3.7.07

a picture is worth a thousand words.

We have all heard that a picture is worth a thousand words. (for those who have not, say "a picture is worth a thousand words" aloud. If you are deaf, just read it.) I agree with this statement. I am sure that a picture of, say, my desk could easily garner one thousand words. But, I doubt that a grainy, out of focus picture of an unremarkable floor could get as many words as the pulitzer prize winner for 2006 . This leeds to the disturbing conclusion that not all photographs are worth 1000 words. Perhaps, they average to 1000 words, where verbose photographs are balanced out by the shy ones.

This lead me to an epiphany. Pictures with higher resolution would probably tend to have more words than ones with less, simply because there is more detail to talk/write about. Therefore, a monitor that displays pictures with higher resolution than one with a lower resolution would tend to gather more words. while they average out to be 1000, one could have 1020 while the other has 980. This leeds me to my next conclusion, that monitors, televisions etc. could be rated by the number of words on average that they get. This ranking system would be an easy way for consumers to know how a television ranked against other televisions.

Think how much easier "1100 words" is for the average consumer than "1080 i 30 in. panoramic L.C.D. flat-panel H.D.T.V." Sure, there is less finesse, but think how much more efficient it is. Also remembering that half of america is even more stupid than the average american, this could be a godsend to the costumer service and sales industries.

2 comments:

Rogue Onion said...

But what would be the standard image that would be displayed to get these statistics? Some images naturally gather more words than others...*glances at picture of your desk, then takes a look at this picture I accidentally took of the wall, with the corner of an uninteresting amount of a picture frame* so if some companies showed certain pictures, and others showed others, the statistics would be all screwy. I KNOW! How about that picture of your desk...

rayfreester said...

The companies could have one standard movie or episode of something and then scan through it frame by frame and have people describe everything they see and then average it, always using the same group or a random sample of people. For instance my tv form 1995 which sometimes turns or orange purple green or black and white, doesn't letterbox widescreen and is a crt so it distorts the picture at eh edges an isn't as bright in the part that isn't rounded, plus it's 30 inch full screen so of the lcd moniters we have are almost that big and my mom's laptop screen is as wide but not a tall, the tv also makes a noise, this tv is probably maybe 900 words. But i'm glad my have a tv and the picture is better than a VHS rip on a screen the size of a postage stamp. which is like maybe a 200 word is you're lucky.