Newsgroups: bit.listserv.words-l
Date:         Sat, 2 Jan 1993 16:14:21 MST
From:         Dan Lester <ALILESTE@IDBSU.IDBSU.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Electronic Literacy
Comments: To: English Language Discussion Group <WORDS-L@uga.cc.uga.edu>
              1 Jan 1993 21:55:57 -0800 from <MONTGOMERY@CAMINS.CAMOSUN.BC.CA>

On Fri, 1 Jan 1993 21:55:57 -0800 Peter Montgomery said:
>Nothing you've said suggests to me that WORDS-L is not an interesting
>example of instant response creating involvement in depth.

   don't think anyone disagrees that it is interesting....and creating
involvement in depth.....well, that depends on your definition of depth... o-)

>Having been involved in this kind of analysis since c.1974, I've become
>convinced that nobody really understands electronic communications,
>except in bits and pieces. Having been involved in all kinds of forums

   interesting....if you've been doing it for nigh on to twenty years
and no one understands it yet (which I don't necessarily agree with)
you must not be doing it right???

>customs involved, which is partly why I was surprised to see the use
>of profanity on Words-L. Words-L is in fact the first I've run into
>(and I was on it about 3 or  4 years back), in which the laws of the

   why the fuck is profanity so surprising?  because some people are from
tenet?  or from the mothercountry?
   because you're surprised that someone would leave their professional sig
on something with fuck and cunt in it?

>Jungle are the only ones that apply.

   well, but the laws of THIS jungle are NOT the same as the laws of
a.u.e or a.u.l or PACS-L or CDROMLAN or alt.sex.fad.of.the.week.with.gophers

>Just a convenient example as a quick descriptor. All kinds of

   i'll leave the flaming of this one to tushiebaby.....  o-)

>interesting technology hasn't taken off. Remember Videotex?? It was
>going to be the great wave of the future in North America. Interesting

   yeah, and quad stereo and 8 tracks and lots of other things....DAT will
probably be the next example....

>A current contender for a new revolution is pen-based computing.

   not a place I plan to put MY money....but to each his/her own.....

>Right now NCR is marketing a nifty little 4lb. baby that reads handwriting,

   betcha it doesn't read mine, and after over 40 years of the same self-
taught handwriting, i'm not about to learn any fancyass way to do it....

>Don't forget the deliberate sales lag in the market. There're all

   deliberate by whom?

>developed a video phone back in the mid-60s, at enormous cost. Market
>research indicated that nobody would go for it, so bye bye.

   well, are you saying that their newest version will do any better?
why the hell do i wanna see some asshole in a boilerroom who wants to sell
me some lightbulbs for the handicapped?  besides with the computers doing
the calling, what picture will they put on?  the babe or hunk of your choice?

>Literate people prefer text. I'm not so sure what will apply with
>the new generations coming along who haven't had the same exposure
>to literacy.

   First good point to be made.....I have the same fear....

   p.s......france's 'protecting' of its 'pure' language hasn't worked
worth a shit, has it???

>> like a city.  It never went anywhere.  Even English professors like
>> Natalie -- going against stereotype -- prefer the command line
>> interface.

   well, so do i.......but doesn't mean that i (and natalie) won't change
some day....at the moment this is a dos app within windows....

>I don't want to know where we MIGHT go, I want to know where we WILL
>go. I think we need to know where we will go, so we can deal with
                             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    sure....and thats what everybody who has more than four bits invested
in the market 'needs to know' too....when you find out, let me know, and
we can split the millions we'll make....if you want a good view of the
lucky and not so lucky guesses, check out the article in latest Smithsonian
Mag on TMNT as a product, phenomenon, whatever you wanna call the green
guys.....

   my sig is also a touch long....but sure shorter than yours....and i also
usually turn it off....but just to show that being a librarian and saying
or typing the seven words you cant say on tv are NOT incompatible....

piss shit fuck cunt motherfucker cocksucker tits  (betcha cant eat just one,
  sounds like a snack, tatertits, corntits, etc......)

dan the cyclops of potatoland

*****************************************************************************
* Dan Lester                          Bitnet:   alileste@idbsu              *
* Associate University Librarian      Internet: alileste@idbsu.idbsu.edu    *
* Boise State University                                                    *
* Boise, Idaho  83725                 BSU and I have a deal: I don't speak  *
* 208-385-1234                        for them and they don't speak for me. *
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