RE: Paperless Society

Which begs the question: is the mutability of online files a
feature or a bug?
(Which begs the classic Microsoftian answer: "It
depends.")

-Aaron
'

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounceswebjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounceswebjunction.org] On Behalf Of Mark
Sandford
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 9:26 AM
To: web4libwebjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Paperless Society

On the other hand, because it was digital, the author was
able to improve
the final draft and make it more clearer thanks to your
comments.  In a
widely distributed paper document that becomes nearly
impossible.

That brings up another interesting idea: the concept of a
document being
finished.  I have the sense that people don't consider most
web-based
documents to be finished in the same sense that they do with
something that
will be printed.  A PDF can be changed.  I wonder how that
affects the idea
of quality control.  Certainly there is less at stake (in
most cases) when
you post a document online than when you distribute it in
paper, since
errors can be corrected after it's been published.

--
Mark Sandford
Special Formats Cataloger
William Paterson University
(973)270-2437
sandfordm1wpunj.edu

On Feb 11, 2008 6:34 PM, Ms Norma Jean Hewlett
<hewlettusfca.edu> wrote:

> Whenever I read propositions to eliminate hard-copy
documents in favor
> of electronic ones, I think of something that happened
to me a few
> years ago. The incident really gave me a feel for how
easy it is to
> change online information, and how difficult it can be
to convince
> people that it has been changed.
>
> Someone posted a message to one of the email lists I
read, saying they
> had created a table that compared online classroom
management
> environments and it was posted at a particular url.
>
> I went there. One of the comments about a particular
program was that
> it included instructions about "pedagogy and
knobology." I knew what
> pedagogy was, but knobology was a new one, so I emailed
the list and
> asked if anyone could explain what it was.
>
> Almost immediately, I got back several messages
defining the term--
> Knobology is an interface designer's term that means
knowing what
> knobs to turn and which buttons to push.
>
> The next day, I went back to the web page to read the
information
> there again. I noticed that the creator had changed
the
> word "knoboloby" to "user interface
management." That seemed a lot
> more clear. I assumed that she'd read my comments and
changed it
> almost immediately--very nice work on her part!
>
> For a long time afterwards--almost 3 weeks--I got a
stream of messages
> saying, "You must have made a mistake. I read you
message, went to
> this webpage, and I couldn't find the word Knobology
anywhere on the
> page."
>
> Jean Hewlett
>
> All opinions in this message are my own, and do not
represent my
> employers.
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4libwebjunction.org
> http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/
>
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On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:37:45 -0500, "Dobbs, Aaron"
<AWDobbsship.edu>
said:
> Which begs the question: is the mutability of online
files a feature or a
> bug?
> (Which begs the classic Microsoftian answer: "It
depends.")
> 
> -Aaron
> '

I would expand that to, "It depends who's in
office." 

K.G. Schneider

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