of specific venues of visual communication and their impacts on global communication practices. These cases provide examples of the cultural implications of visual communication in global, digital settings; all three presentations offer practical advice for using the material in the teaching of technical and professional communication courses.