Re:This is a web page
by lelandbatey on Thursday June 20, 2013 @04:34PM
(#5914781)
I feel that words are the best way to communicate because words are born purely out of us; they are literally our thoughts in physical form. Videos, music, pictures, are all representations of physical things in the world around us; words are representations of the worlds inside us.
Re:This is a web page
by williamcotton on Thursday June 20, 2013 @06:47PM
(#5915435)
I sometimes have a hard time putting certain thoughts or feelings in to words, in which case I either draw a picture, play a melody, or use one of the other myriad forms of expression available to me to communicate with others. I in no way feel like I am translating these thoughts from words to these other forms of expression. I have a much easier time singing a melody than transcribing it. I have to force the music to comply with written forms.
Re:This is a web page
by helicoidal on Saturday June 22, 2013 @04:49PM
(#5925102)
> Videos, music, pictures, are all representations of physical things in the world around us; words are representations of the worlds inside us.
What about music, sounds?
Al Gore articulates the value of text well in _The Assault on Reason_. Short version: text is a "cool" medium which only indirectly rouses emotion, while images, sounds and especially video are "hot" mediums that are much more likely to bypass the prefrontal cortex, and directly stimulate emotional reactions.
That sounds like it derives from McLuhan's theories in "Understanding Media: Extensions of Man", a book I'm currently reading.
Ah, you are correct! Gore's book is merely where I learned it from.
Re:This is a web page
by josephlord on Thursday June 20, 2013 @07:52PM
(#5915670)
I'm not sure it is universal. I love the written word [1]. You can be precise and make nuanced arguments with caveats and qualifications where required. You can skim when reading it in a way you can't[2] with video. However some things are better and more easily shown than explained and some people have a preference for visual explanations.
[1] As I suspect most people spending much time on this site do as they aren't here for the pictures.
[2] Actually video editing software does give mechanisms for rapidly scanning the video so perhaps it is possible but not offered in web video software that I have seen.
Maybe you should try expressing it with a picture :P
I have become profoundly convinced over the last 15 years that words (& to an extent, text), is the generally best mode of communication of meaning, beating out things such as video, images, smells, etc. But I've been generally unable to articulate that idea cleanly and persuasively.