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

Subject: Re: Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age?
From: Ned Bedinger <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:41:01 -0700

Boudreaux, Madelyn (GE Healthcare, consultant) wrote:
> Not knowing what browser one is using isn't akin to not knowing how the
> car works. It's more akin to not knowing what kind of car one drives, or
> perhaps, if it's a manual or an automatic.

Right, and if pressed I'd say it is even further down the brand chain.
It is like not knowing what brand of ballpoint pen you have in your pocket.

So much of this is ultimately about context and context-sensitive
learning. For another example, stop me in the hallway and ask me where
the "o" key is on a QWERTY keyboard. I know where it is, but I know deep
in my fingers. I don't have a reason to keep such information in working
memory. My hesitating response could be interpreted by an imaginative
columnist as "not able to talk about it." Feh. Another pointless drama
drummed up to entertain the incurious.

Ned "Insectivore" Bedinger
doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat


Follow-Ups:

References:
Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age?: From: Daniel Ng
Re: Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age?: From: Gene Kim-Eng
RE: Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age?: From: Sharon Burton
RE: Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age?: From: Boudreaux, Madelyn (GE Healthcare, consultant)

Previous by Author: Re: Are tech writers inherently snobby?
Next by Author: Re: Are tech writers inherently snobby?
Previous by Thread: RE: Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age?
Next by Thread: RE: Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age?


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads