Issue 7 "The video camera provides such an accurate and convincing record of contemporary life that it has become a more important form of documentation than written records." The writer argue that the video camera has become a more important form of documentation than written records for the reason that it provides an accurate and convincing record of contemporary life. I agree that the video camera is more and more important for documentation and record of our daily life, but the written records have their advantages that cannot be replaced by video. With the development of technology and engineering, the invention of new consumer products which cannot be imagined in the past, contributes to the convenience and richness of people's life. Video camera, one of such products, now becomes much cheaper than before and is affordable to most people. People use video cameras to record their life, such as a birthday party, a graduate ceremony, or a tour. The advantage of video is that its presentation is accurate and convincing. For instance, through the cameras, the motion and speech of people is recorded exactly. If there is any inconsistency of the memory of the event, we can replay the video to see what the truth is.There are many scenarios where video cameras can be applied, such as a sport game, a court judgement, or a news report. When an argument or conflict occur, the video is a strong and usually undeniable evidence. In the olympic games, we often confront the condition that it is hard to discriminate who the champion of a running race game is since the two runners almost reach the destination at the same time. This problem can be easily solved by investigating the slow motion of the underlying moment. Video can record our life accurately, but it is difficult for video to render abstract things such as our emotions or thoughts which can be written down through text. When we feel happy or sad, we can use words to describe our feelings. A diary, usually consisting of text, records our daily life. It is almost impossible to replace all the words with videos. Even if it is possible to do so, the two diaries are not equivalent for people who read the text or watch the video. The thoughts or ideas are easier to record through text, too. It is even hard to imagine how to record an technical article full of mathematical notations and equations by video. In sum, video becomes more and more important for recording our daily life for its accuracy, but we cannot abandon the written records since text can be used to describe abstract concepts like emotions, thoughts, and quantities. Therefore, video and text are both important and each of them is required for documentation or recording our lives. --

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