Literacy in the New Media Age response

While I was reading pages 1-34 of Literacy in the New Media Age, I noticed that Kress asked a lot of questions that were not always answered. The question that stuck out the most to me was on page 22, “Is the imagination that rests on word different to the imagination that rests on image?” Although I have taken Kress’ definition of literacy into consideration, I do not necessarily agree with it. I am going to attempt to answer this question to try and make sense of what I think literacy is and how words and images can work together.
As far as words and images are concerned, I think that imagination and interpretation are alive in both. When you read a book you think to yourself what the characters look like and what situations they are faced with happen. Although with images presented we sometimes have different interpretations, some images are not all they seem on the surface. Take a picture for instance. When you look at a still-life picture, especially one you did not take, you can create in your mind what you think was going on when the picture was taken, especially if the image portrays a person making a silly face or a sad face. Although you do not have to imagine what the person in the picture looks like, your imagination is still very much alive.
As technology improves, we need to realize that literacy is not just about reading words. Even if you are confronted with an image that has an intended purpose, what you think and imagine about the image will be true to you. The same has happened in the past with poems and novels.