Research activity: Go here: http://www.marchandmeffre.com/index.html Reflect on the images (click on the links to navigate the Detroit pictures. What knowledge is represented in these images? What knowledge is lost in these images? What could make them better as knowledge representations?
Sternberg R and Sternberg K ( 2009, Cognitive Psychology, p.273) defined two ways to represen our knowledge. They stated that our knowledge “can be stored as a mental picture, or in words, or abstract propositions.” Each of these representations has different kind of information. In figure 1, we can see the bird is in the cage. However, the picture conveys a great deal of concrete information about this bird. For example, it shows a spatial relationship between the bird and the cage. The spatial relationship represents the position of the bird better than the written words. Also, the chord symbol denotes that the bird is singing. The swing shows the bird direction and setting.
One of the significant points, there are no arbitrary rules for looking at the picture. Therefore, you can scan the picture from any side and way. Also, if you cover a part of the picture, you can understand the picture. In contrast, symbolic representation is arbitrary and requires the application of rules, such as the sequence of letters, the grammar structure, and correct forming of sentences. Very importantly, if you cover a part of the words you may not be able to understand the content.
Nevertheless, the authors mentioned that abstract relationships rarely are implied through pictures. For example, if you look at the dictionary to find out the definition of the word cage, you will find different meanings and explanations.
Here are some examples from dictionary.com
1. A boxlike enclosure having wires, bars, or the like, for confining and displaying birds or animals.
2. Anything that confines or imprisons; prison.
3. Something resembling a cage in structure, as for a cashier or bank teller.
From these definitions, we can mentally represent this cage as a box having wires or bars, and used to display birds or other animals. This information allows us to know other types of cages and their uses that pictures cannot tell us about them.
I have looked at some pictures of ruined Detroit pictures and found that most of them do not have clear symbolic representations, thus, this made me confused about the events and their relationships with pictures. Take figure 2 as an example, in this image, abstract and spatial relationships are hardly visible since there is no clear symbolic representation and explanation of the event in this picture. The word ruined was used to describe all these pictures, but what was the cause and what were the consequences, such these data are vague. Therefore, this kind of knowledge in these pictures is absent, and in my opinion, each picture should have a clear symbolic representation that is suitable for its look.
Figure 2: Ballroom, American Hotel
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