ISSUE74 图像比语言更有利交流【求拍，有拍必回】

爱上千年的猫UID: 2476232

TOPIC: ISSUE74 - "The most effective way to communicate an idea or value to large groups of people is through the use of images, not language."
WORDS: 602
TIME: 00:40:00
DATE: 2010-3-24 11:17:25

There are various available ways to communicate an idea or value to large groups of people. We are attempting to find the most effective one all the time. Some would argue that images are superior in such communication as the author claims. I do admit images have certain advantages over language under some circumstances. However, we should not ignore the merits of language for it is in great advantage under other circumstances.

To decide on what method should be adopted to effectively communicate an idea or value to large groups of people, there are at least two useful standards that would help. The first one is to understand what kinds of people compose the large group by asking whether they have similar cultural background. The second is to focus on the content of communication--science, technology, or history and literature. Only when the two questions are answered, we are able to choose a relatively effective way to communicate.

If the groups of people coming from different countries and received different levels education, the seemly way to communicate an idea or value of a period of history is through images. Consider the common scene when we are traveling abroad, for example, to France. French is not our native language and French history, no matter the wars or the arts, is not what we are familiar with. At this time, it is impossible for the tour guide to use any language to make her introduction understandable to all tourists in the group, who are coming from every corner of the world. Simply showing them the pictures, statues and architects in France may be a better way for the tourists to perceive the style of France. Or when the merchants are displaying their latest products, which may use the latest high-tech, language or any written materials cannot match a glance and a trial of the new products. The images of the products give audience an easy and direct access to understand the products. In short, when the large groups of people are in different cultural backgrounds and when the content to communicate is something complicated, images would seem more effective than language for communication.

While if the groups of people share similar culture, or at least using the same language, it seems that language would dominate when communication is about literature or current affairs, especially statistics. Imagine that a large group of people are in a forum communicating the value of contemporary novels. No matter lectures or thesis, the way we use to communicate the ideas are all in forms of language. "Translating" a novel to a series of images, like films, will lose some original characteristics of the novel more or less. The case in communicating economic affairs is more compelling. Even if the images, such as pie charts and bar charts, can show the basic trends or comparison of certain statistics, when we are to use the statistics to model the trend of economy or to make precise prediction, language or written language will be the only available way. That is to say, when the groups of people are sharing the same cultural background and communication is about some literal or numeral ideas, language has inborn merits over images.

In sum, there cannot be any uniform way to communicate an idea or value to large groups of people effectively. A case-to-case study should be followed. Depending on the similarity of cultural background of the people and the types of content of the communication, we can use either images or language, or even a combination of the two, to communicate our ideas and value.

1. main idea: images may be useful but not all the time. language has its own merits.
2. groups of people: same cultural background or not; what kind of idea is to communicate
3. +image: various cultural background: describing history scenarios to various groups; showing the technological advancements
4. +language: same cultural background: explanining literatures
5. +sum