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On Thu, 16 Nov 1995, Suzanne M. Faubl wrote:
> Does anyone think that hypertext may be making us lazy in our use of
> punctuation? Are we lowering our expectations?
Suzanne--
To me, many kinds of online materials seem guided more by an orality than
print literacy. We see breakdowns in standard conventions all the time,
which in many cases can be quite productive. I would not attribute these
literacy shifts to any particular technology (like hypertext), but to a
wider range of rhetorical issues--for example, what a community might
tolerate. I guess when we move away from things like email and
computer-supported cooperative work tools (for developmental and design
work) and toward end-user products we'll probably find expectations that
will encourage standard conventions.
Stuart
________________
Stuart A. Selber
Department of Technical Communications
Clarkson University
Potsdam, New York 13699-5760
315-268-6450 (voice)
315-268-6485 (fax)
sselber -at- craft -dot- camp -dot- clarkson -dot- edu
