[csail-related] GSB Tonight: The Value of a Video

[jamoozy at csail.mit.edu (Andrew "Jamoozy" Correa)]

We all know a picture is worth 1,000 words, but why [1]?  Why not 500?  Why
not two?  Well, I've been thinking about it, and I think it's mainly to do
with prose being inherently 1-dimensional.  Only so much can be encoded in
writing.  A picture, on the other hand, is 2-dimensional.  One can
extrapolate that a unit in a dimension (say along the x-axis) is worth
1,000 of the unit in some orthogonal dimension (say along the y-axis)
because space is linear [2].  For the mathematically minded:

y = 1,000 x

Videos are 3-dimensional, though.   Does that mean that z is probably worth
1,000 x as well?  The way I think about this, is that since x < y (in
ASCII) and y = 1,000 x, then certainly z = 1,000 y, because y < z.  Or,
mathematically [3]:

z = 1,000 y

Intuitively, one could say a video is worth 1,000 pictures [4].  Therefore,
a video is worth 1,000,000 words [5].  I think this is a pretty good start
to "the theory of word equivalence" [6].  Only the future can tell what
wonders this field will bring to light.

My summoning days are over, so let's just hope someone [7] comes to this
week's:

*Girl Scout Benefit*
*5:30 pm ? 32-G9 Lounge*

For those coming from elsewhere: Building 32 is here:
http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?selection=32
Once you are in 32, just take the G-elevator
to the 9th floor and you will be looking at us.
http://projects.csail.mit.edu/gsb


[1] Because history.
[2] Or was it flat ...
[3] Yeah, I go to MIT.
[4] Or, y'know, however many frames it has.  1,000 is probably a good guess.
[5] a MEGA word -- Now we can say "A video is worth a mega word."
[6] Future work includes handling spoken words in videos.
[7] jlb ?_?