Re: And the DTD says, "I'm NOT dead yet!!"

["Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>]

At 01:49 PM 1/12/01 +0800, Rick Jelliffe wrote:
>If the reptiles of the press or even Jo User gets confused by this,
>they were either born too far from the 60s or they don't know
>of the positive, challenging influences that universities should
>have.  If people who are influential in making standards are not allowed
>speak frankly, then standards become merely a dictation rather than
>part of a human dialog where one can get to know the context and tradeoff.

I'd suggest this story tells it exactly backwards. The real problems in
this case don't seem to come from academics having a mere right to speak
their mind.  They come from academics who do speak their mind, and then
expect others to accept that speaking as fact, regardless of its lack of
official standing within the consortium.  (More the 50s than the 60s.)

It's obnoxious if not unethical.  'Challenging', perhaps, but when the
challenges come from the top, academic or no, and questioning 'axioms' is
discouraged, it just doesn't seem likely to encourage vigorous discussion.

>From: Bullard, Claude L (Len) <clbullar@ingr.com>
>
>> The problem is authority and credibility.  If
>> the public statements of the authorities are
>> at odds with the policy as expressed in the
>> record of authority, credibility suffers.
>
>This is where I disagree; W3C is a consortium, but
>it is hosted at several famous universities, so academic
>(well, quasi-academic) freedom should be extended to its staff.
>
>They are not being paid (I hope) to be robots trotting out
>the party line, except the press officer, but because they are
>innovative or constructive thinkers and their opinions, right or
>wrong, are interesting to consider.  (Please,  no flames.)
>...
Simon St.Laurent - Associate Editor, O'Reilly and Associates
XML Elements of Style / XML: A Primer, 2nd Ed.
XHTML: Migrating Toward XML
http://www.simonstl.com - XML essays and books