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Web acronyms

D. Murali

THE Internet in easy steps, by Geoff Preston, defines Internet as an international network of computers containing a huge fount of knowledge which anyone with a computer and a telephone line can access. The Internet's roots lie in war, not peace. Nobody is in overall charge of the Net.

Page 108 is about TLAs, also known as (AKA) three-letter acronyms. These result from either laziness or just simply 2M2D (too much to do). They have been used in e-mails FSY (for several years). Rather than writing out the whole phrase, it is reduced to its SPA (smallest possible abbreviation) which is a group of (usually) three letters, which ideally SFAW (should form a word) and PSV (preferably something vulgar). WAL (with any luck) the recipient will understand WYM (what you mean) but often they just leave the reader LOL (laughing out loud). OWOW (one word of warning): Some of these TLAs are TUB (totally and utterly bogus)!

The book talks about many websites such as rootsweb.com for its tutorial on genealogy; amazingsurgeries.com to witness actual operations online; and migraine.org.uk offering practical help for sufferers so that they may at least learn to live with migrai ne.

Difficult people

WORKING with difficult people, by Bobbi Linkemer, recognises that difficult people do exist. They do try our patience and puzzle us. People in unfamiliar territory, for example, confronted by technology or procedures they don't understand, are likely to become edgy and unpleasant to be around. While cynics see the world as ``difficult'', that is how their fellow workers see them. The most valuable thing you can do when dealing with a difficult person is to remember who owns the problem and that it is no t you. If there is one skill you cannot do without when working with difficult people, it is the art of asking the right questions; for, questions are powerful and people respond better to questions than to statements. A question may unleash a torrent of words, but it will give you time to centre yourself and choose your response.

That is why, perhaps, auditors ask too many questions.

Suicide call

IN UNDERSTANDING suicidal behaviour, Rory O'connor and Noel Sheehy say that suicide and attempted suicide are the largest causes of death and injury to young adults. Understanding suicide leads to the most challenging task -- predicting when someone wil l kill himself. People who are isolated socially tend to kill themselves more than those who are not. Hopelessness is an important component in depression and even more so in suicidal behaviour. The Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), the most c ommonly used non-clinical measure of global hopelessness, is a 20-item true/false questionnaire. In the final paragraph, the authors concede that we are still a long way from understanding fully why people kill themselves, but that it is important to bear in mind that suicidal behaviour is not abnormal.

True scribes

INVESTIGATIVE journalism has helped bring down governments, imprison politicians, trigger legislation, reveal miscarriages of justice and shame corporations. An investigative journalist is one whose profession is to discover the truth and to identify lap ses from it in whatever media may be available, says Hugo de Burgh in Investigative journalism. If journalism is the first rough draft of history, investigative journalism is the first rough draft of legislation. It does so by drawing attention to failur es within society's systems of regulation and to the ways in which those systems can be circumvented by the rich, the powerful and the corrupt.

Freedom of expression is all very well, but for opinion to be well grounded it needs information, verifiable facts and contrasting viewpoints. The root of every investigation is information, and the job of every investigative reporter is to find informat ion, evaluate and analyse it, and communicate it in a way that informs and interests a wide range of people.

As Philip Meyer said: ``In a world where the amount of information is doubling every five years, it takes a specialist to understand, let alone communicate, very much of it.''

Much of all that would apply to the external auditor too, whose job is to report to the members. But the problem is that his report is too strait-jacketed.

Quantitative thrust

BUSINESS Decision Analysis, by Graham Hackett and Peter Luffrum, presents an introductory overview of the study of the quantitative analysis of business problems and decisions. BDA combines scientific method and the tools of quantitative analysis to defi ne business problems, assess the criteria for listing acceptable solutions to these problems, investigate the resources and limitations which constrain the decision-maker's choices between the different solutions and choose the best possible solution.

The introduction cautions the students against rote learning. ``Simply trying to learn and remember the techniques is inappropriate and insufficient. Rather, you should attempt to understand the principles behind the ideas and models, and understand the thinking behind the particular techniques presented.'' Extensive use is made of Microsoft Excel in solving problems to provide a hands-on for the readers.

It would take many more years -- if not decades -- for the ICAI to integrate software use in subjects such as financial management.

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Tailpiece

``Whenever I don't get sleep I take the help of a book.''

``To read till you drop off?''

``No, to prop up my pillow.''

(Books courtesy: The British Council Library, Chennai. e-mail:

contact@in.britishcouncil.org)