Re: Does learning get in the way?

[Ginna Watts <gwatts -at- QUESTERCORP -dot- COM>]

Geoff Hart wrote, in part:


>That's true to a large extent, but you've missed George's original
>point here: knowing how to use a hammer is less important than
>knowing what you can and can't or should and shouldn't do with the
>hammer. Think of the problem this way: if you give Framemaker to
>someone who's never done anything more than type letters and ask them
>to start desktop publishing, how successful are they likely to be?


Ooh, I must agree.

At my last job, a company which made mapping software, we had many
discussions about how to make users more productive. Our software did many
specific things; we had modules to node, pattern etc. Experienced digital
cartographers loved our software, because it made what they already had to
do easier. The problem was that our clients were increasingly placing CAD
operators or (in the case of government) 'systems technicians' in front of a
CAD station and telling them to make or update maps. When they were lost,
they called us. ("How do you know where to put the lines?")

As a company, we didn't want to lose business, but we always felt that
teaching advanced or even basic cartographic concepts was WAY outside the
scope of our responsibility. We did eventually come up with some tutorials
for industry specific mapping (I think we had ones for forestry,
environmental, and urban mapping). But we began to calmly tell clients that
GIS and mapping courses were available at most community colleges.

Sometimes even the most sophisticated user interface or wizards won't do the
trick.

Ginna Watts, Technical Writer
Quester Tangent Corporation
Sidney, BC
gwatts -at- questercorp -dot- com

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