TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: To Dialog or Not To Dialog From:Kris Olberg <kjolberg -at- IX -dot- NETCOM -dot- COM> Date:Sat, 6 Apr 1996 11:16:11 -0800
At 03:11 PM 4/5/96 -0500, you wrote:
>At 02:33 PM 4/3/96 MST, you wrote:
>>I bet we all know a few people who still refer to the hard disk
>>as "memory." I know several, and some are computer
>>professionals {{shudder}}. It's a clear case of being taught
>>the incorrect term--probably for simplicity's sake--in the
>>beginning.
>But it is memory.
>Reply---------------------
>Ah...but it's not. It's storage. When the computer reads the data, then it's
>in memory. Just because it's magnetic storage doesn't mean it's in memory.
You're missing my point, which is to simplify the terminology for the sake
of the nontechnical reader. I'll repeat what I've already said: Most
nontechnical readers don't know the difference, and most don't care. The
gist of what needs to be communicated is that the information has been
retained somewhere.
All of this is highly dependent on audience and the specific context of what
needs to be communicated. For example, one would need to distinguish between
RAM and disk if discussing troubleshooting. (Actually, with virtual RAM, the
lines between disk and RAM become blurred, anyway.)
Regards...Kris
--------------------------------
kjolberg -at- ix -dot- netcom -dot- com (preferred)
kjolberg -at- aol -dot- com
102031 -dot- 3556 -at- compuserve -dot- com
