Re: Illustrating Guidelines

Hi Emmanuelle,

> The reading of an image is as complex as the reading
> of a text.

Not always - I'd contend that on occasion they are one step ahead. For
example:-

   Chair (a word to someone who understands English)

   [Picture of a chair] (to someone who has seen a chair before)

Both require the notion of a chair to be understood by the "reader",
but I suggest that anyone who has seen a chair automatically
understands the concept, whereas someone who comes across the word
without having the notion has to be taught it, possibly from context,
first. That's a extra step that is present in langauge, but isn't in
illustrations. But this is just an example - not a rule.

> the reading of the image is not a habitual subject in the
> schools, it is only given in specialized university courses.

Are you saying that someone needs a degree in order to recognize the
concept behind the picture of a simple object such as a banana? There
is a variance in the level of complexity in both lanaguage and
ilustrations, and I think it is unfair to catagorize either one too
strictly.

> the "esvástica" (the cross gamada) has a very different meaning in
> the India and in occident.

That is true, but citing one example doesn't make it a rule. Citing a
million examples doesn't make it a rule. A rule is defined by proving
that there are no exceptions.

> it is necessary that somebody explains to us what means in
> each context, for example, the symbol of a person in wheelschair.

I agree. This is why text and images are often complements of one
another. But it must be accepted that sometimes they are not. Anne's
picture of Geroge Washington and the associated text is a good
example - if you don't know who Gerorge Washington is, then you don't
know who George Washington is. If you only know his face and not his
name, then the picture helps. If you only know his name and not his
face, then the text helps.

--
Kindest Regards,
Sean B. Palmer
@prefix : <http://webns.net/roughterms/> .
:Sean :hasHomepage <http://purl.org/net/sbp/> .

Received on Thursday, 10 May 2001 13:07:04 UTC