Plain English Campaign wants to bring down walls of technobabble

[geoffreak]

So look, we fully understand that not everyone "gets" technology-related lingo -- we've had to walk our mums and dads through setting up a WLAN router with a WPA2 password and 1337 encryption many, many times. But this... this is just comical. Peter Griffiths, who we can only imagine looks and speaks exactly like Peter Griffin (pictured), is hoping that his Plain English Campaign can knock down the "walls of techobabble" by "pulling our heads out of the digital clouds and using plain English." Ironic, really, given that most of the technologically illiterate wouldn't know that a digital cloud actually refers to an off-site storage hub where information is exchanged. At any rate, it seems the campaign is pushing to have flummoxing terms such as digital TV, phone jack, desktop and dongle (yes, seriously) changed, or at worse, have them defined clearly in a dictionary that precisely no one would ever read.

Fucktards... all of them. This is just embarrassing.

[kureshii]

I'd like to see his alternative proposals to those terms

"Uhh, to set up this thing that routes connections from many computers to your phone line, you use that device that controls the arrow on your computer screen. Move it until the arrow is over the button that says 'connect', and then press the left button until you hear a 'click' sound".

[mgz]

so would digital tv change to what ? Tv that is magically cheaper for cable companies to run to you and can produce better quality prettier pictures, but only if you have a HD TV, expensive gooder moving picture box

[xShadow]

Hahaha... yeah, seems fairly unrealistic. By the way, I'm really kinda wondering if this is more politics than technology... not that it really matters. *shrug*

[Proin Drakenzol]

jargon exists for a reason.


this is stupid.

[dankles]

Screw those guys!
I'm an IT guy and I'm able to get my point across to customers just fine.

[VaporTrail]

'Bring down the walls of technobabble' ...

Aka 'Make high technology accessible to the stupid.'  I agree with Proin Drakenzol, jargon exists for a reason.

I have to laugh every time I hear the words "the reactor is going critical!" in reference to a nuclear reactor, in a TV show or movie.  The reason I laugh is because a nuclear reactor is designed to 'go critical'. As a matter of fact it's designed to maintain a critical state for days or months without failure. The technical term "critical" refers to a self sustaining chain reaction. Basically the number neutrons being released by fissioning atoms equals the number released into the shielding, plus those absorbed by the control rods (and other non-fuel equipment), and those absorbed by fuel (uranium-235 or other) atoms that subsequently fission. In essence, the number of free neutrons remains constant. In essence, it's the same as saying "the reactor is on".

Even going supercritical (in which the number of free neutrons is increasing) is a normal part of operation, during changing loads or startup operations.

But to the uninitiated, the words "critical" and "reactor" in the same sentance conjures images of mushroom clouds (which is a whole 'nother rant) and mutant wildlife.

But believe me, mention the phrase "uncontrolled power excursion" while I'm in a nuclear facility, and watch me find the nearest exit.

[Keevtara]

'Bring down the walls of technobabble' ...

Aka 'Make high technology accessible to the stupid.'  I agree with Proin Drakenzol, jargon exists for a reason.

I have to laugh every time I hear the words "the reactor is going critical!" in reference to a nuclear reactor, in a TV show or movie.  The reason I laugh is because a nuclear reactor is designed to 'go critical'. As a matter of fact it's designed to maintain a critical state for days or months without failure. The technical term "critical" refers to a self sustaining chain reaction. Basically the number neutrons being released by fissioning atoms equals the number released into the shielding, plus those absorbed by the control rods (and other non-fuel equipment), and those absorbed by fuel (uranium-235 or other) atoms that subsequently fission. In essence, the number of free neutrons remains constant. In essence, it's the same as saying "the reactor is on".

Even going supercritical (in which the number of free neutrons is increasing) is a normal part of operation, during changing loads or startup operations.

But to the uninitiated, the words "critical" and "reactor" in the same sentance conjures images of mushroom clouds (which is a whole 'nother rant) and mutant wildlife.

But believe me, mention the phrase "uncontrolled power excursion" while I'm in a nuclear facility, and watch me find the nearest exit.

There is a subtle difference between what is used in the movies, and what it used in real life. In a real life example of your situation, the geeks in charge of the reactor would use the correct terms with each other. When the media asks, the geeks will dumb it down for them, then the media will dumb it down for the average Joe. In the movies, the geek speak is already dumbed down for the average Joe.

I agree with Proin, jargon exists for a reason. This "dumbing down" is political, not technical.

[kyanwan]

I'm sure tech manufacturers are all for it.   Just imagine. 

Dr Jackass opening up his PC to install some memory.

Fries the new memory with static, and the old memory when he's trying to take it out.   Now he needs TWICE as much new memory as he did before, PLUS a service call for someone to install it.

I sense profit.
 
XD

[SirSkyRider]

Yup, it is idiotic. But if you want to talk to people who do not get everything, it turns out that "technobabble" can really be a pain in the ass. When I need to talk to my parents about computers, I have to compare computer stuff to stuff they know...

[raylu]

CSI: NY fail:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU

[vuzedome]

CSI: NY fail:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU

Definitely a Fail!

[kyanwan]

CSI: NY fail:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU

Definitely a Fail!

I'd love to injure every person who attempts to pronounce an acronym, or pronounces one. 

People have pet peeves, right - that's mine.  That- is like a -50 in perceived IQ when I hear it. 

"Yeah, I'll whip something up to do that."   Come on.  Visual basic GUI interface?   What an ape.

[Xanthic]

Idiots are trying to take over the world again. We need to put a stop to this. Anyone else up for an ethnic cleansing?

[vuzedome]

Idiots are trying to take over the world again. We need to put a stop to this. Anyone else up for an ethnic cleansing?

Which ethnic group? If I'm not in your targeted than I'll join. 

[Proin Drakenzol]

CSI: NY fail:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU

Definitely a Fail!

I'd love to injure every person who attempts to pronounce an acronym, or pronounces one. 

Hey, fuck you, alright?


Many acronyms have official pronunciations: GUI is "gooey;" LASER is "layzer;" RAM is "ram;" LED is sometimes "lead;" SPS (designates a surface ship mounted radar for surface search) is "spiz;" etc.

but yeah, fail on CIS part.

[bloody000]

I especially hate those retarded "friendly" error messages. like, "oops something went wrong blah blah blah" WOW how useful is that? just fucking tell me what happened.

[captiosus]

I especially hate those retarded "friendly" error messages. like, "oops something went wrong blah blah blah" WOW how useful is that? just fucking tell me what happened.

THIS!

Hate it when explorer.exe crashes while im doing something and will only give me a hexidecimal error code like 03x000000 or some shit like that. Just tell me wtfucking problem is so i can fix it!

[bloody000]

I especially hate those retarded "friendly" error messages. like, "oops something went wrong blah blah blah" WOW how useful is that? just fucking tell me what happened.

THIS!

Hate it when explorer.exe crashes while im doing something and will only give me a hexidecimal error code like 03x000000 or some shit like that. Just tell me wtfucking problem is so i can fix it!

an error code is miles better than a bunch of "soothing" bs. at least it gives you something to google.

[geoffreak]

Instead of giving the error code to us, it should USE the error code to look up what the problem was, as well as link to solutions for fixing it.