RE: Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age?

["Sharon Burton" <sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com>]

I have no idea how to describe why my car won't work when it won't work. I
usually act it out and make sounds, because I don't have the vocabulary for
what is happening. I also am not sure how to open the hood. 

 

And I like it this way. I have other things I find more important to me. 

 

Could it be that other people feel the same way about their technology? 

 

Or perhaps technology is so pervasive that talking about how you use it is
like talking about air? 

 

I know my husband often tells me "The internet is broken" when he means his
wireless connection is down. When I ask for clarification, he's unable to
provide more, other than "my email doesn't work". 

 

 

sharon

 

Sharon Burton

MadCap Software Product Consultant

951-369-8590

IM: sharonvburton -at- yahoo -dot- com

 

From: Fred Ridder [mailto:docudoc -at- hotmail -dot- com] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 12:28 PM
To: sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com; techwr -at- genek -dot- com; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age?

 

But the posting from Daniel Ng that both you and Gene are responding to
wasn't talking about people not knowing how things work. What he talked
about was about how people "find it hard to talk or describe how they use"
technology. He wasn't talking about people not knowing how a watch works; if
he had been talking about watches, he would heve been talking about people
not knowing how to describe how to keep a watch wound (but not overwound) or
how to set the correct time. He wasn't talking about people not knowing how
a car works; if he had been talking about cars, he would have been talking
about an inability to describe things like operating the climate control or
unlatching the hood. 

-Fred Ridder




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