RE: pictures, words, info, glyphs, symbols, thoughts

[eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com]

Letoured wrote:

<<So, showing pictures of a saw, hammer, nails, a wooden fence and another on
making a fence -- at the local hardware store, will get you what is need to go
home and build one -- right?>>

As Bill Swallow pointed out, if you have no background in carpentry, it would be
difficult to achieve. But then again some fairly complex IKEA furniture and
Tamiya models can be assembled from instructions that are purely graphical. But,
and I don't think I'll get an argument from anyone, some background or
experience with IKEA or Tamiya is required to assemble their most complex items.
And, I'm not sure when the last time you went to a hardware store was, but at my
local warehouse stores there are little graphic intensive pamphlets in each
department explaining how to accomplish all sorts of home repair and improvement
projects.

<<Only the most simple of information can be conveyed with pictures. -- As
someone who has taught blueprint reading, I assure it cannot be done without
using many, many words.>>

And what's the purpose of a Blueprint? To convey complex ideas and instructions
graphically with a minimum of words. The fact you have to learn HOW to read them
actually only supports the other arguments on list pointing out how culturally
biased graphics can be and that often must be learned much like a verbal
language. I took three or four drafting and design courses that covered
blueprints and engineering drawings. Sure took a lot of words to explain what
they meant, but now you can hand me engineering drawings and schematics and I
can write chapters and chapters of maintenance manuals with little verbal input
from the engineers.

Give a welder or machinist a correctly drawn plan and they'll produce exactly
what you need. I think that speaks volumes about graphical communication, don't
you?

<<Okay. Lets test the idea. Draw me pictures of how to make 6 year old go to
bed, or to make her share a bag of jelly beans with her brother. No words
allowed.>>

While this at first glance seems to be an absurd argument not worth
consideration, you can teach an awful lot to children using pictures. For
starters, to teach a child to read, you have to start with the pictures and
associate them with words. Saw a television program about all the unexploded
ordinance (UXO) left over in LAOS after the US bombed the country. With
unexploded cluster bombs numbering in the tens of millions, safety programs
teach children the dangers using pictures and props.

<<Or lets, make it simple; I have experience in power plant management,
operations, maintenance, safety, training, engineering, design and writing --
draw me a picture that conveys that better then a synopsis.>

Well, the safety part is easy. Operations of power plants are simplified by
graphics and colours on the contorl boards to quickly convey information to the
operators. Maintenance is aided by simplified and complex schematics. Indeed
arguing that graphics are not and cannot be used to convey complex meanings
seems to be a very strange position to take for someone familiar with blueprints
and power plant safety signs. No one has said that you can fully dispense with
words. But to argue that graphics can't convey complex ideas is just silly.

I propose a counter challenge. Document power plant management, operations,
maintenance, safety, training, engineering, and design without using symbols or
graphics. THAT would be monumental task.

Eric L. Dunn



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