Jolie RobersonComputers and the TV Show
September 22nd 2008 18:45
It is a rarity, I think, for any show to get computers right, as they always say the wrong thing, or show the wrong thing, or somehow just mess it up. I mean, most TV show writers have an end-user familiarity with computers and they have to have a tech support person or group that they go to, so why is it that they usually mess it up?
When I watch most TV Shows they seem to treat modern computer technology like they would something in a purely science fiction show, with unreal and cutting edge technology, or in a fantasy show with magic. It is not as if researching computers and their functions is hard, nor as if it takes a deep and intimate knowledge of their workings to write about them. If you are writing about the internet, you do not need to know the in and outs of network architecture, just how things work and look.
Secure government files are not findable via your average search engine, unless you are working internally and using whatever search engine they are using. When using those search engines rarely, almost never, do you get only one response returned. Showing an Apple computer with a Microsoft Windows OS running on it is a new thing, sadly newer than most the times you see it on TV. Lastly, perhaps most importantly, hacking computers and their networks is not flash, it is generally done via a command line (text) interface, with the occasionally graphic utility that adds an graphical interface to text-based commands.
But, I get that flashy graphics and cutaways look good, thus why we see them, I just wish that the writers of shows would do a bit more research, get a handle on the lingo, like they do with police shows, so that it sounds right. A good idea of if a show is doing it right is if you know a computer geek and they are watching the show, the less you hear something like "Aww, come on" during the show, they better that the writers got it.
When I watch most TV Shows they seem to treat modern computer technology like they would something in a purely science fiction show, with unreal and cutting edge technology, or in a fantasy show with magic. It is not as if researching computers and their functions is hard, nor as if it takes a deep and intimate knowledge of their workings to write about them. If you are writing about the internet, you do not need to know the in and outs of network architecture, just how things work and look.
Secure government files are not findable via your average search engine, unless you are working internally and using whatever search engine they are using. When using those search engines rarely, almost never, do you get only one response returned. Showing an Apple computer with a Microsoft Windows OS running on it is a new thing, sadly newer than most the times you see it on TV. Lastly, perhaps most importantly, hacking computers and their networks is not flash, it is generally done via a command line (text) interface, with the occasionally graphic utility that adds an graphical interface to text-based commands.
But, I get that flashy graphics and cutaways look good, thus why we see them, I just wish that the writers of shows would do a bit more research, get a handle on the lingo, like they do with police shows, so that it sounds right. A good idea of if a show is doing it right is if you know a computer geek and they are watching the show, the less you hear something like "Aww, come on" during the show, they better that the writers got it.
| 53 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Dougie
Nope, it is very easy to do, it is possible as I sometimes run Vista on my mac.
By the way, decent site