At 05:37 PM 4/4/2006, Richard Czeiger wrote:
In your example, "Chien", "Perro", "Inu" are representations of the
concept of 'dog' and therefore would fall into the category of
signifiers (<dd>).
True: a photograph is not a definition of a dog, however, a
photograph of a dog is not the dog itself, but rather a repsentation.
You guys crack me up! You seem to be saying that, of all these
signifiers -- "dog," "chien," [doggy photo], etc. -- it's the one
that is most like a dog, or mostly IS a dog, that deserves to go in
the DT. What, you think the word "dog" is more like an actual dog
than a photograph of a dog? Doggone it, the word "dog" is no more a
dog than a potato chip. For proximity to the real thing, I'll put my
money on the photograph of the dog which is at least a direct
physical reflection of an actual dog. Words like "dog" and "chien"
are just indirect reflections of dogs in the murky, ripply human pond.
Until you figure out how to get an actual dog into a web page, all
you have to work with is one representation or another. There is no
real dog on the page, you know, so all your dictionary list is doing
is defining one symbol with other symbols. You use DTs to say, "Here
are some things you may not understand that I'm about to explain with
the following ddefinitions." In one dictionary list, "dog" will be
the DT and "chien" will be the DD. In another, [fidophoto] will be
the DT and "My dog Binky" will be the DD. It all has to do with what
you intend to elucidate.
So here I've got a collection of items:
- photograph of a Zimbabwean mbira
- the title "Mbira Dzavadzimu"
- the caption "Hand-crafted by Fradreck Mujuru, Harare, 2005"
Does the title help define the photograph or does the photograph help
define the title? Does seeing the photo of the musical instrument
help explain its name, or does its name help explain the
photo? Both, of course: they both contribute in different ways to
our understanding of the whole. Whether I write:
<dt><img src="mbira.jpg" /></dt>
<dd>Mbira Dzavadzimu</dd>
<dd>Hand-crafted by Fradreck Mujuru, Harare, 2005</dd>
or:
<dt>Mbira Dzavadzimu</dt>
<dd><img src="mbira.jpg" /></dd>
<dd>Hand-crafted by Fradreck Mujuru, Harare, 2005</dd>
the communication is nearly identical, and the difference so obscure
as to be practicably irrelevant to the glossary of musical
instruments or the product catalog or the website portfolio we're presenting.
Now, don't come whining to me that you can't put an image in a DT
because an image isn't a "term." Dang it, a photograph isn't a
"definition" either. We're using a semantic structure to help make
metaphorical sense of information, fer crying out loud. Don't be so
gol-darned fiddly that you spend hours trying to figure out how to
float one DD to the left and the DT and all the other DDs to the
right! Put the gol-danged image in the DT, float it left, and you're
done. Get on with your lives, now! Scoot!
Your ornery ole Pa
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