Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu!vkr
From: vkr@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu (Vidhyanath K. Rao)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Me and Peter on the binaries on the net
Summary: Depends on context
Keywords: The NET
Message-ID: <622@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 23 Jun 88 22:04:11 GMT
References: <4571@gryphon.CTS.COM> <32674@aero.ARPA>
Organization: Ohio State Math-Stats Dept
Lines: 15

In article <32674@aero.ARPA>, foy@aero.ARPA (Richard Foy) writes:
> I agree with your assessment of the relative merits of pictures vs text.
> However I wonder why this is true.
> Techncal briefings come to mind. Sometimes one good chart showing a sketch
> conveys a lot more more information a lot better than do a lot of text charts
> or verbal statements.
The key is the qualifying 'sometimes'. Charts often serve as summaries or as
mnemonics. Thus the preceding discussion or shared knowledge in essential.
Pictures are neccessary only when the knowledge involved is not shared or when
the language being used is unfamiliar.

When I hear people taking about the superiority of pictures over text, I wonder
how they reacted the first time they saw the standardized 'pictures without
words' in traffic signs, safety cards found in aircraft etc.
-Nath vkr@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu