atw: Re: Is the computer really a paradigm shift?: a lament
- From: "Matthew da Silva" <mdasilva@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:17:29 +1000
This debate seems to have dropped off the map. Actually there's no
reason to avoid a bit of a squiz at XML. Any suggestions out there as to
the best beginner's guide? I once bought an O'Reilly's and it was had -
I won't repeat the mistake.
-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Geoffrey
Marnell
Sent: Tuesday, 16 September 2008 5:59 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Is the computer really a paradigm shift?: a lament
Nice one Peter. But I do wonder why you added
"I know some old writers who wrote between tags What a bunch of old
dags, To
write between tags"
Given the threads that drove this little ditty, I'm sure there are some
on
this list who will read this as intimating, just, that Marnell is an
anti-tagging Luddite.
Well, surprised you might be to hear that I think tagging content is
damn
good...for what you can do with it. It's a means-and-ends issue, this
one.
Tagging text (or structured authoring, if you wish) is just a means to
something else. On it's own it is pretty dull. And it's not new. We've
been
doing it forever (if only mentally until fairly recently, when SGML
appeared). Yes, we once used SGML to tag content, but it flopped because
there were not a lot of interesting things you could do with it.
No, my beef is not with tagging. My beef is with all the hype and
puffery.
I'm sorry folks, but tagging text is not a paradigm shift (even if web
publishing, for example, is a paradigm shift). We've tagged forever (the
means); but now, at last, we are doing some fascinating things with it
(the
ends) and we are on the verge of doing some even more fascinating things
with it. And I'm happy to say that even through a lot of those
spruiking
the benefits of, say, DITA forget (or are ignorant of the fact) that for
long-term FrameMaker users, a lot of the supposedly new stuff on the
horizon
has been available for donkeys years. We've used it; it's good; but it's
not
earth-shattering, nor will be.
Yes, folks, bring on DITA and then bring on its daughters and sons. But
just
temper the hype and the puffery. It's hard enough finding enough
technical
writers these days; it will only be harder if we scare off would-be
writers
with such hyperbolic nonsense that they need to know XML to get into the
market and then have to learn a new paradigm-shifting writing
methodology.
They don't and they won't.
Geoffrey Marnell
Principal Consultant
Abelard Consulting Pty Ltd
T: (+61 3) 9596 3456
F: (+61 3) 9596 3625
W: http://www.abelard.com.au
-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
peterm_5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, 16 September 2008 8:07 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Is the computer really a paradigm shift?: a lament
I know some old writers who wrote with a stick I don't why they wrote
with a
stick Perhaps they were sick.
I know Babylonians who wrote in the clay And figured and jiggled and
squiggled all day.
They wrote in the clay without a burnt stick.
They must have been thick
To abandon the stick
Perhaps they were sick.
I know some Egyptians who flattened a reed What a way to proceed To then
write on the reed!
They wrote on the reed to replace the clay...
To stop all that jiggling and squiggling all day..
They wrote on the clay to replace the stick But I don't know why they
abandoned the stick Perhaps they were sick....
I know some Chinese who wrote onto paper What sort of a vapour Do you
sniff
to invent paper ?
They wrote on the paper to replace the reed. They wrote on the the reed
in
place of the clay. To stop all that jiggling and squiggling all day.
They wrote on the clay to replace the stick. But I don't know why they
abandoned the stick Perhaps they were sick.
I know some old Germans who printed from type What a great hype All that
moveable type
They printed from type to get books with great speed..
And used vellum and paper instead of the reed. They wrote on the reed to
replace the clay. To stop all that jiggling and squiggling all day..
They wrote on the clay to replace the stick. But I don't know why they
abandoned the stick Perhaps they were sick.
I know some old clerks who wrote on a card How avant-garde!
To write on a card!
They wrote on the card to sort the books..
They printed the book to bundle the paper..
They wrote on the paper to replace the reed. They wrote on the reed to
replace the clay. To stop all that jiggling and squiggling all day...
They wrote on the clay to replace the stick...
But I don't know why they abandoned the stick Perhaps they were sick.
I know some old writers who wrote between tags What a bunch of old dags,
To
write between tags.
They wrote inside tags to replace the cards...
They wrote in the cards to sort the books. They wrote in the books to
bundle
the paper. They wrote on the paper to replace the reed. They wrote on
the
reed to replace the clay. To stop all that jiggling and squiggling all
day...
They wrote on the clay to replace the stick...
But I don't know why they abandoned the stick Perhaps they were sick.
I know some old writers who read XML source.
They are sick, of course.
--Peter M in memory of Geoffrey's youthful curiosity..
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