issue74 拍必回！

ouymUID: 2109118

issue 74
The most effective way to communicate an idea or value to large groups of people is
through the use of images, not language.【74】
和一大群人交流想法或者价值观的最有效方式是图像而非语言。


Which is the most effective way, through the use of images and language, to communicate an idea or value to large groups of people? In my point of view, it is difficult to tell which one is definitely better than the other. Both of them have their own advantages over the other. According to a given situation, there do exit the best way to express our ideas. What we should do is to select the best one which may be image or language or both of them.

On the one hand, under some circumstance, language is better than image as a way of communication. Through the use of language we can easily express our ideas which are abstract and can be hardly made understand by images. For example, watching a photograph which contains a footprint would tell us nothing but a footprint. However, by using language, it could tell us that it is the first human being’s footprint in the moon and is one of the most important milestones in the exploring road of mankind. Therefore, to some extent, images tell directly and superficially and language more profoundly.

On the other hand, images are more powerful than language under other circumstance. As stated above, image is more directly. For example, when we wander along a street, we can see a lot of notice-boards which contain a variety of images. Seeing these images, we can know where it is no parking and where it is permitted to park. When we go to a common place, an image which contains a burning cigarette with a line cross on it tells us that this is a no smoking place. When we go to WC, we can easily know which room we should enter by the instruction of the label which contains a small picture of man or woman. Furthermore, when one is an illiterate or foreigner who can not read, images would be the only way for him or her to communicate with the others under some circumstance.

Still, there are some circumstance under which we should use both language and images to make us understand more effectively. For instance, when ordering circularly the arrest of a criminal at large, an image could show us the appearance of the criminal which can help us discern him or her. And several lines of words could tell us what crime the criminal had committed and where the criminal may hide. So using the images and language complementary might lead to better result than using either one of them alone.

To sum up, both image and language is a way for us to communicate with others. To decide which the best way to communicate is should be consider carefully on a case-by-case basis. And in some circumstance, it would be best to use both of these two ways to make communication more easily and more effective.
.

[ Last edited by staralways on 2005-8-10 at 00:36 ]