Due in class Monday, March 3

There are two questions on this homework both involving short writeups. However, you should assume this homework will be work, so avoid procrastinating.

Important: Cecilia and I will split the work here. Cecilia will grade one problem and I will grade the other. Therefore please turn your two problems in on easily separable sheets. Problem 1 should be on three sheets, and Problem 2 should be on its own sheet.

1. 20 points. In the course reserves you will find the fourth chapter of Parkinson's book (Cracking Codes) entitled "Further Codes to Crack". Read that chapter, and then pick one of the systems he mentions and prepare a 3-page report describing:
   • The history of the system;
   • Attempts to decipher it;
   • Your assessment of the state of the art in the decipherment of the system (in light of our discussion of pseudodecipherment
   • Whether you think it can be deciphered.

   You may use whatever sources you can find, either in the library or online. For some of the systems, particularly the Indus Valley symbols, the Easter Island rongorongo, and the Phaistos disk, there is a fair amount of online material. Unfortunately the best source of information on rongorongo, www.rongorongo.org, was recently taken offline, but I have a backup copy here. In some cases you will find material that is written by people who may have questionable scholarship. For example, there is one Mr. Sergei Rjabchikov, who claims to have deciphered the Phaistos Disk, rongorongo, the Indus Valley symbols among others. (Many of his decipherments involve the assumption that the people involved spoke some early Slavic language.) Obviously we do not expect you to know the sociology of the field and who is reputable and who is not. But we do expect that you can ask questions like the following:

   • This guy claims that the people who wrote this document were Slavic speakers: is that reasonable given the time and place of this artifact, given what we know about history? Or
   • The "decipherment" involves an assertion that this symbol sequence means "XYZ". Is any evidence presented that this has been tested?
   Ultimately we do not expect you will know the answer to these questions in all cases. We do expect that you will know what kinds of questions you should be asking.

   You will be graded on the following components each worth 5 points of the total:

   • Clarity of presentation of the basic facts: are the basic points clearly presented and in a sensible order?
   • Are the facts basically correct? Warning: I am very familiar with the issues involving many of the undeciphered or partly deciphered systems that Parkinson discusses.
   • Clarity of presentation of your own contribution. Is your own view expressed clearly and well-presented?
   • Neatness: is your work clearly legible and written in a way that shows you took some care in putting it together? Is it clear that you proofread your work?

   Obviously the points we made at the beginning of the course about academic integrity apply here.

2. 10 points. This question deals with the esthetics of writing, something we touched on briefly in class, and which is the topic of Section 20 of the Daniels and Bright volume (in the course reserves). The visual appearance of writing can often be used to convey a particular affect. For example color can be used to convey information as in the following warning sign:
   

   Find an example of the affective use of script form from any source. It could be an online ad, something from a newspaper, a shop sign, a product logo, or a variety of other sources. The distinctive form could involve use of color, shape, additional embellishments on the characters. The example can be in any script and any language.

   Include a copy of the example you are describing, along with a half-page description that includes discussion of:

   • What particular information is the special form conveying?
   • How does it evoke that?
   • Why could the same information not have been conveyed in a conventional writing style?

   Once again, you will be graded on the clarity of your presentation as well as the neatness of your presentation.