The Badger article makes perfect sense to me. Early in the semester, I admitted that one of my complaints with the increase in Internet-based communication and the seemingly inevitable decrease in more personal communication was the lack of non-verbal cues in the former. I can't even stand to talk on the phone for more than a few minutes for this same reason, but at least on the phone I can hear tone of voice. The use of visuals in blogging seems to add some of that missing ingredient back into the pot. The challenge for visitors of these blogs, then, is to determine the function of the images being used. Are they accurate representations of the author and his or her life? Are they more cryptic, intended as some puzzle for the visitors to solve? Are they random, as many seem to be, or is there a larger pattern to be discovered? I would guess that regular visitors to visual blogs have the opportunity to learn the authors' tendencies in image usage, and this would subsequently make the overall messages more "truthful" (or at least meaningful) for these viewers.
See you Wednesday,
Jake
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3 comments:
In blogs, I think images peak the interest of the reader. I am more apt to read a blog with an image because I am curious to see the connection between it and the written text. However, I am a little skeptical that a blogger who includes an image does so to make his/her message more “truthful.” Although a picture is worth a thousand words, an image does not always reflect reality.
In blogs I'm more skeptical about visuals and whether or not they've been altered or are actual images. This is something I never used to think about, I assumed people were honest. Unfortunately in today's climate you just can't trust things anymore. Visuals can be a wonderful tool to attract people to your blog or websire and if you use them well to illustrate a point it's great.
Very interesting. I don't think too many bloggers use visuals as non-verbal cues that support their text, but if more did, I certainly would be more interested in blogs. Perhaps I need to expose myself to a few more before spouting my random commentary.
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