Understanding Of Photographs Research Articles

Tangible Objects versus Digital Interfaces: Opportunities to Harness the Potential of Augmented Reality to Interact with Photographic Collections in Museums and Archives

The use of augmented reality (AR) as an immersive and interactive engagement tool for art and cultural institutions is increasing. AR, when used in a meaningful way, has shown great potential for discovery-based learning experiences. In this article, I consider the potential of AR for photographic collections in museums and archives by addressing two key questions: How can digital tools like AR serve to enhance our understanding of photographs as both object and image? What are the implications and limitations of this technology when used for this purpose?

Reinstatement of 2-year-olds' event memory using photographs

This experiment examined 24- and 30-month-olds' understanding of photographs as reminders using a deferred imitation paradigm. The 24- and 30-month-olds visited a laboratory playroom and observed an experimenter demonstrating novel activities. Upon returning after a retention interval, half of the children viewed photographs depicting the activities they had viewed during their first visits as reminders of the event, as well as photographs of activities they had never seen. Children in both the reminder and the no-reminder groups were then asked to complete the originally modelled activities as a test of recall. Results indicate that although 30-month-olds recalled more activities than did 24-month-olds, children in the reminder condition at both ages recalled more activities than children in the no-reminder control condition. Results are discussed in terms of the development of representational understanding and long-term recall in young children.

Children's knowledge of photography: A study of the developing awareness of a representational medium

This study concerns children's understanding of photographs. The findings suggest that children's comprehension of photographs is not limited to recognizing depicted content but in addition involves an awareness of the specific medium of representation. Groups of 7‐ and 11‐year‐old children were interviewed about their knowledge of photography and were asked to respond to a series of photographs. The children were selected on the basis of their experience with photography and were pre‐tested on several Piagetian tasks. The results revealed that the 7‐year‐olds showed some awareness of the photographic medium but when responding to actual photographs they tended to discuss only the depicted content. In contrast, the 11‐year‐olds showed an awareness of the way in which the photographic medium interacts with the depicted content; when responding to actual photographs these children's responses varied with different styles of photographs. Experience with photography influenced both the 7‐ and 11‐year‐olds' responses, while differences in performance on the Piagetian tasks were only associated with differences in the 11‐year‐olds' responses. These findings are discussed in terms of the importance of considering the characteristics of media in understanding children's representational abilities.