[Air-L] copyediting question: capitalize www?

Tue Nov 1 08:53:12 PDT 2011

Hey, we're a global body associated with the internet :).
I don't think that AP chose to capitalize Internet to distinguish
itfrom other forms of internetworking. They set the standard for
thesake of standards setting, and at the time they set the standard
theword was more commonly capitalized.
Likewise, any standards-promulgating group is going to be bound
bytheir former usage, and we should expect the ietf to be slower
thanother discourse communities to change. Luckily, those who
buildtechnologies name them only at their own peril. Anyone made use
of a"electrical speech machine" lately?
- A
On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 11:08 AM, Janna Anderson <andersj at elon.edu> wrote:
> The Internet Society, the Internet Engineering Task Force and global bodies
> associated with the Internet use the capital "I" to distinguish the global
> network from smaller internets. It is an important distinction and those who
> do not make it are in error.
>
> Associated Press style - the official journalistic style adopted by most
> news organizations - is to use Internet in reference to the global network
> of networks. In AP Style Web and World Wide Web are used in upper-case to
> distinguish from other webs.
>
> While some people and organizations like to say that Internet should be
> spelled lower-case as with radio, television and other communications tools,
> they are not recognizing the distinction as they should.
>
> Janna
>
> On 11/1/11 10:59 AM, "Nathaniel Poor" <natpoor at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> It's English, we have no absolute authority which dictates the language
>> (despite what some people may think about Chicago or APA). Some countries,
>> such as Spain and France, have some sort of institution (which I forget the
>> name of) that is like the arbiter of language. Not that everyone follows
>> those, but I remember a Spanish-speaking friend of mine was surprised to find
>> out we didn't have one for English.
>>
>> Internet (which there is at the start of a sentence, so who knows what my
>> preference is) is a word in transition. Commonly it used to be Internet, now
>> more people are using internet. Given that we are still in the transition, use
>> whichever you like. As long as we can understand you, and your editors and
>> reviewers are happy, then I'll be quite happy with my cup of coffee at the end
>> of a good day.
>>
>> -Nat.
>>
>>
>> On Nov 1, 2011, at 9:55 AM, Sue Thomas wrote:
>>
>>> I agree with you Jonathan, and try my hardest not to capitalise, only to be
>>> regularly told off by editors! But here's an interesting question: if
>>> Internet and WWW, then why not Cyberspace?
>>>
>>> All very inconsistent. I empathise with the small t television (and
>>> telephone)
>>>
>>> Sue
>>>
>>>
>>> _________
>>> Sue Thomas
>>> Research Professor of New Media
>>> IOCT/Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities
>>> Clephan 1.01d, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK
>>> +44 (0)116 207 8266
>>> w: http://www.thewildsurmise.com Nature and Cyberspace: stories, memes and
>>> metaphors
>>> e: sue.thomas at dmu.ac.uk
>>> t: @suethomas
>>> g: +suethomas
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
>>> [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Jonathan Sterne, Dr.
>>> Sent: 01 November 2011 09:51
>>> To: <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [Air-L] copyediting question: capitalize www?
>>>
>>> Hi Everyone,
>>>
>>> I'm starting to get lots of replies, which I appreciate, and I'm happy to
>>> hear more people weigh in, but I'll take the opportunity to explain my
>>> thinking on "internet."  Early in their histories, most media are capitalized
>>> by journalists (eg., "Telegraph" or "Phonograph") but this usage generally
>>> falls away after some time.  I am one of those people who believe that the
>>> internet is best thought of as one more of a series of communication
>>> technologies that are important in our lives (indeed one of the arguments of
>>> the book I'm copyediting effectively de-exceptionalizes the internet).
>>>
>>> Since I don't capitalize "phonograph" or "television" or "satellite", it
>>> seems strange to capitalize "internet" which is not really a new medium
>>> anymore.
>>>
>>> OTOH, if there is another Really Good Reason to capitalize "internet," I
>>> would love to hear it.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> --Jonathan
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2011-11-01, at 5:46 AM, Sue Malta wrote:
>>>
>>> As part of the team that publishes the "International Journal of Emerging
>>> Techologies and Society" (iJETS), I would ALWAYS opt for a capital for
>>> Internet and the World Wide Web....
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>>
>>> Sue Malta
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> P
>>> ...............................................
>>> Sue Malta
>>> Editor / Managing Editor
>>> International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society (iJETS) Swinburne
>>> University of Technology John Street, Hawthorn, VIC 3122
>>> Email: ijets at swin.edu.au<mailto:ijets at swin.edu.au>
>>> Or: smalta at groupwise.swin.edu.au<mailto:smalta at groupwise.swin.edu.au>
>>> www.swin.edu.au/ijets<http://www.swin.edu.au/ijets>
>>>
>>>>>> "Jonathan Sterne, Dr."
>>>>>> <jonathan.sterne at mcgill.ca<mailto:jonathan.sterne at mcgill.ca>>
>>>>>> 01/11/11 8:32 PM >>>
>>> Hi Everyone,
>>>
>>> Please excuse any repetition if this has been answered recently. I know that
>>> people are coming around to not capitalizing the word "internet" (this is my
>>> preference too). But what about "world wide web"?
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> --J
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>>
>> -------------------------------
>> Nathaniel Poor, Ph.D.
>> http://natpoor.blogspot.com/
>> https://sites.google.com/site/natpoor/
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
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>> http://www.aoir.org/
>
> --
> Janna Quitney Anderson
> Director of Imagining the Internet
> www.imaginingtheinternet.org
>
> Associate Professor of Communications
> Director of Internet Projects
> School of Communications
> Elon University
> andersj at elon.edu
> (336) 278-5733 (o)
>
>
>
>
>
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> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
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