Legal and Accessibility Aspects

Creating a web page addressing legal and accessibility issues

Learning Objectives

After completing this module it is expected that learners can:

  • Examine the values and importance of studying art by citing at least 3 reasons for studying it

  • Accurately apply at least 3 elements and all principles of art and design through hands-on application projects

  • Deconstruct works of art by applying Feldman's method and correctly using at least 3 visual elements and principles in your analyses

Content

Overview

Lesson 1 introduces you to the world of art by first examining the importance of studying art. In this module, the overall goal is to learn to apply visual language in formal analyses of works of art.
We will cover the following topics in this module:

  • Why study art?

  • What are the elements of art and design?

  • What are the principles of art and design?

  • What is the Feldman method of critiquing art?

Learning Activities

  • Lesson 1-1: After viewing a video about Why Study Art?, post a brief reflection on the discussion board citing at least 3 reasons for why you think it is important to study art. You will respond to at least 3 classmates' posts.

  • Lesson 1-2: As you work through the learning resources about the Elements and Principles of Art and Design, you will complete self quizzes (ungraded) and submit 2 studio projects.

  • Lesson 1-3: After reading about the Feldman's method of art criticism, you will analyze one work of art following Feldman's first 2 steps (although you can try steps 3 and 4 as well), which will involve the use of visual elements and principles that you encountered in Lesson 1-2.

Readings and Multimedia Resources

Copyright notice: All the readings, images, websites, and resources in this course are cited within the syllabus and materials in lessons are based on the copyright policy. When copyright is required, the instructor has contacted the copyright owner for permission. Images used in this course are cited with a link to the source website. Images that are not cited are created by the instructor. Please contact the instructor if you have any questions about the copyright and ownership of materials presented in this course.

Lesson 1-1: Why Study Art?

Why look at art? This Smarthistory video by Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker presents perspectives from various educators and museum professionals on the importance of looking at art. (© Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker, Smarthistory, 2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OloYD_kSbU

Lesson 1-2: Elements and Principles of Art and Design

Elements of Art playlist. This playlist of KQED Art School's videos introduces you to the visual elements: Line, Shape, Form, Texture, Value, Color, and Space. [URL link]

Principles of Design. This video, hosted by Elizabeth Jewell, presents the design principles: Balance, Proportion, Emphasis, Contrast, Pattern, Repetition, Movement, Rhythm, and Unity. (© KET 2014) [URL link]

Here are two additional resources about the Principles of Art and Design:

  1. The Getty institution's site provides a one-page PDF document titled the "Principles of Design" that is useful in reviewing the concepts you encountered. [URL link]

  2. This link provides a visual representation, titled "The 6 Principles of Design" and created by FOLO, of the the concepts discussed. [URL link]

Lesson 1-3: Feldman's Method of Art Criticism

Looking at Art. Section A of this Museum-Ed web page for museum educators provide information and outline for Edmund Burke Feldman’s aesthetic criticism. (© 2017 Museum-Ed) [URL link]

Here are two image Collections that you can use for your art analyses assignment:

  1. The Getty's Open Content Program [URL link]. The Getty Search Gateway allows you to browse and search for art and other content in the Getty's collection. Any image that is part of the institution's Open Content Program, will have a download link. These open content images can be used for any purpose without first seeking permission from the Getty, but please use the following source credit for any image you use: Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program.

  2. Metropolitan Museum of Art's Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC) [URL link]. This search page for the Met's collection allows you to search and browse for art images that can be downloaded or linked for scholarly purposes. Credit line information is provided and should be included with any image you use.

