The Power and the Frailty of Images: Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Nahum Gershon The MITRE Corporation Recent developments of computer visual display hardware on one hand and computer graphics and visualization methods and software on the other have gunerared new interest in images and visual representations. It is now possible with a '~lip of a button" to generate visual depictions of data and information or to take existing images and modify them at e~se. This renaissance of visual representation has highlighted the notion of the power of images. "A picture is worth a 1,000 words" goes the popular saying. It usually means that with an image, one could pack more information into a given space than by using words to describe the same information. The power of images is not limited to just saving space, Images can convey information chat words cannot (e.g. we need to define concepts before we are able to express impressions with words). In that sense, John Berger noted that "Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speal~" [ I ] Images can deliver a message more quickly than by using words. These known facts have
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