Two-Day Workshop On ‘Visual Storytelling’ Begins At DCJ CUK
A two-day workshop on “Visual Storytelling” organised by the Department of Convergent Journalism (DCJ), School of Media Studies, Central University of Kashmir (CUK) began at Tulmulla campus here on Tuesday.
Inaugurating the workshop, Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mehraj ud Din Mir, said visual storytelling can help make complex news and feature stories easier for the people to understand and remember. “The visual storytelling delivers a more impactful message to the readers,” he said. The Vice-Chancellor said that in the contemporary era of social media, visual storytelling has a tremendous scope. Prof. Mehraj ud Din Mir, however, cautioned the students to fact-check the contents of visuals before posting it online. “There have been instances wherein visuals and videos have been morphed and the wrong narrative built in order to serve certain vested interests,” he said. He hailed the DCJ for organising the workshop and also welcomed the students of 1st semester. Prof. Mehraj ud Din Mir assured the students that the university would provide all the facilities required by the journalism students for gaining practical knowledge and experience in different media.
Addressing the gathering, Registrar, Prof. M Afzal Zargar, said, the visual storytelling makes the news stories more imaginative, modern and relevant for readers as they could possibly be. “In the age of digital media, the best of the visual stories can get viral on the social media platforms in a jiffy, earning the name and fame for the particular individual,” he said. Prof. Zargar asked the students to gain more and more knowledge from the expert, delivering lectures on the topic during the two-day event.
Addressing the participants through online mode, journalist and visual storyteller, Dr. Tabeenah Anjum said, “It's not easy to forget the storytelling power of the images.” She said the students of journalism can build a career on the same and the social media platforms are the easiest way to broadcast the visual story, free of cost.
Speaking on the occasion, Dean School of Media Studies, Prof. Shahid Rasool, said visual storytelling involves the use of infographics, images, pictures, and videos to engage with viewers in an effort to drive emotions, engage intercommunication, and motivate an audience to action. “Visual narrative has been used to describe several genres of visual storytelling, from news and information (photojournalism, the photo essay, the documentary film) to entertainment (art, movies, television, comic books, the graphic novel). Any kind of a story, told visually, is a visual narrative,” Prof. Shahid said.
In his speech, Head Department of Convergent Journalism, Dr. Arif Nazir, said the main aim and objective of the workshop is to reignite and remind the participants of their natural ability of storytelling. “Participants will be taught the basics of photography and creative writing,” he added.