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Basic Technology for Cost Effective Exhibits By William S. Bailey LIFE IN THE 21 ST CENTURY Jurors are much more visually sophisticated now than at any other time in American history. Computers, television and films have taken a predominant role in popular culture. While reading has not yet become a lost art in America , it has been squeezed by the competition in visually based popular entertainment. Paul Connolly, the Director of the Institute for Writing & Thinking has observed: We have become such a sophisticated culture that we are intolerant of a 400-page book, and want forms of communication that are more efficient and immediate. After 500 years, we may have outgrown Gutenberg. VISUAL EVIDENCE IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE Years ago, Marshall McLuhan offered an analysis of why visual information is much more persuasive, which still holds true today: Most people find it difficult to understand purely verbal concepts. They suspect the ear; they don't trust it. In general, we feel more secure when things are visible, when we can see for ourselves. We admonish children, for instance, to ìbelieve only half of what they see, and nothing of what they hearî . . . We employ visual and spatial metaphors for a great many everyday expressions . . . Marshal McLuhan and Quinton Fiore, The Medium Is The Massage , 117 (1967). In addition to the psychological and cultural bias of most jurors in favor of visual evidence, it is a much more efficient means of communication, enhancing the jury's ability to follow what you are saying. Alan Morrill recognized this 26 years ago: With anything more than a simple set of facts involving an intersection collision, it is probably safe to say that following opening statements through words alone, not one juror has a clear picture in his mind as to how the accident occurred. It is a good bet that about half the jury is completely lost, perhaps some of them have a completely erroneous picture created in the mind's eye. |
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