I don't think that images or words, in and of themselves, can be true replacements for each other. They are, most always, complementary, There are cases where they can be used to convey the same thing, but one is usually more effective than the other.

I think the consensus is that a mixture of the two can be very effective in many situations but how it is done needs to be tailored to the desired outcome, the cultural context, the audience mood/background, etc.

Drawing on the previous chapter that proposed that we are, as a culture, getting shorter attention spans I think there is a greater draw to images (still or moving) because of the perceived efficiency.

I watched a show on the History Channel last night that documented the evolution of the comic book hero. One thing that stuck out was that Hollywood has a hard time making a "great" movie around comic book characters because the movie medium does not lend itself to depth of character like the graphic novel medium does. Reading the thoughts and emotions in the words included in the panels of a comic book convey a lot that cannot be captured on the screen. Very interesting in comparison with this chapter.

Again and again in my career I have seen that people who can write well — in almost any field — give themselves a great advantage over their competition. I have former students in the business world, English majors all, who have kept their jobs or even gotten promotions when people with business and economics degrees were being laid off: their ability to communicate, especially in writing, was always the key. What Toor and O’Connor show is that there are basic writing skills that almost anyone can learn and employ, skills that will save them a lot of time and effort later — if they are willing to take some time and effort now. But of course, it helps if they can find someone to teach them…

<quote>Again and again in my career I have seen that people who can write well — in almost any field — give themselves a great advantage over their competition. I have former students in the business world, English majors all, who have kept their jobs or even gotten promotions when people with business and economics degrees were being laid off: their ability to communicate, especially in writing, was always the key. What Toor and O’Connor show is that there are basic writing skills that almost anyone can learn and employ, skills that will save them a lot of time and effort later — if they are willing to take some time and effort now. But of course, it helps if they can find someone to teach them…</quote>

It showed the transition between modernity and post-modernity between the two shows. Spock was the ideal type in the first show while Data strove toward the ideal human in the second. Great article.

For the most part I agree that words invoke thought while images invoke emotion. So, when we consider whether to use words or images to convey something and how, we have to ask ourselves do I want to evoke thought or emotion or both. I think this is a particularly important question for people who communicate the gospel – pastors, people who plan church worship services, and church communication/web directors.

Our faith should be one of both passion/emotion and reason, so we should be engaging people with both words and images, but at different times and in different settings it may be better to emphasize one over the other depending on what you're trying to accomplish.