Hawk Wings, a blog about mail.app, which is usually pretty good (I probably wouldn’t read a mediocre blog about an entry-level application bundled with my OS), has reprinted (in what is probably a sterling example of so-called “gray” quotation, which I also first heard about in Hawk Wings, ironically) what I think is a totally specious rant this week about the language of computer “journalism” (really meaning “reviews,” I think).
There are two issues mentioned in the quotation. The first deals with the lack of translation of terms for lay readers; this assumes that the target audience is lay readers (which it often is not) and that it is hard for someone to determine the meaning of an unfamiliar jargon term (which, in the age of google, is not the case).
The second issue is with the redundancy of specific terms.
A typical recent example was the phrase “form factorâ€, meaning size. That phrase doesn’t save any space. It actually requires yet another word, an adjective, before it acquires any value:
This computer offers blinding speed and generous memory in a compact form factor.
The writer meant
This small computer is very fast and has a big memory.
First off, I would be skeptical of the identification of “form factor” as two words rather than one. “Factor” here has no clear meaning independent of “form” and you would never, ever (let me know if I’m wrong) find “form factor” split up in the phrasing of a sentence. As Language Log likes to point out, just because there’s a space in the middle does not mean that there are two words at work. And I doubt the author would assert that one should always use fewer _characters_ wherever possible.
More importantly, form factor does not refer to size only but also to shape and, in general, construction. Consider the way “Engadget”:http://engadget.com uses the concept of form factor in relation to mobile phones, and it quickly becomes clear that the volume (size, per se) of a phone may be signficant, but so are its specific proportions, the layout of controls, etc. Two phones may contain the same volume, but only one may conveniently fit in a pocket. Taking the author’s assumption that fewer words are preferable to many (which I do not share), “size and shape” (which may not even cover the full meaningn of “form factor,” but certainly comes closer) is definitely _three_ words and and also more characters. It also sounds ass if you try to replace every occurrence of “form factor” with “size and shape.”
As for the exuberance of “blinding” and “generous,” these are the sorts of terms that get tossed in any reviewing context where one is trying to convey excitement, and are in no sense jargon. They aren’t super-great writing, but “This small computer is very fast and has a big memory.” sounds genuinely stupid (rather than just dumbly exuberant) and boring — in fact, it’s hard to imagine anyone identifying that as an example of good writing in any context; its virtue depends solely on the assumption that the reader is willing to accept the premise of the author that jargon is bad — indeed, it assumes that the reader is so willing in this regard as to totally ignore the poor quality of the replacement writing the author offers. This is the sort of poor argumention typically found in politically partisan choir-preaching, when it is known that the audience already shares a viewpoint and could really care less what the quality of the argument is.
Also, while a person has _a memory_ (I have a pretty bad memory, for example, except for lame trivia), computers have _memory_ (mass noun). (I apologize if “a memory” is normal usage in Australian English for computers, but I hope that isn’t the case.) This may also be related to confusion regarding memory in the form of hard drives versus memory in the form of RAM, since one has “a large hard drive” but “a lot of RAM.”
The HP Compaq nc4200 notebook PC simplifies the on-the-go mobile professional experience by packing mainstream computing features into an ultra-thin lightweight form factor.
Setting aside the question of what a mobile professional experience is (a doctor doing house calls, maybe?) the writer meant it was small and light. But isn’t that something that we already expect in a notebook PC? The writer might as well have said:
The HP Compaq nc4200 notebook PC has all the features you’d expect from a powerful desktop computer.
Now, “mobile professional” has specific and significant connotations because professionals and “prosumers” (a dumb-sounding but useful term) expect and pay for a different level of performance and different specific features than normal consumers. I _would_ say that “experience” is being misused here, because in this context, it should refer to the experience of using a machine, rather than its specs — for example, until recently, Macs have had relatively poor specs compared to PCs, but have offered a much better user experience. I am also concerned at the idea that “professional experience” is somehow the same as “mainstream computing features,” when in fact professional features are different from mainstream ones. (My iBook has a mainstream feature set; a nice PowerBook or new MacBook has a professional feature set, and a correspondingly insane price tag.)
Now, an “ultra-thin lightweight form factor” is, again, very specific and significant language. My 12″ iBook is thin and light (just under five pounds), but an ultra-thin and ultra-light would cut this by an inch or so and a pound or so; this may sound trivial, but when you carry your machine with you everywhere, your back will soon explain to you the importance of a mere pound. Achieving that kind of compactness without sacrificing functionality is difficult, and comes at an understandable premium in pricing. It is a different class of device, with a different market niche. And in the absence of a specific mention of the thin and light form factor, I would assume this was an average size laptop (probably 15″ and 6 pounds, give or take). What’s more, if it was compared to a desktop computer with no mention of its form factor, I would likely assume that it was, in fact, a desktop _replacement_ laptop, which is a class of laptops that is relatively powerful, at the expense of large size, heavy weight, and usually poor battery life — the sort of machine you would carry to another room or to the trunk of your car, rather than the sort you’d carry with you wherever you go and use independent of power outlets. Such machines are also typically quite expensive, but for entirely different reasons than a thin and light notebook.
In other words, as someone who wants a truly portable laptop and cares a great deal about its form factor, I would be extremely ill-served by the sort of review that the author is proposing, and if all reviews were written this way, would have to forego reading them entirely and just read the spec sheet of every single machine on the market, rather than just those that are classified as thin and light with a certain level of features (and thus a certain anticipated price range).
While the jargon is often quite ugly, and while it can certainly be misused, it exists for a reason and carries significant information efficiently to those who most need and can use it, and in the age of google, it is very simple for the layman to determine the meanings of terms, even assuming they can’t be reasoned from contex, which is usually the case.
What is more, computer publications frequently publish features explaining the distinctions between these niches to consumers who are less familiar with the language, and which explain clearly how to differentiate the machines being discussed. A first-time buyer simply needs to obtain one of these, which is not at all difficult. To assume instead that every article written for the specialized audience which consumes this material should be dumbed-down to accomodate the relatively small portion of the audience which is not yet familiar with it would be bad business and bad writing.
Hawk Wings » Blog Archive » Computer Journalism: Impenetrable technowaffle