[idn] Re: linguistic propriety

[Dave Crocker <dhc@dcrocker.net>]

At 12:36 AM 3/23/2001, A. Vine wrote:
>This is intended to be a gentle reminder that the
>perpetual use of women with children as the litmus test for idiot-proof is
>in itself not only reflecting a bias, but perpetuating it.

A dilemma.

First please note that the context had to do with non-technical users.  No 
criticism or negative connotations were present.  So your use of the term 
idiot-proof demonstrates putting a negative spin on the material than was 
present objectively.

Frankly the intent was to specify an exemplar for the target audience of 
the work.  As such, "grandmothers" was an ideal.  (Given that I often refer 
to the non-technical population as "real" people, one could argue that 
choosing grandmothers was a compliment, but that's a stretch.)

The dilemma comes from the fact that my grandmother-aged mother (oh, hell, 
*I* am old enough to be a grandparent, darn) is doing well with webTV while 
my father is doing only mediocre and my step-father refuses to touch the stuff.

d/


----------
Dave Crocker   <mailto:dcrocker@brandenburg.com>
Brandenburg InternetWorking   <http://www.brandenburg.com>
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