Return-Path: <root> Received: (from root@localhost) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) id f7VBu8d11004 for health-archive@nifl.gov; Fri, 31 Aug 2001 07:56:08 -0400 (EDT) Resent-Message-Id: <200108311156.f7VBu8d11004@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from smtp6.andrew.cmu.edu (SMTP6.ANDREW.CMU.EDU [128.2.10.86]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with ESMTP id f6VLVTf04895; Tue, 31 Jul 2001 17:31:29 -0400 (EDT) Received: from groats-116-64.ppp.andrew.cmu.edu (GROATS-116-64.PPP.ANDREW.CMU.EDU [128.2.116.64]) (user=ks0e mech=KERBEROS_V4 (0 bits)) by smtp6.andrew.cmu.edu (8.12.0.Beta16/8.12.0.Beta16) with ESMTP id f6VLVQPa009621; Tue, 31 Jul 2001 17:31:28 -0400 Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 17:31:22 -0400 From: Karen Schriver <ks0e@andrew.cmu.edu> To: nifl-health@nifl.gov, Multiple recipients of list <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov> cc: Kathy Bose <kbose@cpha.ca> Subject: Re: [NIFL-HEALTH:3221] SMOG Message-ID: <26958557.3205589482@groats-116-64.ppp.andrew.cmu.edu> In-Reply-To: <p0431010db786356c3e37@[10.10.10.168]> Originator-Info: login-token=Mulberry:01UzTgEL6nEHVlomiWmrUQbeaUWz3eaFnAqQ51ibQ=; token_authority=postmaster@andrew.cmu.edu X-Mailer: Mulberry/2.0.3 (MacOS) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by literacy.nifl.gov id f6VLVTf04895 Resent-From: root@literacy.nifl.gov Resent-Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 07:56:08 -0400 Resent-To: health-archive@nifl.gov Status: O Content-Length: 2008 Lines: 51 Hi Kathy and others, To answer your question about the FOG and SMOG formulas I checked an article written by Mr. Readability himself, the honorable George Klare. He wrote the 1963 book _The Measurement of Readability_. He says that the Fog Index, alternately called FOG test, FOG formula, or Fog Count, was derived by the U.S. military in 1953. Here is its reference: Air Force Manual. Guide for airforce writing (Air Force Manual 11-3). Maxwell, Ala: Air Univesity, Maxwell AFB, June 1953. The SMOG index was developed by McLauglin in 1969. Here is its reference: McLaughlin, G.H. SMOG grading?-a new readability formula. Journal of Reading, 1969, 9, 257-259. If you are interested in Klare's article (it is an excellent overview of the theory and research that underlie the development of readability formulas). Here is the Klare article reference: Klare, George R. (1984). Readability. In P. David Pearson, R. Barr, M. Kamil, and P. Mosenthal (eds.) Handbook of Reading Research (Chapter 22: pp. 681-744). NY: Longman. You might find a published dialog about more current thinking about readability formulas to be useful. The idea behind this dialog was to have a panel discussion about the evolution of our thinking about readability formulas. As a catalyst for this dialog, the journal _ACM Journal of Computer Documentation_ republished Chapter 1 of Klare's famous 1963 _The Measurement of Readability_. The editors of the journal then invited four people to write commentaries about the text and to give their opinions about where we are now. I was one of the commentators and wrote a short article called "Readability Formulas in the New Millennium: What's the Use?" After we wrote our commentaries, George Klare responded to our responses. It turned out kind of neat. The reference is: ACM Journal of Computer Documentation. Volume 24 (Number 3). August 2000. ISSN 1527-6805. Hope this helps, karen schriver President, KSA Document Design and Research, Inc.
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