{"id":116,"date":"2009-06-21T19:09:47","date_gmt":"2009-06-21T19:09:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp\/2009\/06\/the_text_revolution_-_why_text\/"},"modified":"2009-06-21T19:09:47","modified_gmt":"2009-06-21T19:09:47","slug":"the_text_revolution_-_why_text","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/06\/the_text_revolution_-_why_text.html","title":{"rendered":"The Text Revolution – Why Text Is More Efficient Than TV"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"twitterIran-2.jpg\"<\/span>In the TV Age the tube has dominated breaking news. Watching crucial moments of a big dramatic story on TV can be compelling, and the TV news audience has dwarfed newspaper readership. It is accepted wisdom that TV owns the dramatic breaking story; newspapers bat cleanup.<\/p>\n

But maybe not. Watch a big story on cable news and you’re in for acres of boring vamping and conjecture wrapped around the couple of minutes here and there that you really do want to see. And those dramatic couple of minutes are endlessly repeated until you’re tired of seeing them. Fact is, video is a linear medium that sometimes isn’t very efficient at advancing coverage of a story.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, text – lowly text – may turn out to be more efficient. Text isn’t real-time. Its order can be rearranged on the fly by the reader. It can point to other things – video, photos, charts, diagrams, reference information. More important, it can be skimmed to quickly find only the pieces you’re looking for. With mobile devices, text can be transmitted by anyone, quickly and easily. <\/p>\n

In the past week, the most compelling coverage of the protests in Iran hasn’t been on television, it’s been on the internet via Twitter. Thousands of people have been tweeting, reporting what they have seen and pointing readers to photos and video clips posted on YouTube. <\/p>\n

Why more compelling? First, it has democratized the reporting, giving access to thousands of eye-witness reports from all over the country, rather than the accounts of a few correspondents who may not have the breadth of access that the thousands of volunteer eye-witnesses do. Perhaps just as important,  the short texts are skimmable, and a number<\/a> of websites<\/a> have endeavored to collect and sort through the raw reports. Twitter and YouTube have made coverage that is customizeable by readers. No more Wolf Blitzer endlessly filling time while awaiting new developments.<\/p>\n

A funny thing has happened on the way to the YouTube revolution: video everywhere has elevated the role of text. People want to watch video, but on their own terms and not in a linear stream decided by someone else. The easiest way to sort information isn’t by video, it’s by text. Why do people text one another rather than dial their phones and talk? Texts, in an odd way, seem easier. <\/p>\n

In the next week or so, Google will release its Google Voice service, which will take your voice mails and convert them to text transcriptions which can be emailed to you. Why? Because voicemail can be clumsy; text takes the interaction online, where it can be controlled by the recipient. It might be easier to record a voice message, but reading that message is more efficient than dialing in to listen to a recording.<\/p>\n

That is not to say that listening to someone’s voice – the tone, the inflection, the nuance – doesn’t provide more information than text. And text doesn’t convey the visual experience of video. But in the future, video and audio might be considered the drill-down rather than the headline, a curious flip of the media world we have recently known where TV has offered the raw immediacy and newspapers weigh in later to add the depth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the TV Age the tube has dominated breaking news. Watching crucial moments of a big dramatic story on TV can be compelling, and the TV news audience has dwarfed newspaper readership. It is accepted wisdom that TV owns the dramatic breaking story; newspapers bat cleanup. But maybe not. Watch a big story on cable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ePZm-1S","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":188,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2011\/12\/liquid-content.html","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":0},"title":"Are you a Channel or are you a Library?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"December 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"TV used to be an appointment medium. It's Thursday night at 8 and you're in front of the set watching or else you missed your favorite show. Then VCR's, DVD's and DVR's progressively pecked away at the appointment schedule. Many of us now wait till a show has aired and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "culture business models"","block_context":{"text":"culture business models","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/culture-business-models"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/athenaeum-library2.jpeg?fit=634%2C382&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/athenaeum-library2.jpeg?fit=634%2C382&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/athenaeum-library2.jpeg?fit=634%2C382&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":359,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/08\/good_intentions-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":1},"title":"Great Expectations (Except When They're Not)","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"August 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Ken Brecher tells this story about Alexander Graham Bell. The inventor of the telephone apparently spent the last part of his life railing against the way people were using his invention. When greeting someone on the phone, he insisted, the proper protocol was to exclaim \"ahoy!\" Saying \"hello\" was a\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/08\/good_intentions-2.html#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"telephone.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/telephone.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1078,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/08\/tv-dying-video-streaming-surging-so-this-is-how-people-are-getting-their-news-uh-oh.html","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":2},"title":"TV Dying, Video Streaming Surging – So This Is How People Are Getting Their News (Uh-Oh)","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"August 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A flood of stories this week show how TV is dying and video is on the rise. You think changing audience behavior is tough on arts organizations? Try it when you're a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate like NBCUniversal Comcast or Verizon. Olympics TV ratings were down 18% from 2012. NBC had paid\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "arts & tech"","block_context":{"text":"arts & tech","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/arts-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/The-revolt-against-mainstream-media-news-BBC-News.png?fit=948%2C526&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/The-revolt-against-mainstream-media-news-BBC-News.png?fit=948%2C526&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/The-revolt-against-mainstream-media-news-BBC-News.png?fit=948%2C526&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/The-revolt-against-mainstream-media-news-BBC-News.png?fit=948%2C526&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3213,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2026\/02\/this-weeks-aj-chronicles-context-is-survival.html","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":3},"title":"This Week’s AJ Chronicles: Context is Survival","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"February 1, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Existential crises have a way of forcing clarity. Whether the arts and the larger creative world are in crisis I leave for you to decide. But with weekly news of financial and organizational meltdowns, political pressures and an almost primordial angst about threats of AI, some things may be becoming\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AJ Chronicles"","block_context":{"text":"AJ Chronicles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/aj-chronicles"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot_1-2-2026_03316_www.instagram.com_.jpeg?fit=674%2C671&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot_1-2-2026_03316_www.instagram.com_.jpeg?fit=674%2C671&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot_1-2-2026_03316_www.instagram.com_.jpeg?fit=674%2C671&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":817,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/03\/five-highlights-from-last-weeks-artsjournal.html","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":4},"title":"Five Highlights From Last Week’s ArtsJournal","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"March 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Researchers find links between what you watch and how you behave, how women are changing classical music, fascinating fights over who owns Picasso, a Golden Age for New York theatre, and concerns about the integrity of museums. You are what you eat, right? So are you also what you watch?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weekly AJ Top Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Weekly AJ Top Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/weekly-aj-top-stories"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/PabloPicasso-Weeping-Woman-with-Handkerchief-1937.jpg?fit=601%2C734&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/PabloPicasso-Weeping-Woman-with-Handkerchief-1937.jpg?fit=601%2C734&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/PabloPicasso-Weeping-Woman-with-Handkerchief-1937.jpg?fit=601%2C734&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":179,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2011\/12\/do-you-want-to-be-my-cable-company-or-my-tv-provider.html","url_meta":{"origin":116,"position":5},"title":"Do you want to be my cable company or my TV provider?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"December 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I pay my cable provider to supply me with TV. Since I don't want to watch on my cable provider's schedule I pay for Tivo. Since my cable provider doesn't have all the movies I want to watch, I buy DVDs. I also have a Netflix subscription. Since I travel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "culture business models"","block_context":{"text":"culture business models","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/culture-business-models"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/tv.jpeg?fit=380%2C380&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}