- This topic has 10 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 8 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
My immediate response to “Picturing Texts” was that it was going to be boring. I started scrolling through it, and looking at all the pages I had to read and thought that it was going to take forever. After reading through it, I realized that it was not as bad as I thought it would be. The piece was actually very informative and helped me better understand how we use images and descriptions to better our writing. The tone of the piece was informative and formal. I think this makes it a little bit harder to get through when its more formal, but it did it’s job explain the concepts. I think the intended audience for this piece would be college students because of the way it is written. It is not very entertaining, and some of the examples used probably would not be the best for a younger audience, like sediment or newspapers. Even though they use pictures to help describe things, I still feel like this piece is mainly more college students. As an audience member, I feel that I was reached and got what I needed to from the article.
As I said before, this piece helped me better understand the use of pictures and descriptions in writing. Most of the time when we are reading something we try to picture what we are reading. It helps us better understand what we are reading about. The piece talks about visual mediums which are pictures, sounds, and written words that we use to help the reader understand the concept we are trying to convey. This was a concept that I did not really know about because in most english class we are just writing papers. I have done a little descriptive writing in the past, but I think it is good to know how to use visual mediums. Last semester, my class had to write a personal narrative which really focused on which words we used to describe an event in our lives. We also worked on visual mediums during our strategy project because we had to either make a video or come up with something other than writing that will help get the message out about our specific topic. I think more english classes should allow the use of visual mediums because it helps the author get their message across easier. The piece talked about how authors have to “design what they write,” which I thought was true because when you are writing, you need to think of where you want everything and which things you are going to use to appeal to your audience.
Another concept that was brought up in the piece was that sometimes we need a picture to explain something because there is no other way to describe it. Do you ever have those times when you are trying to explain something to someone, but you can’t find the right words? The piece said that sometimes you need a “visual analogy” to get the point across. I know that I am a visual learner, and when I do not understand something I really need to see how everything works. It especially helps in science classes because it is hard to wrap your head around the concept of something like cells without being able to picture it. Pictures can also help us because it could be something you have already seen before, so you will know it from memory. Even if it is a new concept, pictures can also help us find patterns, so we can understand easier. Those new patterns will then go into your memory, which allows you to remember the concept you were learning about. Most pictures also have captions under them explaining the importance of the picture. The combination of the words and pictures really help the reader fully understand. Without captions, you basically have to guess what the picture is really showing, and that does not help when you do not understand the concept.
One of the last big topics the piece talked about was “visual analysis.” Everyone who sees a picture does not always have the same response as another viewer, so when looking at a picture, you need to understand how it works. I think of visual analysis as breaking down the picture and it parts. I guess I would start by looking at the placement of the picture and see why that is important. Some authors like to pick pictures based off of the audience they are trying to aim for, so those pictures will probably be through out the piece to keep the readers attention, like in magazines. Other authors use pictures as visual evidence, so they will probably be right after they explain the topic in writing, like in textbooks or building manuals. After breaking down the location of the picture, I would probably start breaking down the image itself. Everyone might get a little something different out of the picture, but I think thats okay if everyone has the same generalized idea.
Overall I thought that the piece could have been a little bit more interesting. It felt like I was reading out of a textbook, which really makes me lose my interest fast. Even though the piece had a textbook feel, I did think the concepts were pretty easy to understand. What did you guys think?
-
I felt the reading “ Picture texts“ was rather boring compared to some of our other reads I do agree with what Danielle said about it being a more formal style of writing compared to our other reading and that’s why it felt more boring. It was very much textbook style of writing which is why I had a hard time keeping my attention on the reading.
One thing I was not a huge fan of in this text is it was very repetitive and it kept going on and on about the same things. I felt as though what was being said could have easily been summed up in a few pages. Even though it was repetitive I do feel that it really drilled the concept into my mind and I’ll probably never forget it.
