TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: language and communication From:Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sat, 25 Nov 2000 18:55:47 -0800
Dan Emory wrote:
> Catering to the "post-literate" only guarantees that it will arrive. All of
> the concern
> shown on this list about preciseness of language for the sake of unambiguous
> clarity is lost if text is replaced by cartoons and movie clips.
Funny how the post-literate world looks remarkably like the
pre-literate world. :-)
Not that non-literate forms of communication should be despised.
Oral cultures, for example, produce people with extraordinary
memories, capable (as in archaic Greece) of remembering thousands of
lines, or of composing them on the fly or (as in early Scandinavia)
of memorizing dozens of laws and precedents. I remember a late novel
by Mary Renault in a Greek bard of about 500 BCE laments that his
student writes things down, because written information can be
easily corrupted and because he is afraid that his student's memory
will become uncertain.
However, for the types of detailed information that tech writers
ordinarily deal with, the written word does seem the best medium,
even though it isn't necessarily the only medium.
--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
Contributing Editor, Maximum Linux
604.421.7189 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com
"If religion is the opium of the people, then TV is the heroin."
- Kev Carmody
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Develop HTML-based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver! (STC Discount.)
**NEW DATE/LOCATION!** January 16-17, 2001, New York, NY. http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.
Sponsored by SOLUTIONS, Conferences and Seminars for Communicators
Publications Management Clinic, TECH*COMM 2001 Conference, and more http://www.SolutionsEvents.com or 800-448-4230
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
