On Saturday 22 December 2007 15:14, James Knott wrote: > ... > > I have to agree. I have provided software support at IBM and have > found some users could avoid a lot of their problems, if they'd just > learn to use their computer properly. You don't find many carpenters > who don't know how to use a hammer and saw. A computer is a tool for > people do to their work and it's their responsibility to learn how to > use it properly. In my book, anyone who refuses to learn is refusing > to do their job.
Learning to use a tool is quite distinct from learning how the tool works. It's the "how does it work" / "how do I work it" distinction. Very few people know how cars or elevators or the telephone network or radio or television or VCRs / DVRs or GPS or digital audio players or the electrical grid or the water supply or the sewage system or metallurgy or refrigeration or woodworking or the automobile fuel supply or package delivery or pharmaceutical manufacturing or a myriad other technological systems work. Shall we deny access to these things to people who cannot pass a test on their inner workings? No, it is the responsibility of the practitioners of IT to make its artifacts accessible and useable to people without the need for an understanding of the inner workings of those technologies. Randall Schulz -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
