Prosound News - April 2008 - (Page 8)

[8] prosound vol. 30 no. 4 publisher April 2008 http://www.prosoundnews.com MARGARET SEKELSKY msekelsky@nbmedia.com Stirring Up the Acronym Soup W hile skimming an article about Intel’s new Atom chip, I ran across a quote referring to the chip’s effectiveness for powering MIDs. “Oh, great,” I thought, “another acronym to learn.” I read through the article a bit closer until I learned that MIDs are Mobile Internet Devices. We as a people increasingly communicate by acronym. This is a phenomenon less than 100 years old, with the term acronym first coined in 1943, derived from the Greek words for name and tip or end. The examples are seemingly endless, from government organizations like NATO and IRS to entities ranging from the ACLU to the NRA to thoroughly current (and unfortunately familiar) terms like WMD and IED. Technological terms are where acronym usage runs rampant, with terms in the common consciousness like TV, PC, PDA and even terms like RADAR that have been part of our group language long enough that we no longer recognize them as acronyms nor commonly spell the words out in caps. Our industry is not immune to this trend, and, in fact, seems to have embraced it. Readers of this magazine need to be well versed in acronym recognition to follow much of our content, and there are a slew of acronyms that are specific, or especially relevant, to our industry. It’s not that we try and be obtuse, but there are certain things that we assume are understood among professionals, and acronym usage makes for some efficiency in communication that actually facilitates professional dialog. When acronyms are new, or the reader may not have seen a term enough for the translation to be automatic, we do spell out the derivation in the first usage within an article, but in most cases, we assume a common body of knowledge amongst our readers. Just skimming briefly through the last issue of Pro Sound News I found the following acronyms, both technical and more common, in use: LEED, CEO, ATM, LLC, PSN, AES, NAB, CBS, ABC, EQ, DVD, LCR, PA, PCM, SATA, DAW, CD, HDTV, HOH, LARES, DSP, LCD, DSD, VST, SCSI, MIDI, PCI-X, PCIe and ADAT. With the exception of LARES, we didn’t spell out the derivation of the terms, assuming that common understanding. Acronyms also come and go—I think it’s safe to assume that many of our own readers wouldn’t necessarily know that PD or Pro Digi was the designation for the Mitsubishi/Otari digital audio tape format, or while they may associate DASH with Sony digital reel tape machines and would recognize DAT, they wouldn’t necessarily know the breakouts were Digital Audio Stationary Head and Digital Audio Tape. We all do still understand what LPs are, right? That PCM is a linear digital audio recording process, even if we don’t know the Pulse Code Modulation derivation? IEEE1394 is harder to remember than FireWire, though an accurate reference. IEC958 is more accurate than S/PDIF, though less common in usage. Terms like MP3 and AAC have meaning without most knowing the long form, but we couldn’t likely get the public to use adopt MPEG-1, Layer 3 or Advanced Audio Coding (and MPEG [Moving Pictures Expert Group] ends up an acronym within an acronym)! Considering and observing the commonality of acronym usage and presumed comprehension can prove a interesting measuring stick for the obsolescence, relevance, market awareness, commonality and currency of the technologies and entities represented by the terms. The next time you need a road game to play in the car, ponder the acronyms that you can think of that are obsolete and no longer have technical relevance—it’ll provide for a little nostalgia and perspective on where we are technologically—and how fast the technological transitions are occurring (don’t forget the computer-related terms). Then try and think of acronyms that you’ve learned in the last year or two, and consider how fast you may have transparently incorporated them into your personal and professional lexicon (lower-case “l”). As for us at PSN, we’ll keep on spelling out the new or less common derivations, and for you young bucks and does, we’ll try and remember to make clear the origins of acronyms gone by (LP stood for Long Playing—those huge old bumpy, two-sided CDs). editorial FRANK WELLS, editor 615-848-1769, fwells@nbmedia.com FRED GOODMAN, managing editor 212-378-0423, fgoodman@nbmedia.com CLIVE YOUNG, senior editor/web editor 212-378-0424, cyoung@nbmedia.com STEVE HARVEY, west coast editor 323-665-2455, sharvey@nbmedia.com CHRISTOPHER WALSH, recording editor 212-378-0437, cwalsh@nbmedia.com CRAIG ANDERTON, JEFF TOUZEAU RICH TOZZOLI contributors advertising TARA PRESTON, associate publisher 212-378-0456, tpreston@nbmedia.com KAREN GODGART, advertising sales director, west coast office 323-868-5416,, kgodgart@nbmedia.com MATT RUBINSTEIN, east coast sales 914-524-5045, mrubinstein@nbmedia.com ZAHRA MAJMA, specialty sales manager 212-378-0433, zmajma@nbmedia.com DEBORAH ROSENTHAL, specialty sales 212-378-0473, drosenthal@nbmedia.com art & production NICOLE COBBAN, senior art director ANNMARIE LASCALA, art director ADRIANNE KNAPP, NEEL PATIL graphic artists FRED VEGA, production manager 212-378-0445, fvega@nbmedia.com circulation ANNE DROBISH, associate circulation director, audience development ARGUS GALINDO, associate circulation manager MICHELE FONVILLE, circulation coordinator SUBSCRIPTIONS: PRO SOUND NEWS, www.MyPSNmag.com P.O. 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Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Prosound News - April 2008

Prosound News - April 2008 Sound Business Contents Sound Retail Mojo’s Working at NY Noise Studio Showcase: Jungle Room Studios Software Tech Tracks Sessions Nomad Takes Root TCB at NYC’s JSM SoundScreen White Space Turning Gray Audio for Video and Broadcast Field Reports:Sony PCM-D50 Linear PCM Recorder; Holophone H4 SuperMINI Surround Microphone Sound Innovations: Earthworks Audio PianoMic System Frozen Liquid Live Sound Showcase: Jill Scott Centerstage Soundcheck Sound People View From the Top Product Spotlight Advertiser Index Company Index Classifieds Music, Etc.

Prosound News - April 2008

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