Picture Book – LIFE AS A HUMAN

You are witnessing changes to the English language and its use. Men and women who have studied the literature of great English writers are now historians rather than literary scholars and men and women who have spent their lives ensuring they have used the proper tense and correct punctuation are lost to a new world of shortcuts and pictures. You remember the words, books and records of a past time. It was a time of learning words, reading books, spelling bees and learning the correct grammar. You remember “show and tell” exercises from primary school. This time appears to have passed its usefulness.

You are now part of a world of technology, computers and new methods of communication that guide the form of language used in the present century. There are few words, little substance; a book of images will tell your story. You can create the story you want and share your story with others.

A new Picture Book has been created. Picture Book provides remnants of the past. There are important quotes; there are snippets of history, art and literature from the past. It can be argued that Picture Book is precise in detail but void of thought, reason and creativity or, perhaps it is more creative if your believe that a “picture is worth more than a thousand words”. Picture Book shows you images and faces. Picture Book is available to all who have internet access and can be installed as part of your computer programme.

The poor in word skills will inherit the word for the word has lost its value. Value is now judged on the quality of the photos and number of pixels in the images posted on Picture Book. Picture Book is the new “show and tell”. Tell all to Picture Book and it will keep your information. Tell Picture Book what television programmes you watch, what books you read, what music you listen to. Help Picture Book define you to ensure you will remain within your definition. Your story and your definition will be available to others with whom you choose to share and those with whom you make contact. You will learn to share, to block, and to change your profile and with whom you want to play games With its tools, Picture Book can engage you twenty-four hours a day and every day of the week.

The English language has a role to play in Picture Book. New words have been created for the communication revolution of which you are now a part. New words accompany visual images in Picture Book’s pictionary. The words have been shortened to sounds: U, Yah! G, Blah! Picture Book allows you to blog, chat and create your own Picture Gallery. These are the literary genres of the twenty-first century.

We are mixing the languages of many cultures and many people from many backgrounds. Children with mobiles and internet access have the capacity to call U or text U. It is so easy when you use pictures.

What will be the result of these changes? Will babel words become part of Picture Book? Will the pictures and new words bind nations or will they divide the technically skilled from those without access to Picture Book?

Picture Book has commandments for you to follow. It will create the words you need to use. Its objective is simplicity and repetition. To help you learn quickly, Picture Book will repeat its images and programmes. It will repeat its chain of commands. With the touch of a button, you can create a group of Picture Book contacts. Picture Book will show you how to find friends. It will show its contacts how to find you. Picture Book is a social network with few borders.

When you add a friend, this friend is now part of your group, one of your contacts. Take care, do you know the friend? Did you push the right button? How easy it is to make friends. Now you can send your friend messages, links, pictures and music. To make your life easier you can send the same message to all of your friends. Hi! Call U soon. Text me. Have a nice day. No content necessary.

There are Picture Book messages for every occasion. Poems, messages of love, messages of care, beautiful pictures and music. Picture Book contains images designed to tear and torture your emotions, sadness and happiness at your fingertips. Music and messages that will bring a tear to your eye or a smile to your face. Your mood. Your choice.

Picture Book also contains messages of historical events, famous people from some time in the past. What would Shakespeare have written? What did Einstein think, what did Freud believe?

There are jokes and games to play. Messages arrive from your friends, other souls who have the desire to share a greeting. You can send messages to your contacts as an offering of peace, of love, of sharing that knows few boundaries if your list of contacts is long enough. You can share with or without discrimination based on race, gender, age or religion. You have become part of my chain of contacts. So cool!

Picture Book is here for everyone. Mind that you use the right words and give Picture Book your mind. Picture Book can become your best friend, a friend with whom you can pass many hours. It is your choice. It is your life.

This is a story about change. It is a story about the importance of technology, speed and simplicity. Picture Book seeks to make your life simple and easy. In another time and in another place there would have been research and discussion about the widespread changes engendered by Picture Book. There would have been inquiries as to the changes being made to the English language. That is, however, not the present. You have accepted Picture Book. It is part of your world and you are part of its global network.

Only you can answer the question. Is Picture Book a fashion or a modern tragedy?

Photo Credits

Guest Author Bio

Charalee Graydon – Author and Journalist
Charalee Graydon was born in Alberta, Canada. She holds degrees in arts and law. Following receipt of a Rhodes scholarship in 1982, Charalee pursued post-graduate legal studies in Oxford, England. She held academic positions in England, New Zealand, and Canada and practiced law in Canada. She developed programmes for students, judges and the public and published academic works on legal issues and crime and punishment. She created and taught a course at the University of Alberta on sentencing and has given radio and television interviews on this topic. She holds a diploma in Freelance and Feature Writing from the London School of Journalism.