Journal Entries
Only the conclusion to go!
Posted May 2, 2001
Yippee! Just the conclusion to write, and then I've done my dissertation! Well, after spellchecking and everything else. But, pretty much, it's done. 
And then I can try and decide what to do with this denim skirt... 
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Latest reply: May 2, 2001
Dictate to me...
Posted Apr 28, 2001
Well, today I just got a new toy. It's one of these dictation programmes which prescribes what you say. I'm slowly getting the hand of it, although it is pretty difficult. I frequently have to stop to correct one of its mistakes. But, in general, it's actually pretty good. It's faster than writing by hand, and there is no risk of RSI, which is a good thing. It properly does mean, though, that my own noisy neighbours with my incessant prattling. On the plus side, it is as good a source of amusing words and Freudian slips as any spell checker.
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Latest reply: Apr 28, 2001
Pending...
Posted Apr 14, 2001
...dang. 
I removed a handful of words from my home space - and as a result the squack knocked me into Pending mode. So I guess my home space has a big :-X stuck across it till Monday morn. Yeah, yeah - it's a learning process - mistakes are made, etc, etc. But that doesn't do anything to stop the feeling when your words get removed - however temporary the removal might be. 
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Latest reply: Apr 14, 2001
Scouting
Posted Apr 14, 2001
For my sins, I'm a scout on h2g2 - which means, amongst other things, I take an extra effort to look at PR threads which have been neglected, and to try and give helpful advice and such. If anyone has an entry in PR which they feel has been overlooked, mention it here and I'll give it a look over, and let you know what I think.
However, my services don't come with no strings attached: I insist that you've read and followed my Peer Review Submission Tips at http://www.h2g2.com/A475049. Most importantly, I'd like everyone posting here to have reviewed at least one other entry in Peer Review - it's a bit selfish to expect feedback if you've not given any to anyone else, eh? 
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Latest reply: Apr 14, 2001
The Law...
Posted Apr 9, 2001
The law relating to the web sucks. It's a clumsy mishmash of national laws which are individually dumb, which when put together become hugely dumb. The question of who is a 'carrrier' and who is a 'publisher' is utterly confused.
This affects us here on h2g2, but it has effected many more people. Indeed, there are many who have a far greater claim to have been censored. An online gay magazine was removed because it's competitors asked their ISP for an assurance that the mag wouldn't publish any opinion detrimental for them - the ISP shut the site down rather than risk attracting the lawyers. And then there's the infamous Dr. Godfrey, and the victims of the Scientologist lawyers. There's some bad stuff going on.
So what to do? Talk to your local political representative. Talk to your party. Sign the Internet Declaration of Independance. When you vote, vote for the candidate who appears to understand the web - who has an email address which she actually replies to. Vote for parties which are happy to co-operate with other governments, and vote against those which are isolationist - because we'll need international agreement to sort this out.
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Latest reply: Apr 9, 2001
Martin Harper
Researcher U129960
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