Markus Hilander

Ph.D. Markus Hilander is a University Lecturer in Environmental Education at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland. Hilander's research interests are environmental education, geography education, and visual methodologies. Hilander is especially interested in researching visual culture; for instance, the visual catalogues of media, textbooks, and advertisements as well as drawing as a research method. In his research, Hilander applies semiotic concepts to the interpretation of photographs in the context of geography education. In his doctoral dissertation, Hilander (2017) introduces the concept of 'geographical vigilance' that can be used to fostering young people's visual literacy skills in geography education. In addition, the dissertation introduces visions of how the concept of geo-media can be understood as 'geographical media literacy skills'. Instead of being interested in the 'final' meanings of visual re-presentations, Hilander approaches the processes during which the meanings are produced from the perspective of existential and visual semiotics. Hilander (2019) has also introduced a 'smartphone model' that brings together four fundamental aspects—visual elements, textual elements, framing, and application of geographical knowledge—that should be taken into account when interpreting photographs in geography education.