At 21:06 +0000 2005-09-02, suzmccarth wrote:

>At the risk of sounding pretty thick - why would I ever type http
>thingamy thingamy I am sure I never have.

You get a business card. It has such an address on it. You type it in.

> > How are indigenous people harmed
>
>because they don't have access to the training and there are
>serious doubts about how long, and if ever, adults learn
>alphabetic literacy.

Not having access to it may make it difficult for them to acquire the
use of the 26 letters (and I think people are smart) but that doesn't
mean that acquisition of it HARMS them, and that was my question.

>If the roman orthography for Vai were standardized and visible in
>the environment and taught then okay, maybe, but, of course, I
>think that would still have a social effect that might or might not
>be desirable. I'm not sure. Some researchers have suggested
>that minority literacies should be cautious about standardizing.
>
> > by learning the main writing system
> > of the planet,
>
>By population or by domain?

Both. The Latin script is used by more people than any of the others.

>Who uses URL's anyway. I tell my principal to "go to the little
>house, now click on google, now look at the name of the printer
>*which is written on the printer*, then type in the name of the
>printer and the word cartrage, shall I spell that for you? Here let
>me write this down" and so on. This is the real world.

Many people in this world are not as limited as your principal may
be. Lots of people use URLs, and if you don't, well, I'm sure you're
in the minority.

>I can do almost anything my job requires and more on the
>computer without having the foggiest idea what you guys are
>talking about because I follow the little icons. Some of us
>illiterates develop other strategies.

You're not illiterate. You're typing.
--
Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com