References

​The 6 Principles of Design. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2017, from http://visual.ly/6-principles-design

Elements of Art. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiOil1qP-cMURN_8baOr3QWfySmIjqKIj

Getty Search Gateway. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2017, from http://search.getty.edu/gateway/search?q=&cat=highlight&f=%22Open%2BContent%2BImages%22&rows=10&srt=a&dir=s&pg=1

Harris, B., & Zucker, S. (2015, December 31). Why look at art? Retrieved January 29, 2017, from http://smarthistory.org/why-look-at-art/

Jewell, E. (n.d.). Principles of Design. Retrieved January 29, 2017, from http://ny.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/459077ac-6d7d-4eef-bd7e-e38d12e7ce97/principals-of-design/

Looking at Art. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2017, from http://museum-ed.org/looking-at-art/

The MET Collection. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2017, from http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection

Principles of Design [PDF]. (2011). Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum. Retrieved January 29, 2017, from http://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/building_lessons/principles_design.pdf

Notes

Addressing legal issues

All the readings, images, websites, and resources in this module are based on the copyright policy. I chose to include the materials that I did because not only were they engaging, relevant, and accurate/scholarly, but they also will help learners meet the lesson's and course's objectives, can be linked and used by instructors and students (no permissions issues), and also meet accessibility requirements.

All materials are linked or embedded (if permitted for non-commercial use) wherever possible. When I checked terms of use for the materials included, majority have the Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike 4.0 license, which allows users to share (copy and redistribute any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material). None of the materials provided required written permission. For the Principles of Design video from KET, the site specifically states that permitted use includes streaming, downloading, sharing and modification. If authorship is clearly stated, credit information is provided as well just so learners has all the source information to the resource or reference.

No images are currently included on this page, but in other modules or in assignments, I plan to use open source ones such as the ones in the Getty and Met collections I provided in the references section for learners, and I would include proper source credit. Any other images or illustrations used in the course would be my own.

Addressing accessibility issues

For better contrast between text color and the background, I used a dark purple color and black text on white background throughout. None of the font size is less than 12 pt with the exception of the copyright notice because 10pt may be too small to read on the screen (which is what I have here in this section on addressing accessibility issues), and everything is in one-column format, avoiding unnecessary tables. I also tried to be concise in my prose as much as I can (for a screen reader) while offering enough details for learners to know what tasks they need to accomplish.

For linked and embedded videos, I checked that synchronized closed captioning is provided for any learner that may need it or prefer to have it. And for all learning resources (readings and multimedia), I provided titles and brief text-only introductions. Text-only descriptions are also given for references.

For web links provided as learning resources, I used WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool (http://wave.webaim.org/). External links to some very good scholarly sites, readings and resources prove to be difficult to include because most have accessibility issues such as missing alt descriptions or unclear heading labels, and so on. These are issues that can be problematic for learners using screen readers.

For example I had to pass on using this article posted by Tate on Khan Academy's site about the importance of art, which would have be nice to include especially to help with the discussion post reflections and conversations. But this article's site had too many errors and issues according to the accessibility evaluation tool to benefit all learners.

If this course were given at an institution with licensed access to a scholarly database, then I would find and include some good articles as text-only resources balanced with some visual resources that provide clear reading structure and alt descriptions.

I did include some links that had issues such as a missing alt description because I determined that the images missing descriptions are merely decorative elements that are not necessary for a learner to know in order to understand the article and meet course-critical objectives. As long as a screen reader can read everything in the right order and present all the necessary information for a learner to follow the resource as any learner would, then I kept it.

I also kept this one link under references even though alt descriptions are not available for the images because this link or material is meant to be an alternative resource for a visual learner who may need another path or method to better understand the concepts. The video in Lesson 1-2 serves as the primary learning resource to meet this lesson or module's learning objectives.

I also encountered some issues with linking to online sites or sources that incorporate videos, PDFs, and other elements within the web page that are not accessible. For example, I really wanted to use Michelle Zimmerman's tutorial on How to Critique a Work of Art, which presents Feldman's four-step critical method through use of examples, worksheet, and videos; however, the worksheet may not be accessed, and the videos are not captioned.

When it comes to assessments, such as the self-quizzes, not included in this page, I would want to use an authoring system that allows for keyboard navigation, and would include alt descriptions for images.