Bob Finn FINN PHOTO: PHOTO BY HAGOP PHOTOGRAPHY

ON THE LISTS

by Bob Finn

Someone once told me that you can tell the temperature by counting the frequency of a cricket’s chirps; the higher the frequency, the higher the temperature. On the other hand, it’s been my experience since becoming NASW’s cybrarian seven years ago that the relationship between temperature and frequency is typically an inverse one in the NASW universe. Summertime is when the frequency of messages on the nasw-x mailing lists always declines dramatically.

I haven’t been listening to the crickets this past summer, but the volume of recent nasw-x messages may provide the evidence against global warming that the Bush administration has been so desperately searching for. All three of the main nasw-x mailing lists have had very active discussions this summer, even during holiday weekends.

nasw-talk

If you’re interested in evolutionary biology, Blair Bolles (freelance, New York City) sparked an interesting discussion about human evolution. Blair was puzzled by a New York Times article about the origin of language that suggested that a particular neural change allowing for language arose 50,000 years ago and spread rapidly through the population. But Blair noted the growing consensus that the last common human ancestor lived 125,000 years ago. How can it be, he asked, that all of humanity could share a genetic change that occurred since that time?

The lengthy discussion that followed touched on many topics related to evolutionary mechanisms and the evolution of language. Blair’s original post, entitled “How Evolution Works,” appeared on July 15, 2003.

Nasw-talk subscribers also discussed dozens of other topics this summer, including:

• Whether the word “troops” is a valid synonym for “soldiers,” as in, “Two American troops lost their lives today in fighting in Iraq.”
• Relief for migraine headaches (a surprising number of nasw-talk subscribers seem to suffer from migraines).
• The question of whether there is a liberal bias in the news media.

nasw-freelance

Anyone unaffiliated with an institution knows that it can be very challenging to find university libraries—especially medical or technical libraries—that allow freelancers to use their facilities. This can be infuriating, especially in areas where there’s no alternative other than expensive document delivery services. The discussion started on July 31 with a post by Phillip Jones, a Seattle freelancer and patent attorney, entitled “access to journals.” It continued under both that subject heading and “library access.”

Norman Bauman, a freelancer in New York City, recalled that he once used the political influence of a sympathetic Brooklyn borough president to obtain library access at NYU, but unfortunately that access lasted only six months, and Norman’s political contact is no longer in office.

Things are better in other areas. For example, Dan Drollette, Jr., a freelancer in Lee, NH, noted that the University of New Hampshire allows state residents to purchase a library card, although the annual price just went from $35 to $60. It’s free to residents of neighboring towns, however. Others chimed in, listing similar enlightened policies at several other universities. And some suggested that NASW should get involved, advocating or even negotiating library access for its members.

nasw-pr

Mary Patyten (Marina, CA), of the California Department of Fish and Game, posted the following query on August 7:

Okay, my newspaper sensibilities just received a shock, so I have to double check this with you all!

I wrote a press release and included a quote from a biologist. Per my training, I added a bit of bracketed text within the quote for clarification (as so often happens with quotes, this one wasn’t quite clear). When I submitted the release, the head PIO in Sacramento said we had to take out the brackets, because “we are in the business of making up quotes.” Is this quite normal, and am I showing just how green I am at this press release writing stuff? It was really a shock to hear that “making up quotes” can be “business as usual”!

The majority of respondents agreed with Eric Mankin of the University of Southern California, who replied,

Here’s a striking fact: people in many walks of public life—mayors, governors, senators even presidents; retired officials, athletes, movie stars—sometimes get up and speak for fifteen minutes, a half hour, or even a whole hour at a time using words other people have written for them. And newspapers and magazines—even highly ethical ones with ombudsmen—will often quote these words verbatim.

Manufacturing for the record lame o quotes (“Blatt corporation is proud to be part of this proactive effort to bring a truly superior product into the market”) is one thing. But rhetorically, in the course of creating a story, it’s useful to have vivid capsulations of ideas. Since a writer of a news release is not a scientist, they have limits in this regard. The scientist doesn’t. I don’t see anything wrong with suggesting formulations or sweeteners of what they have said to them, making it clear that they can say no, or say it in their own words. And if magazines and papers run segments from speeches, I don’t think they should be ashamed or dubious about using such quotes.

A’ndrea Messer of Penn State (University Park, PA) represented the contrary view when she wrote,

What is so hard about creating an indirect quote when one does not have a good quote? It certainly doesn’t harm the flow of the story.

To follow the full discussion, visit the nasw-pr archives and look for the subject headings “making up quotes,” and “thanks for your thoughts.”

#

Bob Finn administers NASW’s Web site and e-mail lists at nasw.org. His e-mail address is cybrarian@nasw.org.