3.1131 machined writing; reading outloud (72)
Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca)
Mon, 5 Mar 90 20:44:17 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 1131. Monday, 5 Mar 1990.
(1) Date: Mon 05 Mar 90 11:45:02 (37 lines)
From: dusknox@skipspc.idbsu.edu
Subject: Halio's article
(2) Date: Sat, 3 Mar 90 15:42:00 EST (16 lines)
From: KESSLER <IME9JFK@OAC.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Re: 3.1124 noisy reading (27)
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon 05 Mar 90 11:45:02
From: dusknox@skipspc.idbsu.edu
Davida Charney takes Halio to task for not being scientific. When I read
the article, I did not get the impression she was trying to be. She was
relating anecdotal information saying, in effect, "isn't this
interesting?" She admits more work would need to be done and offers
some tentative explanations for observed behavior.
I do not doubt that she observes what she says she observes. Her guesses
sound at least intuitive, which is probably one good reason for trying to
prove or disprove them rigorously. IBM picked up on the article,
obviously, because it is favorable to their machines and puts Macs in a
bad light. OK, that's standard industry stuff; no reason to get excited.
What surprises me (not really) is the vehemence of the reaction among Mac
users. C'mon, folks, the lady never claimed she had PROVED anything.
And, as Charney says, the article appeared in an industry rag, not in a
scholarly journal. This whole thing comes under the heading of
"interesting if true, but needs more work." Which is just about what
Halio said.
BTW, Charney closes his note with just the same anecdotal evidence,
replete with citing numbers in an attempt to lend validity, as Halio put
in her article. Until someone does carefully controlled studies, such
claims are not enough for real conclusions.
Further by the way, I do think that a study ought to be done. Not to
deal a killing blow in the endless Mac-IBM wars, but as a way to see if
the medium really is the message. It could affect the way we teach.
Skip
DUSKNOX@IDBSU
Boise State University
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------20----
Date: Sat, 3 Mar 90 15:42:00 EST
From: KESSLER <IME9JFK@OAC.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Re: 3.1124 noisy reading (27)
Indeed, one never really "heard" the subtleties, and they are
superrefined ones, of a poet like Robert Frost , until one heard his
recordings. Dylan Thomas of course, but to have heard him recite Hardy
that was a treat. Eliot of course is splendid in his recordings, and
yet there are hundreds of poets, mostly Americans who read their own
things wretchedly, and one cannot really form an opinion of the
structure their verse (or their minds) without the text too. But a
poet like Frost is a good example because of his Classical learning and
adaptation of Horace into his own vernacular, etcetera Obvious points,
but then many of our colleagues dont read aloud too well for that
matter, even their own prose..
J Kessler