After Wednesday's lesson I was thinking about this question. While fishing, I was looking at crabs eating algae in the fishing pond and was thinking to myself "what a sight!", if I had a video camera to record the scene it could be used to show pupils in future then this question "Can image do what writing does, or writing what image does?" suddenly reappeared in my mind and started thinking, as a teacher in my future lessons if I would to show pupils a write up about crabs' eating habits would it be as effective as showing them a video clip of the crabs in action then I realised that writing cannot be effective in this sense as the image. How about this write up? "It's easy to tell the difference between a male and female (she-crab) by looking at the underside of the shell (see photos). The female has a broad, triangular-shaped area in the center of the shell, whereas the male has a distinctive, elongated spire in the center." We can also see that the writer has to use photos to illustrate the difference between male and female crabs thus further showcasing that writing cannot do what image does.
Then I thought how about the reverse, could image do what writing does? I feel that it supports writing but it still cannot replace writing entirely as information about the crabs cannot be all captured by images and it is not effective to use images to replace writing because we might end up having to use many images to convey information that writing can do in a sentence and there are certain scenarios that is impossible for images to replace writing, another example "The crab is one of the oldest species on earth. The horseshoe crab dates back over 200 million years and is literally a living fossil."
*examples sentences were take from http://homecooking.about.com/cs/productreviews/p/crab_pro.htm
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This is a rather insightful thought. I guess both image and writing serve their own purpose and it is at times impossible to replace one with the other. Sometimes, thoughts and feelings are difficult to pen down and illustrations or the use of visual images help to facilitate this expression of ideas. On the other hand, in the explanation of facts (as in your given example), images would not be able to fully convey the information intended. However, in many instances, images and texts are used in complements of each other. One area in which this is commonly used is in Movie Posters or trailers where both images and texts are used to portray and capture audience to entice them to watch the show.
ReplyDeleteHi Noelle,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link.It has both image and writing.Now I know the difference between a male and a female crab. Very interesting.
Hi Noelle,
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think that images can be more effective than writing especially when there is more importance given to images. However, sometimes, you need writing in addition to images if not the image would not make sense. I have seen examples in CDA where writing and images are interdependent on each other. One would not make sense without the other. I would think that both writing and images are important except in some circumstances one is more effective than the other and others, both are interdependent. :)