The defensiveness on this list is amazing.
If you don't want everyone on the list to at least understand the message,
why are you sending to the list?
On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 10:15 AM, Klaus Krippendorff <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> if you google hku Netherlands you'd find numerous details. your problem is
> that you insisted on interpreting an acronyms from a language other than
> the language that gave rise to it. could it be that hku is looking largely
> for Dutch speaking applicants?
> you may have a point though but only under the assumption that English is
> the only language that counts.
> the larger issue is: should designers ignore if not erase cultural and
> linguistic differences or respect them?
> couldn't design include proposing artifacts addressed to specific users,
> even be incomprehensible to those who have no business understanding them?
>
I should not have to Google the terms in a posting on the list. And if I
do Google HKU, I get -- ta-Dum:
The University of Hong Kong (HKU)
If the list was in some other language than English, it would not
have changed my request. Suppose I tell you I am going to the RSD4 and the
IDSA conferences in the next few weeks. Not everyone will know what these
are even though they are English speakers that I wanted to understand
the message -- I have an obligation to spell out the meaning. (Research on
Systemic Design, 4th conference, and Industrial Design Society of America)
The language is irrelevant. This is about courtesy.
If the advertisement would have been only for Dutch Speakers, I can image
they might also have wondered what HKU was, especially as there is a
university called HKUST in Hong Kong (where the Hong Kong Polytechnic
school of design is chaired by a Netherlander, not that this is relevant).
And especially as my Googling discovered that there is indeed a university
called HKU in Hong Kong.
If a note is truly intended only for a subset of the list, then say so,
as an example, announce:
This note is intended only for people who collect ants as examples of
NCSCW. OK? (Non-Computer Supported Collaborative Work, which is an
in-joke for those who know the conference series on CSCW)
Don
Don Norman
Prof. and Director, DesignLab, UC San Diego
[log in to unmask] designlab.ucsd.edu/ www.jnd.org <http://www.jnd.org/>
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