[Sigia-l] microcontent - a definition?

[Eric Scheid]

On 16/2/04 7:48 PM, "Stew Dean" <stew at stewdean.com> wrote:

> To me this is a good reason to try and avoid terms like this.  I urge folks
> here to think of plain English terms to describe both areas - if you mean
> subject lines and short one sentence description use those terms - if you
> mean public domain reviews and blog posts - use those term - public domain
> content or content from community sites is more descriptive than a term
> like 'microcontent'  or 'micro-publishing'.  Let's not fall into bad habits
> here.

All good points, although I've often found that when I speak of a concept by
only naming example members of the category (like "subject lines"), many
people don't realise I'm talking of the broader concept, and wonder why I'm
talking about email subject lines for their web page.

It's a bit like talking about lions and lionesses ... when what I'm really
talking about are big carnivorous cats, including panthers, tigers, etc.
There are terms for specific things, and there are terms for broader
concepts. The term "microcontent" is one such term.

I do agree 100% with not using jargon for the sake of jargon, that if there
is a plain english word with the requisite precision then use it. I don't
agree with avoiding precision in language.

Give me a plain english term to use instead of "microcontent", I'll even let
you stretch it to a two or three word syntagm, but don't ask me to recite a
multi-word phrase every time I want to refer to that concept named
"microcontent".

As to there being multiple definitions for a given word is not a good reason
to avoid it. It's a good reason to introduce any special terms, it's a good
reason to provide clarifying context, but it's not a good reason to discard
it. Now excuse me while I go have a cup o' java ;-)

e.