6.0261 Rs: Photos; Computer Literacy; S/W; Grammar (6/129)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Wed, 30 Sep 1992 20:51:15 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0261. Wednesday, 30 Sep 1992.


(1) Date: Wed, 23 Sep 92 23:21:53 GMT (14 lines)
From: "C. David Frankel" <D7BAIAD@CFRVM>
Subject: 6.0247 Qs: Usher Photos

(2) Date: 23 Sep 1992 17:09:03 -0600 (MDT) (7 lines)
From: OCRAMER@CCNODE.Colorado.EDU
Subject: Re: 6.0247 Qs: Computer Literacy

(3) Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1992 09:53:16 EDT (25 lines)
From: rkelley@URSINUS.BITNET
Subject: RE: 6.0247 Qs: Computer Literacy

(4) Date: 25 Sep 1992 21:33:19 -0400 (EDT) (15 lines)
From: JGUTHRIE@DESIRE.WRIGHT.EDU
Subject: Re: 6.0250 Rs: Writing

(5) Date: Thu, 24 Sep 92 21:32:02 CDT (26 lines)
From: Brian Nielsen <BNIELSEN@NUACVM>
Subject: Re: 6.0247 Qs: S/W Requests

(6) Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1992 11:08:28 +0200 (EET) (42 lines)
From: LBJUDY@VMSA.TECHNION.AC.IL
Subject: RE: 6.0242 Rs: Grammar

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 92 23:21:53 GMT
From: "C. David Frankel" <D7BAIAD@CFRVM>
Subject: 6.0247 Qs: Usher Photos


You might query the Center for Film and Theatre Research at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. Or, if you want to spend a small amount on a search fee,
contact the Bettman Archives in NY (or the Lincoln Center branch of the New
York Public Library).

|
C. David Frankel_________ Phone: 904-588-8395
Assoc. Prof. of Theatre__ BITNET: D7DBAIAD@CFRVM
Saint Leo College________ INTERNET: D7BAIAD@CFRVM.CFR.USF.EDU
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------19----
Date: 23 Sep 1992 17:09:03 -0600 (MDT)
From: OCRAMER@CCNODE.Colorado.EDU
Subject: Re: 6.0247 Qs: S/W Requests; Posters; Ushers; Computer Literacy 5/83

Re: Computer literacy
Last march there was a good discussion at HUMANIST 5.0761 about the
"Humanist's Toolkit", which got quite particular.
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------32----
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1992 09:53:16 EDT
From: rkelley@URSINUS.BITNET
Subject: RE: 6.0247 Qs: S/W Requests; Posters; Ushers; Computer Literacy 5/83

In response to Joel Goldfield's request for a definition of "computer
literacy," I think it is safe to say that it is not necessarily what you
know, but whether or not you know how to find out what you do not know.

On any given campus, for example, a huge range of computing environments
might be available, and individuals might evince various skill levels in those
environments. It has been my experience that (as with the original
cultural literacy debates) the issue is whether an individual is even
*aware* of potential computer applications in his or her discipline. Once
this threshold has been reached, the individual is, for all purposes, as
"literate" as anyone else in the field, merely less experienced.

This may seem obvious, but as researchers we can forget what it was like
to not even know where to look for information. Our students become
"library literate," for example, under our instruction and eventually
can independently teach themselves what they need to know.

Robert Kelley
English, Ursinus College

/nosig
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------29----
Date: 25 Sep 1992 21:33:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: JGUTHRIE@DESIRE.WRIGHT.EDU
Subject: Re: 6.0250 Rs: Quotes; S/W; Grammar; Codex; Writing (8/163)

In further response to the query about finding a good book about how
to write manuals, I highly recommend Jonathan Prices "How to Write
a Computer Software Manual" (Benjamin Cummings publishers).

Price shows a sense of humor about a subject which could otherwise
become deadly dull. The present edition is sadly dated, but a new
edition from Benjamin Cummings should be coming out this winter.

Jim Guthrie
Wright StatxDe University

(5) --------------------------------------------------------------33----
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 92 21:32:02 CDT
From: Brian Nielsen <BNIELSEN@NUACVM>
Subject: Re: 6.0247 Qs: S/W Requests; Posters; Ushers; Computer Literacy

To Charles Faulhaber's question about indexing software, I would suggest
a straight bibliographic database manager like Pro-Cite, which could do
a fine formatted index, listed out in all the ways you'd need it. There is
a terrific back-of-the-book indexing program called CINDEX (I use an MS-DOS
version from Indexing Research, POB27687, River Station, Rochester NY 14627-
7687, but I think it's a rewrite from an original unix version), but I think
for a retrospective index of articles in a journal that Pro-Cite or equivalent
would be better.


On the question about movie usherpicture: I seem to recall that some old Coca
Cola ad had an usher in uniform; check one of those coffee-table books for
coke memorabilia collectors.

| Brian Nielsen
| Networked Resources Coordinator
| Academic Computing and Network Services
| 2129 North Campus Drive
| Northwestern University
| Evanston, IL 60208-2850
| (708) 491-2170 FAX: (708) 491-3824
| INTERNET: b-nielsen@nwu.edu
(6) --------------------------------------------------------------49----
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1992 11:08:28 +0200 (EET)
From: LBJUDY@VMSA.TECHNION.AC.IL
Subject: RE: 6.0242 Rs: Grammar; Printing and Publication (3/61)

"If swallowed, seek medical advice" could of course be joined by
the thousands of hanging participles which hang out (sorry!) in
such haunts as college textbooks and other works of literature:
"While making an important phone call, the doorbell rang" etc.
Unfortunately these are funny only to the initiated; a lot of
people have sincere problems seeing what is wrong with the sentence.

My own pet hate is parts of speech used for others: nouns as adjectives,
adjectives for adverbs. These tend, also, to stick, i.e. they
gradually become absorbed into the language to the point where they
become "correct". Two current examples:

1) "Likely" mistaken for an adverb (because of the -ly ending) and
used to mean "probably": "Any PC you buy will likely be obsolete
in half a year." This is a peculiarly American vice (sorry, I'm
a Brit-English fanatic) but over there, at least, seems to be
almost respectable already.

2) "fun" used as an adjective: "that sounds like a fun thing to do."
This is accepted as normal by kids; I haven't heard it so much
from adults, but that may be because the kids were visitors while
the American adults I know have been out of the speech community
for 20 or so years (as indeed I have myself), being permanently
resident here. While "a fun thing todo" doesn't sound so bad,
at least to me, the same kids routinely say "it was so fun!"
(rather than "it was such fun!") -- I assume because "fun"
to them is an adjective (compare "it was so bad" vs. "it was
such bad news"). That grates...

However, neither of these is *confusing*. Nor are most of the
hanging-participle sentences, though you can construct ones that
are. Perhaps the mistakes that truly are confusing die out whereas
those that preserve an understandable message have a greater chance
of being accepted? All in all, you probably have a greater chance
of confusing the enemy with faulty punctuation (No more taxes/no,
more taxes) than faulty grammar.

Judy Koren, Haifa, Israel.