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Subject:Re: Anthropomorphism is bad because... From:Janice Gelb <janice -dot- gelb -at- oracle -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:55:31 +1000
On 23/06/10 04:39 PM, Lauren wrote:
>
> I think this discussion would be easier with an example of "expectation"
> used in documentation. I used my email program as an example because it
> is what I had open and it was convenient for explaining my thought
> process about how a system can "expect" something. When I think of
> system "expecting" certain data or data within a certain range, I think
> that there must be a background process performed after a system waits a
> certain time, like email saves, or there is a rejection of non-compliant
> data. I guess I am defending anthropomorphism of computer systems in a
> case where a computer system does demonstrate something akin to
> "expectation" and there is no better way to describe what is happening
> without making the documentation too high level, yet I do not have an
> example of such a case.
>
I'll be glad to discuss this further if you
do come up with an example other than the
one to which I responded. I gather that you
did not comment on my response because you
decided that the example you provided was
not really what you meant after all.
-- Janice
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