Seeing Surrogacy: Digital Image Quality & Student Visual Literacy

  • Amy Lazet College for Creative Studies
Keywords: digital image quality, digitization artifacts, digital surrogates, art students, survey, surrogacy

Abstract

This paper expands upon a survey administered to undergraduate art students at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. The survey sought to ascertain if students notice digitization artifacts within digital images and if they can discern whether the flaws are part of the digitization process or inherent in the original. Results from this study indicate that students do not have the training or skills to be able to discern this, and those working within visual resources would benefit from replacing poor quality images with more accurate surrogates of the original. The results of this survey were discussed in a presentation at the Visual Resources Association’s 2019 Annual Conference in Los Angeles.

Author Biography

Amy Lazet, College for Creative Studies

Amy Lazet is the Digital Scholarship Specialist at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. She has a BA in Art History and Visual Culture from Michigan State University and a Master of Science in Information focusing on preservation of digital information from the University of Michigan. She is also the Production Editor of the Visual Resources Association Bulletin.

Published
2020-08-14
Section
Feature Articles