Modern society has the great opportunity to communicate in a vast array of media and are no longer limited to writing. With the advent of computers, the Internet, and digital print, we have expanded our realm of communication and made it more enriching. With the new advancements in technology, the art of communication is evolving. It is clear that the art of writing is changing, but is it changing for the better? With the use of technology we are able to combine the use of text and images and have created a harmonious marriage that has revolutionized the way we communicate today. Images seem to dominate our written realm and instead of show concern, we should embrace this change and bask in the beauty of our developments.
One evident change that has occurred in the way we are writing is a shift towards the visual arts. While words themselves have meaning, and can be considered an art form, today’s society has focused on combining words with images. Graphics have become an important part of communication, so much so that students can now choose to major in graphic design. Our newspapers, magazines, webpages and digital media all incorporate images with words. As stated by Bolter “hypertext seldom exists as pure text without any graphics” (47). We have evolved to be more visual.
Does this mean visual text is now inferior to graphics? I feel that while we grow to use visual imagery in our writing, there is no need for one to replace the other. Images should not threaten the written word; they should in fact enhance it. That is part of the beauty of today’s society. We are able to communicate better simply because we have more tools to do so.
A great example of how images, especially video, can be used to enhance or even replace the written word to express a point was our video project in class. I think that the use of images to make my argument was stronger than the use of words could have been. Firstly, because the very root of the eating disorder problem stems from the effect of visual images. Women are using visual ideals to compare themselves with, including images on television, magazines and in the movies. It therefore seemed most appropriate to use visual arguments to demonstrate this issue. Secondly, the true self-inflicted horror of anorexia can only truly be appreciated through visual means.
However, if I was able to incorporate written words in my video, I believe my argument may have been strengthened. If for example I was able to quote statistics, statements from anorexia patients, and describe in words the horror of anorexia, I believe my documentary on anorexia and the distorted view of beauty would have been strengthened. I believe instead of competing with one another, the different forms of communication should merge and become more powerful in union.
The art of communication seems to be moving towards becoming as close to reality as possible. We have shifted our attention to videos and images, simply because it is natural for us to understand and perceive our environment through mostly visual means. If our environment is visual in nature, it makes sense that humans can better understand the image than the written word. Similarly, if one was to read a paragraph in a book loaded with imagery, everyone’s view of the scene described will be different.
Everyone may read descriptions of a landscape containing red roses, a large tree, a fountain, green grass and a blue sky for example, however everyone will imagine a different scene in their minds. With the written word, the element of imagination and personalization is preserved. In image however, this is lost. We are presented with an image and we cannot argue with it or personalize it.
The individuality of the artist is one advantage of today’s world. With computers, printers, camcorders and access to the Internet at home, each individual can be an artist. In the past, the written word was the only option. Today, according to Jay David Bolter, “the treatment of text as image becomes even more popular and more culturally compelling with the rise of digital media” simply because we are able to easily combine text and image.
I have always found this to be true when watching a movie after having read the book it was based upon. It is always a challenge to surrender my visual interpretation of the book with that of the director’s. Does this mean that the art of communication is now better because there is no room for interpretation? Does video reign supreme over the written word because it communicates a message more effectively?
According to Jay David Bolter, “with any technique of writing – on stone or clay, on papyrus or paper, and on the computer screen – the writer may come to regard the mind as a writing space” (13). I agree with Bolter’s statement because words are born in the mind, and then transferred onto different media to convey a message. He discusses the new ways our generation is defining the writing space.
We have advanced graphics, visuals and animations. Such designs are challenging the way we are accustomed to communicating in a way which is more engaging and exciting. We are now moving on to three dimensional spaces. We are developing technology that experiments with the way we transfer ideas from the three dimensional space of our minds, and this is a reflection of who we are as a society and culture. Communication is a vital component of who we are as a species. Our survival has depended on it. We have seen the evolution of writing and learn how it reflects each society’s individual needs to communicate, while proving that regardless of how we choose to transfer ideas to one another, the importance of communication is always preserved.
