Visual ethics is, of course, the reason why this book was written, but its hidden agenda is more complex. Although the ethical issues related to collecting, processing, and presenting visual messages in all manner of media and a seemingly unlimited number of purposes is important and, quite frankly, overdue, the actual purpose of this work is to teach critical thinking. Through practice using the 10-step Systematic Ethical Analysis (SEA) for how to best analyze ethical slights of the past and present, you should learn how to respond in positive ways to dilemmas presented to you in the future – both professional and personal. Your goal with the SEA is to move from a gut-feeling, highly individualized, short-term, and subjective reaction to a rational, collective, long-term, and less subjective outcome (I won’t write “objective” for obvious reasons after you read Chapter 3). That way, you should come to the conclusion that any dilemma does not have one correct and one wrong solution. The SEA is designed to get you neck-deep in the murky waters of a tricky situation and realize that there are several types of boats – from a homemade raft to a Viking River Cruise ship (notice: A blatant plug) – that will get you safely to shore. (How’s that for a salient metaphor?) In other words, there are many viable and positive alternatives to a dilemma that can be imagined after some careful consideration and a little creativity.

The chapters include discussions on important media issues from advertising to virtual reality. The main topics addressed in this book include credibility, objectivity, role-related responsibilities, values, loyalties, etiquette, empathy, and yes, ethics. Interviews with professionals conducted and written by Dr. Martin Smith-Rodden can be found in Appendix A. Those of you who are observant should, I trust, notice that it seems odd that a book that starts with “visual” does not have a single published illustration. Arguably, ethics is a subject that relies more on words than images. And yet, there are more than 300 illustrations described by words. At the end of each chapter are the sources that provide examples, additional context, and information. These images – still and moving – should be of interest to anyone committed to visual communication. This book also includes case studies where you can practice using the SEA (with the SEA form found in Appendix B, completed analyses and case studies using the SEA in Appendix C) and annotated sources that provide academic perspectives both written by Dr. Stephanie A. Martin.

Finally, it should be clear that the study of ethics is a highly personal exercise. Thinking about what others did wrong and determining alternatives that should be taken inevitably leads to you questioning and considering your own past actions both positive and negative. To that end, you will no doubt notice that the style of writing is perhaps a bit more informal than other textbooks. There are personal pronouns, contractions, cuss words, and parenthetical phrases – all elements that I caution my students to avoid in their term papers. Simply put, if you find yourself in one of my classes, you will know that this book’s tone matches my conversational style. Reading this book, then, should feel like a conversation. I hope someday we get a chance to make that happen.

Online only, please.