On 09/17/11 5:48 AM, Fred Bauder wrote:
On Sep 16,
2011 6:35 PM, "Fred Bauder"<fredbaud(a)fairpoint.net> wrote:
It is difficult to balance the needs of the
general public, which reads
more at a 5th grade level than a 9th grade level, with the need to
present comprehensive information that would be of use to an
oncologist.
If we addressed this problem in a systemic way we would present
alternate
articles at differing levels of comprehensiveness and readability.
Perhaps in the future.
If most people that have completed the ninth grade
can't read at the
ninth
grade level, you need to recalibrate your scale... Either that, or give
up
on this nonsense that readability can be determined by word and sentence
length. It has far more to do with how engaging it is and how much prior
knowledge it assumes than how long the sentences are.
If people want something that doesn't require much language skill, we do
have Simple English Wikipedia. I haven't visited it in a while, so I'm
not sure how good it is these days.
It doesn't have much detailed information on cancer.
Simple English serves those learning English who have a limited
vocabulary, not the general English speaking public, who are literate but
not skilled readers. Reaching that population, the masses, if you will,
requires specialized writing and editorial skills. Governmental and
medical organizations use those skills while crafting public information
documents. We could also learn and apply those skills in an appropriate
format.
I look at Simple more broadly to include adult native English speakers
with generally poor reading skills for whatever reason. Depending on
how you define "literate" your comment could be self-contradictory.
I just looked at the first sentence of [[en:Cancer]] which reads:
*Cancer* /ˈkænsər/
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English>(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:En-us-cancer.ogg>
listen
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/En-us-cancer.ogg>)
(medical term: malignant <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malignancy>
neoplasm <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplasm>) is a large,
heterogeneous class of diseases <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disease>
in which a group of cells
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_%28biology%29> display uncontrolled
growth, invasion that intrudes upon and destroys adjacent tissues, and
often metastasizes <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metastasis>, wherein
the tumor cells spread to other locations in the body via the
lymphatic system <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymph> or through the
bloodstream <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood>.
and the first few sentences of [[simple:Cancer]] which read:
*Cancer* is a class of diseases
<http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disease> or disorders. It is when
the body has no control over cells that begin to split. In cancer
<http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_%28disambiguation%29>, body
cells copy their contents. They then make new cells with these copies.
These cells are able to go into other tissues
<http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_tissue>. They go into
other tissues by growing into them. They can also go into other
tissues by putting themselves into far away places by metastasis
<http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metastasis>.
I don't find either satisfactory. Both have grammatical problems. I had
to pause to determine how "invasion" related to the beginning, and after
figuring that out came to the conclusion that "metastasizes" should
really have been a noun.
In the Simple version "is when..." is an incorrect introduction of an
adverb clause. Addressing an audience with limited language skills is no
excuse for our own bad grammar. I don't know what is intended by "body
cells copy their contents." A few individual words need further
explanation, or, at least, links.
Both of these need serious help.
Ray