According to Bolter “print today is continuing to remake itself” in order to “represent reality as effectively as digital and other visual technologies” (47). This implies that print is struggling to keep up with its competition. While print is changing, I do not believe it is being taken over. I feel we will always worship the value of the written word. As with the theory of evolution, writing must evolve in order to avoid extinction.
Writing and images should not be in competition. They should be used instead to compliment one another. As stated by J. Anthony Blair, the advent of the new “print-based technology” allows for this marriage to occur as it “facilitates, supports and intensifies” the preference for print. By printing text and images, the world of communication has now expanded in ways unimaginable before. We should embrace this change. Whether supported visually or not, the ability to argue a claim in more than one way is an advantage.
Writing has changed immensely, however it is still vital to our society. We have become obsessed with the image. We have improved our world of images through HD, we have enhanced our movie experience with 3-D, however we still rely greatly on the written word. Books are still popular. Libraries are still considered vital resources. Textbooks are still used in educating the young. Commercials and billboards still contain words. However, books and textbooks are now digitalized, and images greatly dominate television and the Internet. We live in a visual era because we are visual beings.
While it feels as though we live in a visual era because we see images everywhere, the history of the world shows us that even prior civilizations focused on images, especially to communicate with the illiterate. Images were vital in Ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Europe, and the Renaissance. However, images for pleasure are different than images used for communicating. The use of images has developed to have a more profound meaning.
Art in the past was primarily used for aesthetic purposes. We now take this pleasure of imagery, and use it to improve the way we communicate. This remediation of print is expanding the use of images and is enhancing the role images have in our lives. If we can use something to improve the way we share ideas, communicate and transfer information, we should not be weary of embracing it. Had past civilizations had the awesome opportunity to use the technology we have today to combine images with the written word, I am sure they would take advantage of the opportunity.
Most forms of art are meant to be appreciated aesthetically. Analyzing art comes secondary to feeling its meaning initially. When the use of space and color is arranged together, it is my first instinct to feel the art, and then to understand. I learned this lesson through our crayon project. When the structure of writing is changed and put into such an arrangement, I found myself unable to properly read. I was processing this written essay as though it was a piece of art. While writing is art, and while handwriting can be so different between individuals to be considered art itself, writing does have structural rules. When these rules are broken, the reader is challenged in the process of reading. However with time we have trained our minds to become accustomed to uniting the written word and the image.
It seems to me when the content of writing is very important, the aesthetics are less important. In the crayon assignment, I found the visual effects distracting. When trying to attract attention and increase the number of viewers, art and images are very useful. Legal documents, research papers, medical records, business proposals, contracts and other important official documents are all written in standard format without many visual effects. These documents have a primary role of expressing important information. Their role stops there. These documents often do not need to attract an audience. Their importance overrides their need to be appealing. Newspapers, magazines, webpages and billboards for example rely on attracting attention. For this reason, the use of visual effects is beneficial.
Compared to the printing press for example, the computer has also revolutionized communication, but in a different way. The printing press made communication more accessible to the masses and its strength was in mass reproduction. The computer has made communication more accessible to the individual. Communication is now more personalized and more flexible. Computers can store data. We can save documents, use different fonts, images and colors. We can italicize our text, underline words, and alter documents with editing software. We can enhance images, crop them and blow them up.
While promoting communication and fostering the production of print, the printing press was more revolutionary on a mass level, but not everyone owned a printing press. However, almost everyone owns a computer. For that reason, I think the computer has changed the world of communication more than the printing press did. More importantly, the computer and the Internet have facilitated the marriage between text and image. It was the computer itself that is at the heart of this change in writing, and for this reason must be credited with transforming the written word.
The evolution of writing is exciting. Finally, we have the tools to combine texts and images to create revolutionary modes of communication. The written word is certainly changing and becoming more enhanced. While images are joining the stage, writing will always be a valuable mode of communication for mankind. The two dimensional world of writing can now take on characteristics of reality with the help of images. The power of words is not diminished, but enhanced with the use of photos. With the ability to create such documents on an individual level, our society lives in an age where we can express creativity, communicate ideas and make our thoughts tangible in ways never imagined before.
