Lambda the Ultimate

I am on the only one that is perturbed by whiners, or as a pre-emptive strike, category/type theorists.

Technical content on the Web is visible to a varied audience. Listeners will wish to skip lightly over the material with which they are familiar and slow down and concentrate on that which is new and interesting. Their needs cannot be met by re-writing the talk, because their needs are different, one from another.

With text the problem barely exists. One reads at ones own pace, speeding up and slowing down out of synchrony with other readers. If there are some section headers one can rapidly scan the talk and focus on the new and interesting

One of the problems with the documentation of computer programs is the lack of context. The writer plunges straight into how the code works. If you have a question about what the code is trying to achieve you are often out of luck. Where fundamently does this problem come from? One point to watch is audio formats. If you listen to recorded speech it is painful to sit through a lengthy introduction in order to reach the meat of the talk. If however you need that background it is painful to be dropped right into the meat of the talk without the necessary context. A piece of written text can be quickly scanned for background, context, content, and each reader can spend his time efficiently. Notice though that if you approach the task of writing with the mindset appropriate to an audio format, you are acutely, and falsely, aware of the need to avoid introductory comments that delay your audiences access to the main contents.

The post-Gutenburg world will not be a productive one.

If you have four minutes ... this podcast says it all, IMHO.

I too, am put off by audio/video presentations that don't have a corresponding text. There are several Knuth videos that I would love to see a proper paper for, but alas. As a counter-example, it's great to have both the SICP videos and the book online. There's a lot to be gained watching the students struggle with certain concepts that you just don't get from the book.

However, in this case there really is no cause for complaint. The audio interview was really just an "extra feature" that occurred at a conference. It's whole purpose was to be an entertaining/interesting audio interview, not some well thought out, prepared presentation. Yes, it would have been nice to have a text transcript, but given the context, I wouldn't expect one.

On the other hand, the audio interview is an MP3 file. You can download those techie interviews to an MP3 Player or iPod and listen while commuting or using a cross-trainer at a fitness center.