Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!aero!lubofsky
From: lubofsky@aerospace.aero.org (Nick Lubofsky)
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng
Subject: Request for Comments on Article Found in comp.sys.mac.digest
Message-ID: <66437@aerospace.AERO.ORG>
Date: 7 Feb 90 22:30:10 GMT
Organization: The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA
Lines: 61

Any comments on this hypothesis?  (I'm reserving judgement.)

Article 501 of comp.sys.mac.digest:
From: Info-Mac-Request@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU (The Moderators)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.digest
Subject: Info-Mac Digest V8 #24
Message-ID: <9002062327.AA11371@sumex-aim.stanford.edu>
Date: 6 Feb 90 23:27:23 GMT

------------------------------
Date:    Sat, 03 Feb 90 16:59:38 CST
From:    Graeme Forbes <PL0BALF@vm.tcs.tulane.edu>
Subject: Writing on Macs vs PCs

Those of you who teach classes where students have to write essays will be
interested in an article in the January "Academic Computing", "Can the Machine
Maim the Message?" by Marcia Peoples Halio. Halio is Assistant Director in
the Writing Program at the University of Delaware. For some semesters she
taught freshman composition using IBM PCs and then in Spring '87 she taught
a section using the Mac. I quote her reaction to the first batch of essays:
"...never before in twelve years of teaching had I seen such a sloppy bunch
of papers."

The thesis of her article is that the Mac makes for bad writing in a way
that the PC doesn't. Though students can choose which machine they use
in the course, she thinks that they all start out with equal writing skills
(because they all have comparable SATs - is this a good reason?). Yet the
Mac papers are littered with violations of English grammar, have short para-
graphs and short sentences resulting in lack of developed or complex thought,
and are written in the English of the advertising industry (which presumably
aims for the lcd). She confirmed these impressions by running 20 randomly
selected essays from both IBM and Mac sections through a VAX text analysis
program. She also noted a difference in choice of topics: Mac students write
about fast food, dating, the idiot box etc., PC students write about capital
punishment, teenage pregnancy, nuclear war.

Why the differences? Various possibilities are suggested. Students tend to get
sloppy if something is too easy. A command line interface makes you concentrate
and makes you sensitive to a demand for precision. The Mac seems like a toy
while sitting down in front of an IBM means serious business (what will happen
when they all run Windows or PM?). The Mac focuses too much attention on
appearance and too little on content. And so on.

(My own observation about Mac writing is the compulsion some people have
to use "it's" (abbreviates "it is") when they mean "its" (possessive).)

Does anyone have similar experience to Halio's or ideas about explanations?
Is anyone at a school where the writing classes use Macs with full-page dis-
plays?

A final note: Halio doesn't know if the effect wears off, and if it does,
how long it takes.

Graeme Forbes
Bitnet: pl0balf at tcsvm
------------------------------
____________________________________________________________________________
Nicholas Lubofsky  |  Internet:lubofsky@aerospace.aero.org  |  The Aerospace
(213) 336-5454     |  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  |   Corporation
VoiceMailbox 3064  |  Life is precious, Love is so rare...  |   Los Angeles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~