Re: Re[2]: Master/Slave

Subject: Re: Re[2]: Master/Slave
From: Chuck Martin <cmartin -at- SEEKERSOFT -dot- COM>
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 10:32:30 -0700

At 10:09 AM 9/18/97 -0400, you wrote:
>On Thu, 18 Sep 1997, Walker, Arlen P wrote:
>
>> Ah, there we've hit the main point. Context is everything. Someone who is
>> likely to take the phrase out of context and then take offense at it is
>> likely to find all sorts of unfortunate constructions in our writing.
>
>In my free time, I compose music on my synthesizer. Using MIDI (Musical
>Instrument Digital Interface) I can connect two synthesizers together. The
>concept of class or racial oppression never even crossed my mind when I
>read "The way you connect the MIDI in and MIDI out ports will determine
>which synthesizer is the master and which is the slave". It just drew for
>me a very vivid mental picture of one synthesizer making the other one
>respond by sending messages accross a MIDI cable. It clarified an
>otherwise vague (to me, at least) concept.
>
>Context! Context! Context!
>
Ah, but there's the rub. Suppose I make the assumption (with no evidence to
back it up) that you are a member of a culture or a cultural subgroup that
has never been the victim of slavery. Now, imagine that you *are* a member
of such a group, perhaps a group still feeling oppressed despite years of
changes. Perhaps many people in that group still see a strong negative
connotation in that phraseology. Still, members of that group may very well
be a target audience for that product, for that manual, and for those
words. Can you imagine, in that situation, asking yourself "Why do they
have to use those ugly words? Why can't they come up with something better?"

You say it won't happen? How would you *know*? What attitudes would
generate such a response? Why take the risk?

The context cannot be for just the creators of technology and terminology,
it must be for all potential users as well.
--
"You don't look American"
"Everyone looks American, because Americans are from everywhere"
- Doonesbury
Chuck Martin
Technical Writer, Seeker Software, Inc | Personal
cmartin -at- seekersoft -dot- com | writer -at- grin -dot- net
www.seekersoft.com | www.grin.net/~writer

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