There is a cooperative principle developed by Paul Grice that is used within the social sciences to describe how people use conversation to communicate. It describes how in conversations we need to mutually accept one another's world views in order to be understood. Grice was though also very aware of what he called 'conversational implicatures', things that someone can work out from the way something is said rather than what is said. Something that I will also need to take on board. For instance in the visual conversation above, the way the marks are made powerfully effects the way we read each image.
Paul Grice developed four maxims or rules of conversation: quantity, quality, relation, and manner; as ways to describe how conversation works.
The drawing and image making sessions I have been holding and intend to continue holding, are all based around the notion of holding conversations around the making of either drawings or objects, that are designed to communicate interoceptual or somatic feelings. Therefore I thought it important to look at how conversations work, so that at the beginning of a workshop I can help facilitate what might evolve as best practice.
Looking at Grice's four maxims one at a time helps to clarify the communication process:- Maxim of quantity (informativity) Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the exchange).
I need to ensure that everyone involved in the communication process is adding in information. However too much information will in effect turn people off. Something I need to remember when introducing the reasons why we are doing this. Perhaps more emphasis on what to do and to keep the why until later.
- Maxim of quality (truth) Do not say what you believe is false.
This is particularly important because I am working with conjecture. How can we visualise feeling? I will need to include only information that I believe is true and that can be backed up with evidence; when I include information that I'm unsure about, I need to provide an appropriate disclaimer regarding my uncertainty.
- Maxim of relation (relevance)
This is a difficult issue, as we will have to decide what is relevant. Questions about what different kinds and focuses of relevance there may be, and how these might shift in the course of a conversation, will need to be asked.
- Maxim of manner (clarity)
It is suggested that you need to avoid obscurity of expression, however some visual languages are difficult to understand. This highlights a difficulty and a challenge. Can we develop any form of clarity when dealing with visual communication? It is also suggested that it is best to avoid ambiguity and I'm very aware that art objects can be interpreted in multiple ways. Grice also reminds us to be as brief as possible and to be orderly, so that information is presented in a way that makes sense and enables easy processing.
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began,
So is it now I am a man,
So be it when I shall grow old
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
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