Deal Me Some New Ideas
The Salmon of Clubs
Imagine yourself sitting down to a game of poker and, while trying to fill an inside straight, learning how to recognize hostile aircraft or carve the Thanksgiving turkey. Decks of playing cards have been used for these and other informative purposes. (The card pictured is from the "how-to-carve food" deck.)
Dr. Ed Malone's article, "The Use of Playing Cards to Communicate Technical and Scientific Information, has just been accepted for Technical Communication, a peer-reviewed journal published by the Society for Technical Communication. The article is scheduled for the February 2008 issue. In it Dr. Malone (Assistant Professor of English and Technical Communication) describes and analyzes several decks of playing cards that have been used to communicate technical and scientific information.
Decks from the 17th century include one with instructions on how to carve meat, fish, or fowl at the dinner table and one about mathematical instruments. From World War II, a deck of cards trained civilians to spot enemy aircraft. More recent uses include Iraqi most-wanted cards displaying fugitives.
Dr. Malone's article will encourage readers to consider the implications of playing cards as a medium for technical and scientific information.
Comments
How interesting - and an incredible internal marketing idea for the name change. Missouri S&T decks!
Welcome to the UMR blosphere Dr. Doty!
Posted by: Cheryl McKay | June 22, 2007 09:26 AM
The link to the STC web site doesn't seem to work properly. When I mouse over it, the link info in the bottom of the browser says "http://http//www.stc.org".
Posted by: Malcolm Hays | June 27, 2007 10:50 AM
Thanks, Malcolm. I've fixed it. Movable Type is a little more "helpful" than I expect it to be when pasting URLs.
Posted by: Gene Doty | June 27, 2007 11:00 AM