Thank you for your inquiry. I have struggled with this very issue for the last 9 months. After reading an obscene amount of literature on the subject and talking to a number of psychology and computer science PhDs across the country, it seems that there is not "gold standard" for a computer expert.
Is a graphic designer who has worked on a Mac for the last ten years a Mac expert? Is someone who has used macs since 1984 an expert? What about a certified AppleCare technician? There really is no clear answer. What I have found is that, in most domains, there is one goal. So, someone who can accomplish that goal better than most would be considered an expert. In the domain of computer use, there is no single goal. In fact, computer use is arguably not even a domain in the same way that medicine or engineering is, for instance. The computer is a tool much in the same way a hammer or a screwdriver is a tool. We don't talk about someone being an expert screwdriver operator. The problem that the computer is a extremely complicated tool; because of this there is a domain of computer use and we consider some individuals to be a computer expert. So I had to find someway to define a computer expert. The conclusion that I came to was that a computer expert is someone whose mental model of a computer is closest to the original designers intention. That is to say, an expert's understanding of computer hardware, and to a greater extent, software is closer to actuality than the novice user's concept of the computer. So chances are the person who has done graphic design for the past 10 years will probably be a Quark expert and not a computer expert ( I am aware that there are an umber of exceptions). Someone who builds or repairs computer hardware may have no experience with the computer's operating system. A computer consultant/technician will probably have experience in a number of areas of computer use and, therefore have better insight to the workings of the entire computing environment. I know that this explanation is a bit long-winded and I certainly didn't mean to suggest that I was only interested in individuals who could "turn wrenches under the hood" of a Mac. I would suggest though, that many of the individuals you are referring to a experts at a sub-domain of the Mac environment rather than the entire environment. I do understand your point though. An expert pilot may not know how to repair a jet engine, but that does not take away from the fact that he/she is an expert. But frankly, in this case it seems that someone who know the Mac environment well enough to fix most software and hardware issues will be closer to the ideal of "expert" than some who uses MS Office and MYOB all day. On Thursday, October 24, 2002, at 07:11 PM, Jerry Yeager wrote: > Not trying to quibble with your inquiry framework, but are you trying > to profile expert users or expert mechanics? Users tend to be a very > different group than those that fix them. > > Jerry > > On Thursday, October 24, 2002, at 06:40 PM, Jesse Walker wrote: > The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will be November 26 For more information, see <http://www.aye.net/~lcs>. A calendar of activities is at <http://www.calsnet.net/macusers>.
