Visual vaccinology - the importance of visual communication.

Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States Science depends upon visual communication. This typically ncludes graphs, charts, slides, and other visual depictions of data nd scientific concepts. More recently, and especially in other areas f science and medicine, communication by the use of images has ecome both necessary and appropriate. It is with the visual image, s opposed to the purely textual or numerical, that trends, patterns, nd variations are often spotted and appreciated – leading to new nsights or at least different interpretations of the data. Too, a visual mage can, and often does, leave a lasting memory and may lead to tronger memory associations than text or numbers do (at least or some people). Lending credence to the increasingly important mpact of visual images in contemporary society, the Association of ollege and Research Libraries recently published a set of visual litracy competency standards for higher education. Their reasoning s impressive, and I quote extensively from their work: