subject: the dawn of the computer age (reprise) posted: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 12:41:35 -0000
well, for the benefit of those who weren't around when computers
first appeared (such as me) -- here's a rerun..
Stuart
CALLIGRAPHY, COMPUTERS, AND CHINESE
CULTURE
A current debate among Chinese speakers revolves
around anecdotal evidence
that computer word processing is eroding the ability
of people to write
traditional characters by hand -- and thus constituting
an attack on
Chinese culture. But the same debate occurred a
century ago, when the pen
began replacing the calligraphy brush, which is now
used by a tiny segment
of the population and treated as an instrument of
artistic expression
rather than normal communication. Professor Ping Xu
of Baruch College
predicts that the computer will replace the pen, just as
the pen replaced
the brush: "Why would you still spend so much time
on handwriting Chinese
characters when you are eventually going to use
computers? In spite of the
opposition against the pen, why did the pen prevail?
Because the pen is
much easier to use and much easier to carry around.
If the computer can
provide an easier way of learning Chinese characters
and all the Chinese
language skills, eventually it will prevail." (New York
Times 1 Feb 2001)
http://partners.nytimes.com/2001/02/01/technology/0 1LOST.html
Copyright 2001. NewsScan Daily (R) is a publication
of NewsScan.com Inc.
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