Association of Science Communicators
  • Conferences
    • SCIENCE TALK '23
    • SCIENCE TALK '22 >
      • Event Page '22
      • Agenda '22
      • Sponsors '22
      • Speakers '22
      • Logistics '22
    • SCIENCE TALK '21 >
      • Event Page '21
      • Agenda '21
      • Sponsors '21
      • Speakers '21
      • FAQ '21
    • SCIENCE TALK '20 >
      • Event Page '20
      • Agenda '20
      • Speakers '20
      • FAQ '20
      • Posters/Artwork '20
    • SCIENCE TALK '19 >
      • Schedule (2019)
      • Presentations (2019)
      • Panels (2019)
      • Workshops (2019)
      • Photos (2019)
    • SCIENCE TALK '18 >
      • Schedule (2018)
      • Keynotes (2018)
      • Photos (2018)
    • SCIENCE TALK '17 >
      • Schedule (2017)
      • Speakers (2017)
      • Photos (2017)
      • Videos (2017)
  • Community
    • Forum
    • "A Science Blog" >
      • Pitching Guide
      • Blog Contributor Style Guide
    • Volunteer Openings
    • Ethics Policy
  • Collaborate
    • Partnership Opportunities
    • Sponsors and Partners
    • Advisory Panel
  • Resources
    • Communication Resources
    • Training & Courses
    • Meet the Community
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Our History
    • Executive Board
    • Volunteers
    • Contact
Picture

This section will not be visible in live published website. Below are your current settings (click inside this section to edit the settings):


Current Number Of Columns are = 3

Expand Posts Area = 1

Gap/Space Between Posts = 10px

Blog Post Style = card

Use of custom card colors instead of default colors =

Blog Post Card Background Color = current color

Blog Post Card Shadow Color = current color

Blog Post Card Border Color = current color

Publish the website and visit your blog page to see the results

Thanks, Johannes Gutenberg, but we’re moving on: The case for visual communication

1/12/2020

2 Comments

 
This post was contributed by Picture as Portal® cofounder, Betsy Palay. Betsy is a Certified Medical Illustrator and science communicator. She is a founder, former president, and previous creative director of Artemis Creative, Inc. She was president of the Association of Medical Illustrators from 2009 – 2010.
Around 1440, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press and changed the world. Words—and thus information and ideas—could now be easily duplicated and distributed by the thousands. Printing technology caused a literacy revolution around the globe. 

We’re now in the midst of another revolution—not of words, but of pictures. It’s been said that “the digital revolution is a visual revolution.” (1) I agree. Ironically, digital technology is now making it possible for humans to return to our original—and in many cases our best—form of communication: the picture.

Check out this timeline. Humans communicated through pictures for about 70,000 years before somebody devised a way to put spoken words into a visible form through written language.
Infographic of the visual revolution
​No question about it, written language is very useful. However, translating our thoughts into words that can be written and read is tedious and indirect. It requires two sequential steps: the translation of thoughts into words by the thinker, and then the translation of words into thoughts by the reader.

The advantages of visual communication 

Pictures, on the other hand, offer communication with no translation necessary. Pictures actually mirror physical, spatial qualities of the real world. Imagine looking at a map. In an instant, you immediately understand what’s far, what’s close, and what barriers stand between you and your destination.

Even more important, the way we organize objects in the physical world—into groups and subgroups for example—mimics the way we organize conceptual information in our brains. So we can instantly see concepts when we look at a picture —no translation necessary. Imagine a calendar or an organizational chart. You instantly know how far away your birthday is. Or which departments have the most influence in your organization. 

From the point of view of biology, this makes a lot of sense. The brains we use today evolved about two hundred thousand years ago—long before written words existed. At that point, what we needed were brains that could navigate a complex 3-dimensional world and make instantaneous decisions about what to run from and what to run toward. We needed brains that could very quickly process complex shapes, sizes, colors, edges, and other visual elements of our natural surroundings. And we got them! It’s estimated that in a quarter of a second, our human brains can analyze 30 different characteristics of visual input. To perform this feat, more than a third of our brains are devoted exclusively to the processing of visual input entering our eyes​. (2)

On the other hand, it’s pretty certain that written language is at most only several thousand years old. This means that in order for us to read, we’ve had to adapt the brains and neural systems we already have (3) The fact that we can read at all is a testament to the adaptability of our brains. But it’s still a Rube Goldberg construction. ​
In order for us to read, we’ve had to adapt the brains and neural systems we already have (3) The fact that we can read at all is a testament to the adaptability of our brains. But it’s still a Rube Goldberg construction. 
Visual communication has other advantages. Unlike words, pictures are non-linear. They’re great at showing us relationships between things—especially ideas and information—by enabling us to see all the content simultaneously. This is a huge advantage. In verbal language, by the time we read or hear the last word of a paragraph, the first word is long gone. In a picture—like in our maps—we can see the starting point and the ending point at the same time, and judge for ourselves the relationship between the two. We can see both detail and the big picture all at once—an obvious advantage in science, in data analysis, and in understanding and communicating many kinds of complex ideas.

