I would say 3 because “the medium is the message” is a phrase, and it reads like text is referencing that saying to make a point. Or that could be the bait… but none of the others sound natural to me.
Holiday-Key2885 on
never thought those questions are difficult, but maybe that’s just me.
ahrumah on
Native English speaker, “message “ and “storage” are the only choices that make any kind of sense contextually, but the fit for either is uneasy. I’d be v annoyed by this question.
Vanhyuk on
So what’s the answer?!
My money’s on 4..
ApplauseButOnlyABit on
The medium is the message is an obvious answer, since it’s a well known quote about the importance of the medium on the information, but if you haven’t heard this quote you would probably think it’s “challange” or “transformation” since that’s what the actual topic is discussing, the challenge of transforming the media from one sort to another to preserve it.
The maker of this question is a sick psycho. So much for no more killer questions.
rOMi- on
What was the answer?? I would probably have picked 3 after debating between 2 and 3 for a while.
Agile-Juggernaut-514 on
Message. Only thing that makes sense. Next sentence says bitstream is same regardless of the medium. Bitstream is data so it is what contains the message.
korea_home on
It should be “platform.” The statement speaks about analog media being fixed to a device where digital allows for “bit perfect” copy. The medium not being part of the platform would align with content that was streamed or even played from a digital media file, a bit perfect copy of an original file.
CDs, DVDs, MiniDisc, etc, all allow for bit perfect copy a d retention but the physical media will degrade over time, this points to the statement about needing to repeatable copy to preserve the content.
Might be wrong, but that was my read on it.
BleachIsNoxious on
for those reading: the question ‘what are you actually trying to preserve?’ refers to whether you’re trying preserve the ‘medium’ (i.e., usb sticks, compact discs, etc.) or the information that is stored in the medium.
in the digital environment, the medium is not part of the message, because digital information can be migrated from one medium (or physical carrier, however u want to phrase it) onto another, making the preservation of the original carrier of diminishing importance.
maybe the reason why 84% of the test takers got this wrong is because physical storage devices are referred to differently multiple times: (1) medium, (2) physical media, and (3) media. but that’s the point of these tests anyway, harder to think properly when you’re being timed.
TopMathematician9967 on
That test looks like it could make anyone question their life choices
Automatic_Access_979 on
I (correctly) guessed message, but I would simply pass away if I didn’t know English as a first language. Most of the 16% who got it right probably just guessed luckily, I mean 1/5 chance of picking the right answer at random. This is just a badly written and confusing question for a non-native speaker. What does this question even attempt to test?
Myerla on
I’ve seen a few of these questions before, and even as a native English speaker, there is absolutly no way I would pass this test. One time, the text extract was from an economics book written in the 1800s. Its just a baffling way to learn an language. I recall reading that the students are taught how to extract the right information rather than fully understanding what’s being said.
One of the difficult things about this is it needs more context. Who wrote this? When did they write this? What actually constitutes a “physical carrier”? lacking context, which this paragraph would certainly have, does make comprehending this snippet, a slightly more ardious task than it should be.
forestdewdrops on
Surely there were better ways of asking for the medium is not the message!! This makes no sense
MeowsFET on
As someone who studied electrical engineering, to me this feels more like a test problem from a first/second-year EE course lol.
hellofriends5 on
Non native english speaker, I think it’s message because in the sentece above it they talk about how in the analog world, the message is tied to the medium (everything you have is tangible). In the digital world you don’t, so you don’t have the “physical medium” they talk abour
17 Comments
2. Storage
3. Message, i think.
I would say 3 because “the medium is the message” is a phrase, and it reads like text is referencing that saying to make a point. Or that could be the bait… but none of the others sound natural to me.
never thought those questions are difficult, but maybe that’s just me.
Native English speaker, “message “ and “storage” are the only choices that make any kind of sense contextually, but the fit for either is uneasy. I’d be v annoyed by this question.
So what’s the answer?!
My money’s on 4..
The medium is the message is an obvious answer, since it’s a well known quote about the importance of the medium on the information, but if you haven’t heard this quote you would probably think it’s “challange” or “transformation” since that’s what the actual topic is discussing, the challenge of transforming the media from one sort to another to preserve it.
The maker of this question is a sick psycho. So much for no more killer questions.
What was the answer?? I would probably have picked 3 after debating between 2 and 3 for a while.
Message. Only thing that makes sense. Next sentence says bitstream is same regardless of the medium. Bitstream is data so it is what contains the message.
It should be “platform.” The statement speaks about analog media being fixed to a device where digital allows for “bit perfect” copy. The medium not being part of the platform would align with content that was streamed or even played from a digital media file, a bit perfect copy of an original file.
CDs, DVDs, MiniDisc, etc, all allow for bit perfect copy a d retention but the physical media will degrade over time, this points to the statement about needing to repeatable copy to preserve the content.
Might be wrong, but that was my read on it.
for those reading: the question ‘what are you actually trying to preserve?’ refers to whether you’re trying preserve the ‘medium’ (i.e., usb sticks, compact discs, etc.) or the information that is stored in the medium.
in the digital environment, the medium is not part of the message, because digital information can be migrated from one medium (or physical carrier, however u want to phrase it) onto another, making the preservation of the original carrier of diminishing importance.
maybe the reason why 84% of the test takers got this wrong is because physical storage devices are referred to differently multiple times: (1) medium, (2) physical media, and (3) media. but that’s the point of these tests anyway, harder to think properly when you’re being timed.
That test looks like it could make anyone question their life choices
I (correctly) guessed message, but I would simply pass away if I didn’t know English as a first language. Most of the 16% who got it right probably just guessed luckily, I mean 1/5 chance of picking the right answer at random. This is just a badly written and confusing question for a non-native speaker. What does this question even attempt to test?
I’ve seen a few of these questions before, and even as a native English speaker, there is absolutly no way I would pass this test. One time, the text extract was from an economics book written in the 1800s. Its just a baffling way to learn an language. I recall reading that the students are taught how to extract the right information rather than fully understanding what’s being said.
One of the difficult things about this is it needs more context. Who wrote this? When did they write this? What actually constitutes a “physical carrier”? lacking context, which this paragraph would certainly have, does make comprehending this snippet, a slightly more ardious task than it should be.
Surely there were better ways of asking for the medium is not the message!! This makes no sense
As someone who studied electrical engineering, to me this feels more like a test problem from a first/second-year EE course lol.
Non native english speaker, I think it’s message because in the sentece above it they talk about how in the analog world, the message is tied to the medium (everything you have is tangible). In the digital world you don’t, so you don’t have the “physical medium” they talk abour