Our presentation website contains long texts, few images and no video content. Why, in a society dominated by fast-moving images?
There are two reasons: environmental and ethical, both of which are present in our Code of Good Conduct.
From an environmental point of view, text is the most compact means of storing and communicating information. An average page of text (using the standard HTML format for the web) contains 17 kbytes of data (2024 data, see Figures 16.18 and 16.19), whereas a page of images contains between 348 and 442 kbytes, i.e. 20 to 25 times more, and a page of video contains around 1,400 kbytes, i.e. approximately 80 times more. This amount of information requires resources to store it on our servers and on your device, and to transmit it over the network (bandwidth). Using text on our site instead of images or video therefore conserves natural resources and limits the impact of our site on the environment and climate.
From an ethical point of view, text is the most respectful way of communicating information. Arguments are made explicitly and visibly, in a verbal way that allows for dialogue and discussion. The reader remains in full control of the flow of information reaching him/her and can fully exercise his/her critical sense. He/she can stop at any time to reflect and check the sources provided or find alternative ones. He/she can consult all the links that provide background information. Pictures, on the other hand, have the capacity to convey much more emotional, non-verbal messages. They are often designed in such a way as to make verbal articulation of arguments more difficult. Video images have the additional property of taking control of the flow of information away from the user, adding an extra layer of manipulation potential. As one of the cornerstones of the CosmoPolitical Cooperative is deliberative democracy, we consider it our duty to ensure that our website reflects our vision of respectful dialogue with the public.
