Information Literacy (was Jargon...which was

[JQ Johnson]

>To the best of my knowledge, no field has developed jargon just for the
>sake of obfuscation.

Thomas Dowling makes a good point about the positive benefits of a precise
technical vocabulary, but it's one that is debated in some parts of
academia.  Some modern philosophers and historians of science would argue
that jargon's more important role is to maintain an existing power
structure.  You can't be one of the good old boys if you don't talk like
one.

Even if you don't buy into that radical a view of science, at least you need
to accept the idea that our understanding of the domain changes with time,
and hence that jargon needs to evolve.  One driver for that evolution is the
need to appeal to new (lay) audiences.

JQ Johnson                      Office: 115F Knight Library
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