At 07:48 PM 1/10/99 -0500, Michael Sondow wrote: >Roeland M.J. Meyer a �crit: >> At 01:45 AM 1/10/99 -0500, Michael Sondow wrote: >> >Dave Crocker a �crit: >> >> >> >> At 04:49 PM 1/9/99 -0500, Dave Farber wrote: >> >> > I have stayed out of this for a while recovering from the trial. >> >> > We are drug pushers. We tout our technology but don't ever use it. What >> >> > is wrong with live mbone, real video, real audio -- pick your poison, so >> >> > all can at least attend the meetings if not the coffee breaks. If you >> >> > tell me it is no god and does not work , may I quote you to the NY Times >> >> > in an article about the smashing of the hope for the Internet :-) >> >> > >> >> > So why not??!! >> >> >> >> Because they don't work well enough in the current Internet. >> >> >> >> Let's be a little careful about demanding immediate, large-scale, >> >> production use of technologies that, at best, are currently useful only as >> >> demonstrations. >> > >> >Are these two writing in some sort of code, or are they just both ready for >> >the looney bin? >> >> They were speaking symbolically, each symbol being heavily over-loaded in >> technical terms, which, if translated into terms familiar to you, a >> non-technical user, would probably fill a book-shelf with the required >> background material. Each paragraph alone could be the basis for a >> technical paper. > >Well, I think you are exaggerating. It's part of this techno-mystique >surrounding the Internet, which technical people who feel insecure about >their social and linguistic skills are often pulling. I hear the sound of someone being insecure themselves. The mystique may be exaggerated, at times, but the complexity sure isn't. >In any case, there was >nothing technical in this dialogue that was so far above a user like me. Only in appearance. >What I was questioning was the intentionally opaque, "in-group" manner of >expression, and what the purpose of using such artificial language could be >on this supposedly open mail list. To impress others? To use the list for a >private conversation? Or, unwittingly, a mistaken appreciation of their >audience? Actually, those notes should have probably gone off-list, IMHO. So as not to bother the sensibilities of such as yourself. Also, yes there were a LOT of technical issues implied in the conversation, short as it was. That you don't recognise them speaks volumes about your actual understanding. Need I remind you that "jargon" does not appear without a need. The need is usually a human bandwidth requirement to transmit the maximum amount of conceptual information, using as much shared data as possible. The tongue of techo-speak, as it were. Without it, we wouldn't be able to get anything done, in the engineering trade. Step into any Information Technology department and you'll hear these types of conversations all the time. The problem is the same as that of Jazz music composition, some of it is so far removed from normal listeners that there is a communications disconnect that is largely unrecognised, simply because it sounds familiar. "Take five", by David Brubeck is an example. I sounds like a fairly straight-forward and engaging tune, but it's written in seven/fifths time and can only be comfortably played in E-flat, on the piano keyboard. Normal listeners have no problem listening and pretending to understand it however. The appearance of normalacy may be deceptive. >I received a private response from Mr. Farber which contained such >expressions as "wave hop", which seems to indicate that the correct >explanation is a combination of all three above. I should also add that in >Mr. Farber's brief messages to me he employed language in such a way as to >demonstrate that his linguistic skills are about on the level of a truant >ten year-old, which probably explains his penchant for slang and in-group >patter. Not having seen that message, I would wager that you and he were speaking different languages, as it were. ___________________________________________________ Roeland M.J. Meyer - e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Internet phone: hawk.lvrmr.mhsc.com Personal web pages: http://staff.mhsc.com/~rmeyer Company web-site: http://www.mhsc.com ___________________________________________________ I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing... -- Thomas Jefferson __________________________________________________ To receive the digest version instead, send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE forward this message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNSUBSCRIBE, forward this message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Problems/suggestions regarding this list? Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___END____________________________________________
