Vol. VIII, No. 3

   
November, 1995

Readers' Comments


The comment in the last issue of the CSA Newsletter about surveying a molding profile with the total station brought a comment from a reader. Judith S. McKenzie noted that surveying of such a molding can be accomplished with a theodolite and sent a copy of her article explaining the technique. The article is entitled "The Measurement of Inaccessible Mouldings by a Survey Method: As Applied at Petra" (Levant, XVII [1985], pp 157-170).

* * * * * * *

In the last issue of the CSA Newsletter was an article about the difficulties of sharing scholarly databases. The article brought a comment from Gary Schwartz, who had written about the problem some years ago in his article, "Le Musée Documentaire: reflections on a database of works mentioned in art treatises and town descriptions before 1800" (Journal of Information Science, 15 [1989], pp. 41-47). Mr. Schwartz had made a point somewhat different from but closely related to the arguments in the Newsletter article, pointing out that, "The scholar using a database designed by someone else is at a greater disadvantage than he realizes. . . . he lacks insight into the nature of the tool he employs. He does not know which of its shortcomings could have been avoided (and at what cost), nor does he take pride in the ingenuity behind its best features. If it had been up to him, he would have done things differently, but now he is stuck with arbitrary limitations that are the outcome of another's priorities and skill in implementing them."


Next Article: Thank You!

Table of Contents for the November, 1995 issue of the CSA Newsletter (Vol. 8, no. 3)

Table of Contents for all CSA Newsletter issues on the Web

Return to CSA Home Page