{"id":1907,"date":"2009-11-15T13:36:38","date_gmt":"2009-11-15T20:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/?p=1907"},"modified":"2009-11-15T13:36:38","modified_gmt":"2009-11-15T20:36:38","slug":"images-before-computers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/2009\/11\/15\/images-before-computers\/","title":{"rendered":"Images Before Computers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u201cMy sense is that this is essentially a visual culture, wired for sound \u2013 but one where the linguistic element\u2026 is slack and flabby, and not to be made interesting without ingenuity, daring, and keen motivation. (Bolter, p. 47.)\u00a0 Bolter quotes Jameson in The Breakout of the Visual for the purpose of illustrating how \u201cvery different theorists agree that our cultural moment \u2013 what we are calling the late age of print \u2013 is visual rather than linguistic.\u201d (Bolter, p48)\u00a0 One needs only to look around us and see how prevalent images are in our everyday life especially when pertaining to advertising on the outside on billboards, busses and storefronts.\u00a0 The space is limited therefore the images have to be much more compelling without actually using a lot of words.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both Kress and Bolter assert that the use of image over print is a relatively new phenomenon which has happened as a result of computer use and hypertext.\u00a0 If we look at the history of advertising, we can see that the shift was occurring and becoming culturally entrenched before the wide use of computers. Bolter asserts that \u201cin traditional print technology, images were contained by the verbal text.\u201d (p.48)\u00a0 He is absolutely right when referring to books and magazine articles but when looking at printed ads, we can see that images play a more primal role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since we live in a commercially driven capitalist (market) society which is highly dependent on the sale of unnecessary items, much capital and research has gone into how to sell every product imaginable.\u00a0 It may have become a clich\u00e9, but only because it is true – sex sells.\u00a0 Here is a very interesting web site that highlights some of the more ludicrous examples. \u00a0(http:\/\/inventorspot.com\/articles\/ads_prove_sex_sells_5576<\/a>)<\/p>\n

United States and Canada are made up of many people, representing various diverse cultures and languages.\u00a0 Images are pretty much universal although we do have to be careful as some may not be as universal as others.\u00a0 \u201cThe main point is that the relationship between word and image is becoming increasingly unstable, and this instability is especially apparent in popular American magazines, newspapers, and various forms of graphic advertising.\u201d (p.49)\u00a0 I would assert that the relationship was already unstable when computers became prevalent.\u00a0 Computers allowed people the forum of discussion and quick access to the images which were previously viewed in isolation. \u00a0There is no doubt that hypertext allows a further foray into the world of image and freed the image from the binding of the text.\u00a0\u00a0Kress points out the obvious and is not always correct.\u00a0 When he states that \u201c[the] chapters are numbered, and the assumption is that there is an apparent building from chapter to chapter: [they] are not to be read out of order. [at] the level of chapters, order is fixed.\u201d (Kress, p.3)\u00a0 It is a mistake to limit our study of the remediation of print by simply looking at text in books.\u00a0 If we expand our focus, as we must to properly discuss the subject, and include magazines and printed ads, evidence clearly points to the fact that the image was becoming more dominant before the prevalent use of computers.\u00a0 Like books, magazines and authors who wrote for them also knew \u201cabout [their] audience and \u2026 subject matter\u201d (Kress p.3).\u00a0 Unlike books where the order is very rigid, a magazine can be read in any order you like.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bolter acknowledges the influence of magazines and advertising on remediating text and images by stating that in Life magazine and People magazine \u201cthe image dominates the text, because the image is regarded as more immediate, closer to the reality presented.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bolter\u2019s use of the shaving picture from the USA Today is an excellent example of images becoming central in print.\u00a0 However, I think he is being generous when he states that \u201cdesigners no longer trusted the arbitrary symbolic structure of the graph to sustain its meaning \u2026 .\u201d (Bolter, p.53)\u00a0 I see it more as more pandering to the lowest common denominator.\u00a0 The designers do not trust the public\u2019s ability to read a graph rather than the graph\u2019s ability to \u201csustain its meaning.\u201d (Bolter, p. 53)\u00a0 It seems that the need to dummy text down is a comment not only on the writer\u2019s faith in the public\u2019s ability to interpret text but also to interpret images.\u00a0 Images are becoming more and more basic and try to appeal to our primal senses and needs – for instance, using sex as a vehicle to increase sales.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0The existence of the different entry points speaks of a sense of insecurity about the visitors.\u00a0 This could also be described as a fragmentation of the audience\u2014who are now no longer just readers but visitors, a different action being implied in the change of name, as Kress points out.<\/p>\n

Kress succinctly addresses the power of the image in the example of Georgia\u2019s drawing of her family.\u00a0 We can clearly see the differences and interpret them the way the creator of the drawing intended.\u00a0 The placement of the little girl in the drawing tells us about how she views herself in terms of her place in the family.\u00a0 There are no words and none are needed for the image really is worth a thousand words.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps it is fitting that in this fast paced world we live in, we are moving away from the art of writing, which does take time to both produce and consume to the image which takes time to produce but is designed to be consumed very quickly.\u00a0 However, to tie this change directly to the rise in the use of computers is to blind oneself to the rich legacy of printed images in advertising prior.<\/p>\n

Bolter, D. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print<\/em> [2nd<\/sup> edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum<\/p>\n

Kress, G. (2005). Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge, and learning. Computers and Composition, 22(1), 5-22.<\/p>\n

Inventor Spot.\u00a0 (2009).\u00a0 15 Ads That Prove Sex Sells… Best?\u00a0 Retrieved 12 November, 2009, from http:\/\/inventorspot.com\/articles\/ads_prove_sex_sells_5576<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u201cMy sense is that this is essentially a visual culture, wired for sound \u2013 but one where the linguistic element\u2026 is slack and flabby, and not to be made interesting without ingenuity, daring, and keen motivation. (Bolter, p. 47.)\u00a0 Bolter quotes Jameson in The Breakout of the Visual for the purpose of illustrating how \u201cvery […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":174,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4974],"tags":[6158,562,6460,6461],"class_list":["post-1907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary-2","tag-bolter","tag-culture","tag-kress","tag-print-ads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1907"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1909,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907\/revisions\/1909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec540sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}