> post-docs, etc. We used to have a bunch of referential materials and
> readings for them to get "acquainted" with our protocols. I can tell you
> that invariably, all of them always ended up ignoring that and going to
> the jr. or senior members of the group for help and guidance. The
What happens if nobody's available? I'm sure that there's some
reason that you have reference materials in the first place. If you
didn't need them than why were they created? I'll bet that they're
still being created too. The idea behind them is that they're good to
have in case there's nobody around to act as a mentor, for whatever
reason. (The person's on vacation, they've left the company, they're
too busy at the moment to get involved in the educational process, and
so on.)
In addition to that, the group dynamic of "the world" visiting a
set of Web pages as a starting point for a project, even the dynamic
of online discussion and email interchange, is far different than that
of in-person group dynamics. If you're working in a company you're
right that your often better served by going to a person and asking
something. But if you're sitting at home, staring at a computer
screen, that option's not available. Some people might well feel
better just clicking on an existing link to get to a source of
information than feeling "awkward" writing to somebody they don't know
and waiting for a response. There are a lot of other considerations,
but suffice it to say that the psychological / sociological
interactions in computer based communications are different than what
you'd experience in a company with a team of people.
Jason.