Even though it was boring I do feel that the text did its purpose in informing me on the purpose of visuals and where they would be necessary. I though that some of the examples were useful in explaining when imagery would be helpful, like on page 48 where they compare diagram to explain how altitude is effected by air pressure and elevation verses the paragraph above it; without the diagram I would have no idea what the paragraph meant. I feel that diagrams and other forms of visuals really enhance learning while they also aid in keeping the readers attention. It also makes the reading less intimidating, I know when I see pages and pages of just text I’m less likely to read the whole thing or retain as much information.
I also agree that text plays a major role in how people see thing, pictures without caption are left open for interpretation and captions can really morph how we see things. An example I see a lot on social media especially in the equine world is people taking pictures from others where it can look like they are training the horse incorrectly or abusing the horse; these pictures are put online and the person in the picture never gets a chance to explain what’s going on in the picture and it just end up being under interpretation of the viewers
-
I agree of how this piece was a little more on the ‘less-interesting’ end of the spectrum. It did, however, manage to get the point across of why visuals are important, and when they should be used.
One early point, to me, was the comparison of the museum. One picture showed just the outline of all the museums, while the other showed the whole package. It had a small picture of the museum, a brief description, and where it was. This is a good example of when to use visuals. For example, if you’re a tourist, you’d rather want to know what the building looked like, and where it was, rather than just looking at a boring, and confusing map.
“Images and graphics are especially common in certain kinds of writing. Even information that is easy to follow with words alone sometimesbecomes much easier to understand with graphics” (Picturing Texts). Almost everything is easier to understand if there is a visual. The example they used was the pie chart for the different elements that make up Earth. It’s not easy to visualize 78% of nitrogen, or 21% oxygen. This pretty much sums up that visuals are great because it makes whatever someone is trying to explain much easier for us.
“Words can be highlighted, boldfaced, capitalized, or italicized to draw a reader’s attention or to add emphasis where desired. And readers typically follow a predictable path, starting at the beginning and reading to the end. With visual texts, a reader’s eye is more free to go where it will. The reader of a visual text will read the many details of the entire image simultaneously in an instant. Then almost immediately, the eyes begin to wander around the image, caught and directed by the details that attract them” (Picturing Texts). Manipulating words, like bold facing, or highlighting can help us visualize whats being described. However, if it’s just all or mostly just visual, then the readers will be able to ‘explore’ more freely because there aren’t any words constraining us.
-
The reading that we had to read for today was one of the most important because it told us of the helpfulness of visual aids in everyday life. Visual aids are everywhere and they help many people bring their point in many different ways. This reading discussed things that visual descriptions and verbal descriptions have in common. That is important because, in a writing class, people might not really understand that the same concepts that apply to words can also apply to images.
This article presented concepts that are in both verbal descriptions and visual aids. It also stated that certain visual descriptions such as graphs and charts might even be easier to follow when they are presented visually rather than verbally. That concept is everywhere, especially in a college science class where one might need to read graphs and charts for a science project. The concept that visual aids might be more helpful in some situations also reminds me of the saying, “A picture says a thousand words.” Sometimes a picture with a verbal description is much more effective than just a short explanation which might not help anybody understand a complicated concept.
When the reading goes on to analyze the photos from 9/11 and Iwo Jima, I agree with Danielle because it helped me to understand how to analyze pictures instead of words and, similar to what she said, in my last English class, we just wrote papers. We did have one assignment based on visuals, but the professor did not describe the idea that the infographics that were included in our presentations were visual aids. She also did not describe how visual aids can help describe something better than words. I did not realize this helpful concept until now.
In a later part of the reading, the two photographs, one of marines razing the flag on Iwo Jima, and one of the firefighters razing the flag on 9/11 help to describe the complex elements of visuals. The reading talked about the immediate context, broader context, author, purpose, etc. After that, the reading cleverly used both photos as a tipping off point to describe how to analyze visual things and it made it more enjoyable since I had read extensively on the history of the Iwo Jima photograph in a book called Flags of Our Fathers.
