issue7 [OB小组] 第23次作业 video camera and written records

xiao8686UID: 2266881

TOPIC: ISSUE7 - "The video camera provides such an accurate and convincing record of contemporary life that it has become a more important form of documentation than written records."
WORDS: 639          TIME: 00:45:00+15:00         DATE: 2007-8-10 下午 11:13:51

In this issue, the author states that since video camera can provides an accurate and convincing record of contemporary life its importance has surpassed that of the written records for documentation. However, in my observation, though digital camera owns several peerless advantages the written records remain indispensable given there unique features.

To begin with, I concede the advent of video camera indeed bring many revolutionary changes to the ways of documentation. It enables the preservation of vivid scenes and provides us the intact image of the original scenarios it captured while the written form of documentation is not able to manage. Consider the picture of the winning moments of the football world cup. No matter how exact or concrete the vocabulary is, the written record can not re-flash the thrill in the winners' face, the disappointments from the losers' behaviors and the spectacle of the game and crowds. In all, the video camera colorizes the once drab words, providing us directly visual and acoustic contact with the recorded scenes. Meanwhile, the video camera with the facilities of computers made many unprecedented records possible such as these processes naturally involve either extremely slow or fast. For instance, the video camera are able to record the growth of a tree as well as the sudden opening of a bud then be proceeded by computer and provide us with the records of regular speeds along with explicit pictures. Thereby, the contents of documentation turn to be more multi-sorts.

However, the form of written documentations is not paled in front of the digital counterpart. Owning many unique features to record information, the written records are still indispensable for us. First of all, the written documentations are the products of human wisdom, which sometimes condense the recorded information. For example, the written documents can record the number of thousands of people by a simple word while the video camera could only capture the countless people in a exorbitantly crowded picture; the written documents are able to record the past of time which can span several thousands of years by writing down a sentence to depict while the video camera can not manage to convey the notion to people even with the assist of computer editorials; the written documents can generalize the customs of a country and the spirits within its people by words while the video camera can merely narrate the living pictures and scenes of their lives which can hardly be complete for audiences to understand the essence of a culture. Therefore, as being proceeded by brainwork the written forms can record the abstract information into the eligible one.
Moreover, the written documents triumph the video camera in the spiritual reflection of the history. Recording the past does not entirely equal to the narratives the cold occurrences intact. The comments and the thoughts buried in words are part of the treasury of records. Many great novels and other genres are superb media for parts of the history not only because they record the daily lives of the average folks, disclosed some of the hidden aspects of the current society but also the brilliant thoughts of the luminous writers and their keen perspectives to interpret the social situations. For example, Luxun-one the greatest writers in china in 20th century used his astute eyes to observe the society, discovered the Chinese’ numbness at that time toward their country and the serious situations. His writing has already become one of the precious records for the study of the early contemporary China. In sum, as undertaking to document the thoughts of people in the past, written forms are the part and parcel of the historical records.

In conclusion, the video camera undoubtedly brings several benefits to record our living. Nevertheless, the written forms of documentation still hold its unique advantages, enabling them indispensable to us as well.