Xref: utzoo alt.hypertext:813 comp.graphics:17053 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!jarthur!nntp-server.caltech.edu!mustang!data.nas.nasa.gov!sun499!hultquis From: hultquis@nas.nasa.gov (Jeff P. M. Hultquist) Newsgroups: alt.hypertext,comp.graphics Subject: Re: Images vs. Text Message-ID: Date: 4 Apr 91 22:03:55 GMT References: <10292@pitt.UUCP> <1991Apr3.031013.27762@watserv1.waterloo.edu> <1991Apr03.152708.147@convex.com> Sender: news@nas.nasa.gov Reply-To: hultquis@nas.nasa.gov Distribution: alt Organization: NAS - Applied Research Office, NASA Ames Lines: 29 In-Reply-To: cimshop!davidm@uunet.UU.NET's message of 4 Apr 91 18:27:46 GMT Sneaky> Yes, this makes sense. I can process an image IN PARALLEL. I can see a Sneaky> picture of a horse and immediately I know it is a horse. Peter> Yes, and that's very nice. But what does the picture _mean_? Peter> "Rent your horse here"? "Horse crossing"? "Don't forget to feed Peter> the horse"? "The horse is a large quadruped ruminant mammal"? davidm> Of course this depends on the representation of the horse in davidm> the picture and the context around the picture. For instance: davidm> ... davidm> 4. This one shows the problem with language because I don't davidm> have any context for the word "ruminant" (I didn't look it davidm> up). I think an intelligently designed picture would convey davidm> the meaning to me. Yick! I think that davidm _should_ look up the word 'ruminant' and then give us his opinion. I find it difficult to believe that the power of text can be ever approached by 'point-and-grunt' user interfaces. Text gives us the power to develop and name abstract concepts; icons don't do this so well. -- -- Jeff Hultquist hultquis@nas.nasa.gov NASA - Ames Research Center (415) 604-4970 Disclaimer: "I am not a rocket scientist."