The last section of the reading relates visual aids to the most common visual aids that are around everybody on a daily basis, advertisements. It describes their effectiveness and how they appeal to different audiences, the genre etc. and it all ties back to the complex elements of visuals. This article really raises your awareness of all of the visual forms of communication in this world. It does it in a well thought out way as I have aforementioned. This reading had a little more of a textbook feel as most of the prior commenters felt, but that helped it to be more informative.
-
I liked the points that the author made in this piece, but I definitly agree it could have been written in a much more entertaining way. To me, it looked and sounded like a textbook which makes it harder to read. I had to take a little break from reading it so I could stay focused.Though it was not as intriguing as prior readings, it was very informative.
Besides the writing style, I did like what the article is about. I feel like most of us think of english class as strictly writing and use words to describe things, but photos can be very useful. I liked one point the author made about visual arguments. I see before and after photos all the time but I never thought of it as making a claim. They also talk about the similarities between visual and written arguments. They can be complex or simple. They showed an ad that used juxtaposition to make their position clear but they also show an ad that used irony to get their point across. Just like in writing, for visual pieces there are different techniques used.
My favorite line in this article was “The pictures help us see what the words say” on page 50. I am also a visual learner like Danielle so I completely agree with this statement. Sometimes I will read an article and have no clue what it is talking about. I will read it again slowly but it just doesn’t click in my head. That is because I need some kind of example of it to really understand it. It is so much easier to see something in order to do it yourself. For example, I bought myself a desk and had to put it together. It has written instructions as well as pictures to clarify it. I think that is a great idea because it clears up any confusion I may of had from the writing. This relates back to visual analogy that the author talked about.
-
I agree with Danielle when it comes to boredom in this writing piece. Throughout the whole thing, it felt like I was reading out of a textbook. The writing held a lot of important information that I was never aware of. I never knew that “picturing texts” was something so important to people. This article helped me to better understand how images and words can make someone understand something so much easier. As for myself, I tend to be a visual learner and when I see pictures in a textbook or a powerpoint, it makes it so much easier for me to remember whatever the topic was about. It can be hard for people to learn without a picture and a small description relating to the image.
I think this could have been written in a better way to make it more interesting and fun to read. The piece gave many different examples of images, graphs, descriptions, etc. The point gets across in this writing because I think the pictures and images helped readers to understand even more what the writer was trying to say.
When most people think of writing, we think of words. I couldn’t agree more, however, the article brought images and pictures into par. I think this is a major factor when it comes to writing in order to help your audience better understand your writing. Last semester, I had to write a paper about comparing and contrasting what my days were like during vacation versus during the school year. I provided a couple pictures of my vacations and I think it adds more personality and entertainment to the writing. I liked how it talked about how people can perceive things in many different ways. When someone goes through a traumatic event, their story would be much different rather than a person who was not involved and just witnessed it happen. Picturing texts can help people get a better grasp of what is being talked about because people will take the picture and find a way to have it make sense in their head. Everybody has their own way of learning things and picturing texts can be a main factor to the process.
-
“Picturing texts” was one of the more uninteresting readings we’ve had. It had more of a text book type of style rather than an article or story. The points that were made were stated very clearly and with the visual aids of a textbook. The text used its visuals to reinforce the effectiveness of images in writing.
I feel like the text was reinforcing and explaining a concept that most people can already grasp. When images are used as aids in writing it often enhances the writing and assists with understanding. People, especially students, are exposed to images inn writing daily through things like newspapers and magazines as well as textbooks and websites.
