Start by logging on to this computer

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Nerdview enthusiasts: My colleague Mits Ota pointed out to me today that the helpful instructions in a recording studio at the University of Edinburgh, which are presented as the wallpaper screen background on the Macintosh computer through which you control the recording equipment, state that the first thing you have to do to get started is to log on to the Mac, for which you will need to know that the login name to use is 'studio' and the password is also 'studio'. You see why Mits brought the example to my attention?

The only place you can see this instruction is on the custom screen wallpaper that the computer displays after you have logged in. And each user, after using the studio, shuts the computer down. From the standpoint of the person writing the instructions it made perfect sense to explain what the login name and password are. Only from the standpoint of the user does it become clear that the instruction is completely useless, because you could never see it unless you were already in a position to not need it. And that's a classic example of nerdview: it involves making an announcement for some audience taking a viewpoint that necessarily the audience will not and cannot have, so that for them the annnouncement is unintelligible, though from your perspective internal to the overall system it looks intelligible.



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