Pictographs and Pictographic Logic

Communication is not limited to the use of words and text but also extends to the use of pictures, punctuation, spacing, and the medium of our message. The article "Images as the Text: Pictographs and Pictographic Logic" by Drucker and McGann states that "A true pictograph functions as an image whose meaning is communicated through its visual form as a picture of something, whether the communication is effected through substitution or translation into language or not". The article mentions clay sign-tokens used by ancient Sumer and their effective development of a system to record simple business transactions. Much like our present graphs they used pictures and a numerical notation to display how much of a certain product was at hand. Although the present graphs have become much more complex and colorful the concept used in ancient Sumer remains the same. The purpose of a graph is to display information visually allowing people to make decisions easier and in less time.

An example of the effectiveness of a graph to display information can be shown through the following graph.  We can determine that the strawberry is the favorite fruit of this specific population.  Although there are no words to directly tell us so, the pictures and numbers allow us to make the connection.

Picture links: http://rmeducation.virtual.vps-host.net/files/image/graphs.jpg

Restructuring Consciousness

Writing has restructured the way in which we communicate and process information. We have evolved different ways of effectively sharing our ideas, transitioning from oral communication to written form. With the emergence of the Electronic Age we are now adapting to modern outlets of ideas such as computers. Throughout the history of writing, the medium through which it is conveyed transitions to the best available technology. Various materials including rocks, animal skin, papyrus, dried vegetation, paper, etc. have been used to write. Currently as mentioned in "10 Reading Revolutions Before E-Books" by Tim Carmody the Electronic Age and computing has largely impacted written communication. There are so many forms through which ideas can be transmitted, “Entire new families of audiovisual media, transmitted wirelessly or on discs, cylinders, reels, and cassettes, became more essential to culture even as text continued to proliferate exponentially” (Carmody, 1). Although the medium through which we receive information has evolved it only improves our ability to learn. The transition from paper to electronic form is similar to that of oral to written form. Plato had strong feeling against writing because he believed it weakened the mind, just as what it though of the computer today. The electronic age and computing has without a doubt restructured our consciousness.