According to Yoram Eshet-Alkalai, a scholar from the Tel-Hai College in Israel, one of the components of digital literacy is Photo-visual literacy.Eshet-Alkalai defines photo-visual literacy as the shift from alphabetic literacy to Photo-Visual Literacy, in which icons have become the new letters. This idea is based on the fact that vision helps us to think. In this concept, photos and videos work as letters and numbers. We all know that a picture says a thousand words. Everywhere we go, we see pictures explaining a particular action. For example, in traffic system, almost everything is visual signs instead of words and letters. These signs help us to drive safely on the road. These photo visual signs serve as shortcuts for action and do away with the mediation of the cognitive skill of deciphering and understanding the alphabetic symbol. The following traffic sign is universal and we all know that it means Do Not Enter. So, this picture is sufficient to convey the message. In fact, if someone is not familiar with this sign will have difficulty navigating the roads because most of the traffic sign is visual.
We also use emoticons like these :( -- ;-) (-: heavily on our email and text messaging. They express emotions that are very powerful yet visual.
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