Xref: utzoo comp.edu:1948 comp.cog-eng:924 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!mailrus!uflorida!novavax!maddoxt From: maddoxt@novavax.UUCP (Thomas Maddox) Newsgroups: comp.edu,comp.cog-eng Subject: Re: Meter Reading as Computer Literacy Message-ID: <928@novavax.UUCP> Date: 21 Jan 89 22:05:59 GMT References: <12.UUL1.3#913@acw.UUCP> Reply-To: maddoxt@novavax.UUCP (Thomas Maddox) Organization: Nova University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida Lines: 48 In article johnm@uts.amdahl.com (John Murray) writes: >In article <12.UUL1.3#913@acw.UUCP>, guthery@acw.UUCP (Scott Guthery) > > [in a comp.edu discussion on the quality of education] writes: > >> Just when you think it can't get any worse ... New York Bell reports >> that they had to interview 22,000 people to fill 2,000 *ENTRY LEVEL* >> positions. One of the tasks that tripped up the applicants the most was >> reading numerical displays either off a tube or a LCD-type display. >> Ya gotta ask yourself what the world looks like to the 20,000 that >> flunked the test ... and who is going to be supporting them for the >> rest of their lives. . . . . . > >Before flaming on about the supposedly poor education of the 20,000, I >think we should ask precisely what type of displays caused the problem. This question of display-type came up twice yesterday in very different conversations. In the first, I mentioned a color display as the appropriate medium for a proposed writing environment (envisioned as word processor, outliner, free-form database, and grammar/mechanics-help program dynamically linked through Hypercard), and I was challenged to say why color was necessary. As almost all of my PC use has been with IBM-compatibles, not Macs, I "naturally" thought of color as appropriate, and I said in reply that a color display meant more information, one, and, two, for any user, a readier grasp of the environment's logical structure. Then I realized I didn't know whether either of these things was really significant--true, color offers more information, but is its presence significant in terms of the user's interaction with the program? Next, in a casual conversation about displays, a friend cited research he'd read that indicated all CRTs caused a 25% decrease in reading comprehension by comparison to the printed page. At the time I just nodded my head, but now I want to know: could this be true, or is this true in some fashion? More to the point, perhaps, does anyone know of the research that was alluded to? In sum: does color have a significant effect on a person's ability to understand and/or use a system? and is there any evidence that CRTs in general or types of CRTs in particular have an effect on reading comprehension? Post or e-mail as you see fit. If I get mail responses, I'll summarize. Tom Maddox UUCP: ...{ucf-cs|gatech!uflorida}!novavax!maddoxt