(Please excuse me if this is a duplicate of the post I did last night. For some reason it never showed up, so I'm going to try to post it again)
I just read Edward's "Leo in a Nutshell", which can be found here: http://edreamleo.blogspot.com/2010/08/leo-in-nutshell.html As a long-time Leo user, I saw in my mind's eye each one of Edward's points as he made it, and each point was in fact very clear to me. But as I perused the comments, I saw where one commenter said: "I don't understand what Leo is at all... A video showing a Leo user, using Leo, would be great." But Edward's explanation was very clear and succinct. Why didn't this guy (and other Leo newbies) get it? Hmmm. Just as each of Edward's points were clear to me, I'm sure they were quite clear to Edward as he was writing them. Unfortunately, those familiar with Leo tend to have the "Curse of Knowledge" when it comes to explaining Leo to new users. And of course, the "Curse of Knowledge" doesn't just apply to explanations of Leo. For a brief synopsis of the "Curse of Knowledge", please see the link below. http://idratherbewriting.com/2007/01/24/the-curse-of-knowledge-the-more-you-know-the-worse-communicator-you-become/ Because I've had the privilege of working with Leo over the past 7 years, as I read "Leo in a Nutshell" I could integrate each one of Edward's points in my mind's eye. This was due to my existing framework of knowledge--given by working with Leo on a day-to-day basis. But to someone who doesn't know Leo, Edward might as well be reading Shakespeare to a cat. Let's dissect a sample sentence from "Leo in a Nutshell" that makes perfect sense to long-time Leo users: "@edit: Leo reads the entire external file into the @edit node's body text." A person new to Leo may have the following thoughts: - What's @edit? - What does that @ mean? - Where is "@edit" located within the file? - "external" files are mentioned; are there "internal" files? - what's a node? - what's a body text To those of us familiar with Leo, these seem like ridiculous questions. But *try* to imagine what it would be like if you didn't know *anything* about Leo. So how do we surmount this obstacle? I'll offer a proposed solution in a moment, but first--let's look at how day-to-day Leo users became comfortable with the new concepts of Leo. One way Leo users became comfortable with Leo was by reading the documentation and playing with Leo. However, back in 2003(?) when I first started learning Leo, I was overwhelmed by the documentation. There were so many new terms and symbols (e.g. sentinels and @nodes, and what have you)--I didn't know where to begin putting the pieces together. Fortunately, I stumbled across some "Screenbooks", and it finally all started to make sense to me. http://www.3dtree.com/ev/e/sbooks/leo/sbframetoc_ie.htm It was the *combination* of the visuals of Leo in action--along with the textual explanation of Leo concepts as you went through the Screenbooks--that allowed me to understand what the text in the documentation was talking about. So, back to the question: "How do we surmount the obstacle of explaining Leo to new users"? Again, Edward created a very clear and succinct explanation of Leo. I think the missing ingredient is exactly what that commenter suggested, and what I found useful in my own experience: Tie the explanatory text to visuals of Leo in action. For example, for each one of Edward's "Leo in a Nutshell" points, let's *show* Leo being used in that particular use case. In other words, when we talk about clones (my favorite feature of Leo), let a screencast visually detail how information might be cloned and moved to different sections of the outline to provide different views of the same information. Update one of the cloned node's body text, and then move to the other section of the outline to show them how it's been updated there as well. Do this for each use case you're trying to explain. It's my belief that a visual reference to Leo in action, which occurs at the same time the explanatory information is given (as voice-overs in the screencast(s)) will give Leo newbies a visual frame of reference for understanding what is being talked about. And once they *understand* Leo, they will become excited. Excited about the endless possibilities. As we have. Edward, I just want to take this opportunity to thank you for Leo. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, It is quite simply, the most wonderful piece of software I've ever used. Thanks for your selfless contribution to the Leo community. And thanks to all the Leo contributors. And I think if we can get past the "Curse of Knowledge", we might be able to share just a little more of the brilliance of Leo with rest of the world. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "leo-editor" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/leo-editor?hl=en.