It was interesting to see the author go into depth about this, though. The way that he explained how different people will see an image differently. For example, a tanned person on a beach could be viewed as beautiful to one person, but a dermatologist could view it as someone with skin damage. This is all dependent on a person’s background. -
When I first opened the text and saw that it started with pattern I already thought why do we need to read about this we learned it back in high school. As I continued to read I felt kind of bored with it. I felt like I was reading out of the textbook compared to last week’s reading which grab I think most our attention. Since I am a visual learner I have to agree that an image does help me to remember a topic. Also I can always picture it in my head for when I am tested on it, so an image with good pattern does play a big part to someone like me who is a visual learner because I can picture that image perfectly. I have to say I was pretty bored with reading about the historical context, social context and economic context. I feel like it really was not written in a way that would grab my attention. This reading kind of made me feel like I was back in high school because my teachers would give us a big packet like this and learn from it. Even though it was not the most interesting piece of text that I have read I did get a better understanding of what the author had discussed in the text. The one thing that I had learned in the text was how to use visual mediums. Back in high school none of my English teachers and ever talked about that. I feel like I need visual analogy a lot when it comes to psychology class because at times I do not know what the professor is talking about and if they had more visual analogy I think I could pick up the material much quicker instead of sitting and having to study much longer. I agree that pictures are helpful because they do tend to jog your memory and you can either remember if you have learned about it or not. I also have to agree that words and pictures used together can help a person understand something because sometimes if you do not get what you are reading and then look at the pictures you can put two and two together and realize what the text is trying to tell you. Overall I think that if it was written differently than it would have caught my attention more and I would have like the piece better.
-
After reading this article, it somehow bring flashback in my head when I was young. growing up, I had a problem with understanding the meaning of many words whenever I’m reading. I tend to go look it up and go on a images for better visual. text with images indeed helps a lot, at least for people like me that have problems with reading and understanding the meanings. I totally I agreed that, one can get better understanding when reading a text that have pictures to go along with the story.
Even though I can relate in a way its mentioned in this article, I also find reading “picture text” to be somewhat boring. personally, I feel like the Article included too much information that makes one not to enjoy the reading. The author should have rearranged the writing style to make it more readable. apart from that its amazing how pictures can go hand and hand with text to for a better clarification for readers.
-
Before I started reading, I told myself I would keep an open mind to the article “Picture Texts” because yes the reading was long, but we only had to read certain sections so I figured it wouldn’t be so bad. The more I read, the less interested I became. I was not a big fan of the tone the author used and her word choice of explaining things. I understand the purpose of this reading was to help inform us of how to improve our writing by using visual texts, but the way Faigley used her words actually made it hard for me to visual what she was saying. I have a very unique way of thinking, and most of the time the way I comprehend words and readings are completely different from what the author intended, which is why visual aids, such as photos and captions help me connect with the author. My personal style of writing is very descriptive and I am actually pretty hard on myself when I write because I always want to make sure I use the best vocabulary possible to give a vivid description of what I am writing about. I agree with what Danielle mentioned about how authors “design what they write”. I believe this is true and important because writing isn’t just words, there is a purpose and a unique layout which helps give the reader an insight of how the author intended to express themselves. I also strongly agree that sometimes the only way to describe something is by visual aids. Several times I have a vivid picture in my head but no matter how hard I try I can’t seem to find the perfect words to explain what I see inside my head. This reading reminds me of the saying “a picture is worth a thousands words”. I think this ties into the reading because one picture can be analyzed and interpreted into hundreds of different ways, which helps start discussion and allow people with different ways of thinking to elaborate and build on top of their personal interpretation.
-
I do agree with everyone that when I did see how many pages we had to read I did feel like it would be boring. Besides the “un-interesting” factor, I did find that it was very informative. For me, to fully understand the reading and be able to comprehend it properly, it must capture my attention. As I was reading I didn’t really understand it at first because I was just hard for me to be attentive to it. The fact that pictures were used in the text did however help me understand it more. I am a very visual learner, I can remember pictures a lot easier than I can recite text. I feel as if the author could have done better on her word choice and how her tone came across, but the pictures did help me. I also like hoe Evonne brought up “a picture is worth a thousand words” because I feel as if the author could have used that to her advantage more in the text instead of coming off to the readers as confusing or uninteresting.
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
