A question about two texts tests how one author would respond to another author’s view. Read the question to find who answers whom, since either author can be the one responding. Then put each author’s claim and reason in a few words, including limits or points they grant. Predict whether the responding author would reject the claim, accept it as partly true, or apply it to another case. Check the reason, because the expected response can still give a reason the text doesn’t support.
Hints
- Hint 1
The question asks Natarajan to answer Barron. Read Text 1 for her claim and reason, then use those to judge Text 2.
- Hint 2
In Text 1’s final sentence, look for what Natarajan allows and what she still insists on.
- Hint 3
Compare the authors’ final sentences. Ask what each says matters most for creativity, and predict how Natarajan would judge Barron’s view.
Step-by-step
Trace the claim and reason
Step 1Find who answers whom
Read how the author of Text 1 would most likely respond: Natarajan must answer Barron, not the reverse. What is she answering? His view on company-launched open-source projects is what she must judge, so we need to judge his view through her claim, not decide which author we agree with.
- Step 2
Find Natarajan’s claim and reason
What does Natarajan allow, and what does she insist on? Companies can donate code or fund infrastructure, so she allows corporate help. But their hierarchies dampen the improvisational spirit, and she says origins determine whether a project develops collective improvisation, meaning people freely building ideas together. She ties creativity to how a project began, rather than treating useful corporate support as enough.
- Step 3
Predict her response to Barron
Barron shifts attention to what happens after release. Would that answer Natarajan’s objection? He says external contributors’ creative churn overcomes early constraints, so he values the permeability of its governance structures after release, meaning how open decision-making is to outsiders. Natarajan says beginnings decide a project’s creativity, so she would reject his claim that later openness matters more than origins.
- Step 4
Test the reason behind each response
Which response uses Natarajan’s own reason? The response once governance is open adopts Barron’s view, while rapidly hand meaningful decision-making to volunteers adds a fix she never proposes. The argument that his examples confuse popularity with innovation replaces her stated concern that hierarchies dampen the improvisational spirit. The response about creative spontaneity of volunteer communities allows useful corporate code while keeping her warning about creativity under corporate governance. Choice D.