Computers, Non-Fiction, and Events at the Library
September 14, 2011
I've been learning how computers work, thinking about who writes non-fiction, preparing for a panel discussion on September 26, and discovering editing-related events at the library.
How Do Computers Work?
HTML, CSS, XML, ePUB, Java, PHP, CMS. The list of programming languages and software for an editor to be aware of is daunting. As a freelance editor, I haven't yet been asked or required to use any of the above, and I can't decide what, if anything, to start learning in earnest.
What I really want to know is how computers work in general. What happens in my computer and how do computers communicate with each other? Exactly what does the driver I have to install for my new printer do? How do the extensions I see at the end of URLs (e.g., php, jsp) relate to and affect what I see and can do on the screen? The more I understand how computers work, the better I'll be able to see the whole picture. I don't need to write Javascript, for example, and I probably never will, but I need and want to understand what it does and how in order to communicate with the people who do write it.
An anecdote: I was talking to a digital publisher this week, and I asked, So what happens—how does your vendor turn the files you send into an ebook? And she said, Magic.
I want the long answer.
Where to begin? I'm not a fan of self-study; I prefer to learn from people and with people. So I spent two hours this week with my friend Peter Boutakis, inventor, entrepreneur, and web developer. He explained the basics—in terms I could understand—and gave me enough background to investigate further on my own.
One thing I learned from Peter is that programming languages are like any other kind of language—if you don’t use it, you lose it. Peter doesn’t do a lot or programming himself these days. He struggled a bit to write some very simple programs to illustrate the difference between a static language like HTML and dynamic languages like PHP and ASP; he had to look up some of the commands. This reinforced my belief that there’s no point in learning a specific language or program until I really need to. If I’m not going to use it right away, I’ll probably forget a lot of what I learned by the time I do use it. (Another anecdote: I took a very basic introductory course in Illustrator and Photoshop when I first started in Publishing, but have never used them since and remember nothing about doing so.)
I also read an article that I first came across earlier this year. It's called "What Should an Educated Person Know about Computers?" and it was written by computer scientist and university professor Brian W. Kernighan. Brian spent 30 years working at Bell Labs and the last 10 years or so teaching undergraduates in non-technical fields (e.g., history, literature) how computers and communications work. In other words, he teaches exactly the kind of class I wish I could take right now!
I don't understand anything well enough to explain it to anybody else, at least not yet. But I'm fascinated.
It’s not magic, but it is magical.
Resources
What Should an Educated Person Know about Computers? (pdf)
Nora Young interviewed Brian W. Kernighan on Spark earlier this year.
Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software by Scott Rosenberg—One of my favourite non-fiction books of all-time.
Non-Fiction Writers: Male or Female (And Does It Matter)
Several weeks ago I noted that every non-fiction book I seemed to be reading was written by a man. Was it my imagination? Was there a larger trend here? I decided to check.
I've kept a reading journal for the last five years, roughly, so I went through it, found all the non-fiction books (for adults), identified the authors as male or female (where possible), and tallied the results. Here's what I found:
Female (1 or more) 27 38%
Male (1 or more) 33 46%
Male and Female (2 or more) 8 11%
Unknown 3 4%
Most of the books I've read lately have been written by men, but not all, so my impression wasn't entirely accurate. And the data show that overall, the numbers of male and female authors are about the same.
There is, however, a very clear difference and pattern in what men and women choose to write about. I've read a lot of books about writing and design over the past five years, and almost every single one of those has been written by females. The books about technology, science, business, and math? Most were written by men.
No conclusions can be drawn from such a small sample, naturally, and I'm not sure it's worth the time and effort to investigate this further. No doubt, someone else has.
But what about the editors of these books? I always read the acknowledgements, and I'm sure most of the editors thanked are women. I belong to an organization, the Editors' Association of Canada, whose membership is predominantly female. When I look around the room at any EAC meeting, seminar, or conference, I can sometimes count the number of men on one hand. At a dinner with fellow editors recently, only 1 of the 15 people at the table was male.
My first thought: it doesn't matter. Or does it? Do men and women edit differently?? And what about gender equity. We care about gender equity in education, law, medicine, and engineering. Why not editing?
A Panel Discussion about Queries
I’ve got my first program for an EAC monthly meeting! On Monday, September 26, editors with experience in different fields will discuss queries to authors. Details will be posted here next week.
Coming Up at the Toronto Public Library
Peter Pan, Pirates, Mermaids and Fairies An exhibit of children's books and art to celebrate the 100th anniversary of J.M. Barrie's Peter and Wendy.
September 10 to December 3, Lillian H. Smith branch
A bookbinding bee A live demonstration of bookbinding, artist talks, and a hands-on session.
October 1, Dufferin/St. Clair branch
Award-winning author Arthur Slade talks about becoming his own publisher through e-books.
October 20, Lillian H. Smith branch
Creative Reactions to the End of the World
On October 6, at the Mississauga Central Library, astrophysicist William E. Harris will talk about the ways artists and writers have responded to what we've learned about the universe over the years. This is the first in a series of lectures—some in Mississauga, some at the University of Toronto—sponsored by the Royal Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Science (RCI).
