Contributor

Michael Shaw

Publisher of the visual politics and media literacy site, Reading The Pictures.

Michael Shaw is a Clinical Psychologist, an analyst of visual journalism, and a frequent lecturer and writer on how politicians and the media frame political imagery. Michael's clinical training -- which is woven into his commentary -- involves the analysis of character and character styles. His research has dealt with the creative process, visual thinking, and how metaphors can create psychological insight.

BagNewsNotes is the only destination on the web dedicated 100% to visual politics and the analysis of news images.  The site also features photojournalism from top names in the field. Launched in 2004, BAGnewsNotes is closely followed by the political blogosphere; the political and visual media; the photo community; and university visual studies, communications and photojournalism programs.

In addition to his private practice, Shaw spent nine years as the consulting psychotherapist at The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), the architecture and design program and think-tank in Los Angeles. For five years before that, he served the same function at Otis College of Art and Design. Counting both experiences, he has spent thousands of hours collaborating with students and design professionals in their creative process, as well as participating in the formal and informal analysis and critique of visual images.

Shaw’s experience with cyberspace began in the early eighties. Working for a publishing technology firm in New York, he was involved in developing some of the first on-line, interactive graphic content designed specifically for the public. It was from these early services (know at the time as "videotex") that the html standard emerged, and new communication companies, such as AOL and Yahoo, first took shape.

The BAGnewsNotes site began in June 2003. Originally, it was the home for a civics tool/ visual experiment/political cartoon called BAGnews. Beginning in mid-2004, however, spurred by the photo coverage of the Bush-Kerry presidential campaign, Shaw turned his attention to this new "discipline" -- the visual analysis of political images.

Michael Shaw has been a regular front-page contributor to the Huffington Post since September '05, writing a blog feature called "Reading The Pictures."

To contact, please write to: mshaw AT bagnews (dot) com.