[Year 12 IT Apps] Hacking through the classroom IT Language

[Robert]

Gee Roland,

you are opening up a completely different can of worms. The whole political spin of language. Loved your first para - so much so that I'll repeat it now

"What many call a settlement, others call an occupied territory. What many describe as pioneers, others describe as invaders. What many describe as illegal migrants, others describe as desperate refugees. What some hide as government owned, private and confidential, others may report as being in the public interest. What the media describes as a balanced debate, scientists describe as pandering airplay to crackpots."

Well done! 

So what do the list members have to say about it?

Robert Hind (Semi-retired)
Ashwood and Traralgon
robert at yinnar.com





  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Roland Gesthuizen 
  To: Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List 
  Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 5:09 PM
  Subject: [Year 12 IT Apps] Hacking through the classroom IT Language


  No Donna, you did raise a good point and thanks for raising this. I am being careful here not to pick on any one issue, broadening it from the original hacker vs cracker debate to something more interesting .. What many call a settlement, others call an occupied territory. What many describe as pioneers, others describe as invaders. What many describe as illegal migrants, others describe as desperate refugees. What some hide as government owned, private and confidential, others may report as being in the public interest. What the media describes as a balanced debate, scientists describe as pandering airplay to crackpots.

  Even our very real world of IT is not so black and white. Crikey, what some call a benevolent security filter, others describe as the great firewall. 

  Should students be aware of this language play and be guided to identify the associated tensions. There are some powerful groups and corporations that like to think they can control our thinking and steer opinion. Humanities teachers have to juggle the spin put onto our language all the time. Would anybody on the list like to share how they deal with this?

  I have my doubts that common usage should dictate the ideas of what we should teach. That is not to say that we cannot describe what people generally think. I bump into this every year when I start to describe information and data to get students to think about these terms as as IT professionals do, not as a lay member of the public. Any valid claim for how we should use a term should probably be based on sound arguments, not popularity.

  Regards Roland


  On 2 April 2010 10:48, Donna Benjamin <donna at cc.com.au> wrote:

    On Sun, 2010-03-28 at 18:33 +1100, Mark KELLY wrote:
    > I fear the battle is already lost; 99% of the
    > population simply does not know or care about the difference: and they
    > win.


    But you are IT teachers, teaching IT students, who surely should at
    least be exposed to the notion there is a difference?

    Or should I just pull my head in?

    Common Usage is not always Correct Usage.

    I fort youse guise mite no that.

    --

    Donna Benjamin - Executive Director
    Creative Contingencies - http://cc.com.au
    ph +61 3 9326 9985 - mob +61 418 310 414
    open source - facilitation - web services

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  -- 
  Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
  http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au

  "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
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