How Do Computers Work?
HTML, CSS, XML, ePUB, Java, PHP, CMS. The list of programming languages and software for an editor to be aware of is daunting. As a freelance editor, I haven't yet been asked or required to use any of the above, and I can't decide what, if anything, to start learning in earnest.
What I really want to know is how computers work in general. What happens in my computer and how do computers communicate with each other? Exactly what does the driver I have to install for my new printer do? How do the extensions I see at the end of URLs (e.g., php, jsp) relate to and affect what I see and can do on the screen? The more I understand how computers work, the better I'll be able to see the whole picture. I don't need to write Javascript, for example, and I probably never will, but I need and want to understand what it does and how in order to communicate with the people who do write it.
An anecdote: I was talking to a digital publisher this week, and I asked, So what happens—how does your vendor turn the files you send into an ebook? And she said, Magic.
I want the long answer.
Where to begin? I'm not a fan of self-study; I prefer to learn from people and with people. So I spent two hours this week with my friend Peter Boutakis, inventor, entrepreneur, and web developer. He explained the basics—in terms I could understand—and gave me enough background to investigate further on my own.
One thing I learned from Peter is that programming languages are like any other kind of language—if you don’t use it, you lose it. Peter doesn’t do a lot or programming himself these days. He struggled a bit to write some very simple programs to illustrate the difference between a static language like HTML and dynamic languages like PHP and ASP; he had to look up some of the commands. This reinforced my belief that there’s no point in learning a specific language or program until I really need to. If I’m not going to use it right away, I’ll probably forget a lot of what I learned by the time I do use it. (Another anecdote: I took a very basic introductory course in Illustrator and Photoshop when I first started in Publishing, but have never used them since and remember nothing about doing so.)
I also read an article that I first came across earlier this year. It's called "What Should an Educated Person Know about Computers?" and it was written by computer scientist and university professor Brian W. Kernighan. Brian spent 30 years working at Bell Labs and the last 10 years or so teaching undergraduates in non-technical fields (e.g., history, literature) how computers and communications work. In other words, he teaches exactly the kind of class I wish I could take right now!
I don't understand anything well enough to explain it to anybody else, at least not yet. But I'm fascinated.
It’s not magic, but it is magical.
Resources
What Should an Educated Person Know about Computers? (pdf)
Nora Young interviewed Brian W. Kernighan on Spark earlier this year.
Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software by Scott Rosenberg—One of my favourite non-fiction books of all-time.
Non-Fiction Writers: Male or Female (And Does It Matter)
Several weeks ago I noted that every non-fiction book I seemed to be reading was written by a man. Was it my imagination? Was there a larger trend here? I decided to check.
I've kept a reading journal for the last five years, roughly, so I went through it, found all the non-fiction books (for adults), identified the authors as male or female (where possible), and tallied the results. Here's what I found:
Female (1 or more) 27 38%
Male (1 or more) 33 46%
Male and Female (2 or more) 8 11%
Unknown 3 4%
Most of the books I've read lately have been written by men, but not all, so my impression wasn't entirely accurate. And the data show that overall, the numbers of male and female authors are about the same.
There is, however, a very clear difference and pattern in what men and women choose to write about. I've read a lot of books about writing and design over the past five years, and almost every single one of those has been written by females. The books about technology, science, business, and math? Most were written by men.
No conclusions can be drawn from such a small sample, naturally, and I'm not sure it's worth the time and effort to investigate this further. No doubt, someone else has.
But what about the editors of these books? I always read the acknowledgements, and I'm sure most of the editors thanked are women. I belong to an organization, the Editors' Association of Canada, whose membership is predominantly female. When I look around the room at any EAC meeting, seminar, or conference, I can sometimes count the number of men on one hand. At a dinner with fellow editors recently, only 1 of the 15 people at the table was male.
My first thought: it doesn't matter. Or does it? Do men and women edit differently?? And what about gender equity. We care about gender equity in education, law, medicine, and engineering. Why not editing?
A Panel Discussion about Queries
I’ve got my first program for an EAC monthly meeting! On Monday, September 26, editors with experience in different fields will discuss queries to authors. Details will be posted here next week.
Coming Up at the Toronto Public Library
Peter Pan, Pirates, Mermaids and Fairies An exhibit of children's books and art to celebrate the 100th anniversary of J.M. Barrie's Peter and Wendy.
September 10 to December 3, Lillian H. Smith branch
A bookbinding bee A live demonstration of bookbinding, artist talks, and a hands-on session.
October 1, Dufferin/St. Clair branch
Award-winning author Arthur Slade talks about becoming his own publisher through e-books.
October 20, Lillian H. Smith branch
Creative Reactions to the End of the World
On October 6, at the Mississauga Central Library, astrophysicist William E. Harris will talk about the ways artists and writers have responded to what we've learned about the universe over the years. This is the first in a series of lectures—some in Mississauga, some at the University of Toronto—sponsored by the Royal Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Science (RCI).
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