For example, in a data graphic you can actually see the links between the data and the conclusion that the data supports—simultaneously. With words alone, the reader might forget some components of the data by the time they read the conclusion.

​Last but not least, pictures are universal. Pictures can transcend the barriers of verbal and written language. This is obviously a critical advantage in helping us move forward with interdisciplinary, multicultural, and global communication and collaboration. ​

​The need for improved pictures in science and research

Pictures are powerful tools for communication that can connect people to knowledge in ways that words and numbers cannot. But currently, pictures are often poorly used and profoundly underutilized. Marketers have been taking advantage of the power of pictures for years now. They know that good visuals get their content and products noticed and purchased. But we can certainly employ pictures for loftier science communication goals!

Our challenge now is to ramp up the teaching of visual communication skills, move it out of the visual arts, into the mainstream, and into STEM and STEAM programs. Because pictures are worth a lot more than a thousand words.

REFERENCES

(1) Paul Sereno, PhD, Paleontologist, University of Chicago, in keynote address to the Association of Medical Illustrators, July 26, 2019

(2) Salk Institute. “How the brain recognizes what the eye sees.” ScienceDaily, 8 June 2017.<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170608145602.htm>. 

(3) NPR Newscast, Alva Noe, Stanislas Dehaene, Reading in the Brain: the New Science of How We Read, June 3, 2011
2 Comments
Harriet Witt link
3/3/2020 11:59:27 am

Can you hear me clapping? Yes, the literate brain is a Rube Goldberg construction. My native Hawaiian friends are belly-laughing in agreement with you. Their ancestors - the greatest navigators on Earth - never read a word until 1820. That’s when Massachusetts missionaries came to these Islands to teach the natives how to read the Bible by way of teaching them how to “behave.” Since Hawaiians were not thinking along the straight lines of the printed page, they learned to navigate thousands of miles of open ocean with no need for the technology that the literate mind believes is necessary. Hawaiians’ navigational skill is evidenced by the fact that New Zealand’s native Maori speak the same language as Hawaii’s natives, despite 8,000 miles of ocean between them.

Now that our planet’s 6th extinction has all of us “navigating uncharted waters,” we can learn a lot from indigenous people whose thinking is not compromised by the Rube Goldberg construction that I’ve been struggling to escape ever since landing on Maui in 1988. I have published, award-winning material on Hawaiian navigation that I’m happy to donate to your cause - if you can use it. Keep up the wonderful work!

Reply
kiomitakada link
6/1/2020 07:59:16 pm

I feel very thankful that I could read that awesome article. Thanks for sharing. Keep posting.
We also provide hotmail & yahoo customer care services in USA & Canada. Feel free to contact us.
<a href="https://mckarma.com/contact-hotmail-support/"> Hotmail Help Guide </a>

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Discussion
    Diversity Equity & Inclusion
    From The President's Desk
    Multimedia
    Personal Narratives
    Profiles
    SciComm
    SciComm Tips
    Science Design
    Science Talk News
    Speaking
    Thought Leadership
    Writing

    Pitch & Contribute

    Do you have something to say about science communication and looking for a good forum?

    ​Please see our pitching guide and then email blog@sciencetalk.org with your pitch and we'll discuss the details. 

    A Science Blog
    Co-editors

    Picture
    Christina M. Swords (she/her)
    @cmarvin67
    ​​
    Picture
    Amy R Nippert
    (she/her)
    @nipper_r

    Contact us at blog@sciencetalk.org

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017

Picture
​The Association of Science Communicators is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization (Tax ID: 82-2076772). We are a volunteer-run organization and depend entirely on donors and sponsors for operational support. If you value science communication and would like to make sure decisions are made based on the value of science, please consider donating today.
© Copyright 2016. All Rights Reserved.
  • Conferences
    • SCIENCE TALK '23
    • SCIENCE TALK '22 >
      • Event Page '22
      • Agenda '22
      • Sponsors '22
      • Speakers '22
      • Logistics '22
    • SCIENCE TALK '21 >
      • Event Page '21
      • Agenda '21
      • Sponsors '21
      • Speakers '21
      • FAQ '21
    • SCIENCE TALK '20 >
      • Event Page '20
      • Agenda '20
      • Speakers '20
      • FAQ '20
      • Posters/Artwork '20
    • SCIENCE TALK '19 >
      • Schedule (2019)
      • Presentations (2019)
      • Panels (2019)
      • Workshops (2019)
      • Photos (2019)
    • SCIENCE TALK '18 >
      • Schedule (2018)
      • Keynotes (2018)
      • Photos (2018)
    • SCIENCE TALK '17 >
      • Schedule (2017)
      • Speakers (2017)
      • Photos (2017)
      • Videos (2017)
  • Community
    • Forum
    • "A Science Blog" >
      • Pitching Guide
      • Blog Contributor Style Guide
    • Volunteer Openings
    • Ethics Policy
  • Collaborate
    • Partnership Opportunities
    • Sponsors and Partners
    • Advisory Panel
  • Resources
    • Communication Resources
    • Training & Courses
    • Meet the Community
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Our History
    • Executive Board
    • Volunteers
    • Contact