The adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” means that a still frame photo or painting can convey a complex idea or story. The history of a picture’s worth gives us an idea about how this phrase originated into modern day America through Fred R. Barnard. (Mr. Barnard upped the worth of a picture to ten thousand words in 1927.)
Facebook users have uploaded over ninety billion photos, giving their website a picture worth value greater than or equal to nine times ten to the thirteenth power in words. Flickr is also a popular photo sharing website which averages forty-six million photo uploads per month. Perhaps this inflation in photo uploads has devalued the worth of a picture to under a thousand words.
Cooliris Express is an awesome tool for educators to tell a story using a three dimensional photo or video wall. The beta version of Live Share, another handy tool for online projects with ESL students, is a new social networking website and mobile application dedicated to picture uploads.
A picture is worth a thousand words has endured to become an American proverb, appearing in A Dictionary of American Proverbs published by the Oxford University Press.
