Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Things They Should Invent Words For

I once saw some photos from a Harry Potter premiere that named every actor, the character they played, and the character's blood status. For example, "Rupert Grint, who plays pure-blood wizard Ron Weasley, arrives at the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

Apart from the fact that they're politically incorrect within the Potterverse (I doubt even the Rita Skeeter would be so crude as to mention blood status of an actor at a premiere!), the problem with those captions is that blood status is only meaningful to fans, and fans would already know the character's blood status. If you don't know that Ron Weasley is a pure-blood wizard, the fact that Ron Weasley is a pure-blood wizard is inconsequential to you.

The name of the actor is relevant if you don't know who the person in the picture is, the name of the character might be relevant if you've read the books but aren't familiar with the movie actors, but there are no circumstances under which the blood status of the character is relevant to a reader who wouldn't already know the blood status of the character.

We need a word for this kind of situation, when if you could use the information you already have it, and if you don't have the information it's not useful.

3 comments:

laura k said...

when if you could use the information you already have it, and if you don't have the information it's not useful.

I think I've encountered this concept in library reference. I wonder if there is a word for it, and if there is, if my brain can retrieve it.

impudent strumpet said...

If it ever pops into your head or you ever encounter it again, please let me know!

laura k said...

I thought of the concept, but unfortunately it doesn't have a useful word that transfers to other contexts.

As a librarian (we are told) you will be in the unusual situation of people seeking information, but not knowing what they're looking for - because if they knew, they wouldn't be seeking it. People ask you questions that don't accurately describe what they need. If you gave them what they asked for, you'd be way off base.

So you conduct a "reference interview", using a technique called neutral questioning, that helps get at their true information needs. If you do it right, it works - amazingly well, and amazingly quickly.

It was invented by a woman named Brenda Dervish. Her theory goes by a terrible name: sense-making.

Not a good answer to your TTSI, I'm afraid.