Are we spoon-feeding our users too much?

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Your tech has the right idea

Your tech is doing the right thing.

Technology is a means, not an end. This is what far too many IT people forget. The only people who master technology for technology's sake are hobbyists.

The job of your teachers is to educate, not master offline email. Learning these "technology" skills is only valuable if it frees up time and resources for them to do their real work of educating people. If it does not, it's irrelevant.

Even if it does save them time in the long run, it is still an example of shortcomings in technology. If I had to understand the principles of fabric cleaning, so I could wash my clothes outside of my laundry room, I would consider it a failure and a waste of my time. But fortunately cleaning technology has advanced to the point that I can wash my clothes just about anywhere. That should be the goal for IT.

IT is more useful when its benefits can be realized by more people. If an app has five times the code size and gobbles three times the machine cycles, but is usable by twice as many people - is that not a net positive to society by benefiting more people?

This is the problem that many of the technology elitists on this website have. They not only think technology exists for technology's sake, but actually revel in obscurity and difficulty, and ridicule the "simps" for whom this "dumbed down" technology is meant to benefit. They of course ignore the fact the very "specialized" and "secret" knowledge they pride themselves in, was bloated "newbie" technology 25 years ago.

The answer is to make everything as easy as what your teachers benefit from in your lab! Of course, this means advances from everyone, not just what you do in your operation. It isn't all in your hands. But it does mean understanding that technology is to serve, not the other way around.

Posted by: hickum   Posted on: 01/06/09 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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