Iowa State is hosting the first International Visual Literacy Association Conference of the new millennium. The IVLA conference brings together a group of artists, educators, researchers, scholars, scientists and producers of visual communications who are creating and sustaining the study of the nature of visual experiences and literacy.

The sessions begin today and continues through Saturday.

“We learn so much of what we know in life through our eyes,” said Dennis Dake, Professor of Art and Design, and organizer of the convention at Iowa State.

The goals of the IVLA conference are to explore a model of visual literacy for the 21st century and to engage individuals and organizations in dialogues on the role of visual perception.

Visual literacy deals with how human brains use visual information.

The program is designed to give participants the opportunity to explore the increasingly important role visual perception and communication will play in the 21st century, Dake said.

Several major presentations will be made by nationally-known scholars and researchers at the conference and will feature juried presentations, hands-on work shops, a scientific visualization fair, art exhibits, roundtable discussions and trips to surrounding locations.

Students are encouraged to attend for $50 a day or $70 for the whole week. The fee covers meals and activities but does not include the virtual reality tour.

World experts in visual communication will speak on understanding visual messages and how our brain receives these messages

“That’s what visual literacy is all about,” Dake said.

Iowa State Professor William Boon will be speaking about creativity today at 10:40 a.m. in Benton Auditorium in the Scheman building. The conference is structured so those who attend can perceive images like an artist, Boon, Creativity 129 instructor, said.

“We think we see the world, but we perceive it, we look at the world through our own experiences,” Boon said. “Artists are people who see the world in different eyes.”

ISUCOMM is currently talking about the visual communication needs of students, and many students in the arts and sciences need to understand visual communications as part of their disciplines, Dake said in a press release. The goal of ISUCOMM is to promote exceptional student performance in written, oral, visual and electronic communication.

Speakers will include: University College London Professor of Neurobiology Dr. Semir Zeki; University of Illinois Art and Design Professor Dr. Donna Cox; Founder and Director of Psi-Phi Communications and the Art Science Center for Education at Englewood, Colorado Dr. Todd Siler; Iowa State Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira; and author of “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience” and 13 other books Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyl.

There will be a visualization fair of artists, designers, engineers and scientists in the College of Design Building atrium from 1 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14 as well as five workshops from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.