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Written by: Justin James 6/11/2008 12:35 AM
The above video makes me laugh every time I see it. Everything in it is a perfect parody of our industry... from the clueless user to the help desk worker struggling to be patient and professional, to the fact that the object under discussion is far too hard to use. We have come a long way folks, from a technical angle, but we are still in the 1970's in terms of deploying usable systems. All of the "Web 2.0", AJAX, and so on (preceded by client/server, mainframes, green screens, etc.) in the world does not make computer applications easier to use. The problem is in the way we present information and request input, not in the technical details of how we display that screen or grab input. Just something to think about. J.Ja
The above video makes me laugh every time I see it. Everything in it is a perfect parody of our industry... from the clueless user to the help desk worker struggling to be patient and professional, to the fact that the object under discussion is far too hard to use. We have come a long way folks, from a technical angle, but we are still in the 1970's in terms of deploying usable systems. All of the "Web 2.0", AJAX, and so on (preceded by client/server, mainframes, green screens, etc.) in the world does not make computer applications easier to use. The problem is in the way we present information and request input, not in the technical details of how we display that screen or grab input. Just something to think about.
J.Ja
7 comments so far...
Re: We are still in the Middle Ages of IT What a chuckle. Thanks J.Ja.
Re: We are still in the Middle Ages of IT
What a chuckle. Thanks J.Ja.
What? No candle holder jokes spoofing the coffee holder jokes? What? No candle holder jokes spoofing the coffee holder jokes?
What? No candle holder jokes spoofing the coffee holder jokes?
Re: We are still in the Middle Ages of IT I love the comment that the book "is not as fast as the scroll" :)
I love the comment that the book "is not as fast as the scroll" :)
Re: We are still in the Middle Ages of IT I heard about this skit through the news. Apparently it became super popular a year or two ago. I thought it was an excellent analogy from book literacy to computer literacy, and drives home the point that computers are a new kind of media.I read an article recently that made another excellent point. Hundreds of years ago, before most people in the West were literate, wealthy men used to hire scribes to write messages and read them. Mere mortals were not expected to do this themselves, because reading and writing were specialized, highly technical skills that only the educated could do. Today, what do we have? Rather than computer users programming systems themselves, programmers are hired to write software for them. In some cases we have specialized system operators who run the software, too. We are indeed in the Middle Ages of IT.
I heard about this skit through the news. Apparently it became super popular a year or two ago. I thought it was an excellent analogy from book literacy to computer literacy, and drives home the point that computers are a new kind of media.I read an article recently that made another excellent point. Hundreds of years ago, before most people in the West were literate, wealthy men used to hire scribes to write messages and read them. Mere mortals were not expected to do this themselves, because reading and writing were specialized, highly technical skills that only the educated could do. Today, what do we have? Rather than computer users programming systems themselves, programmers are hired to write software for them. In some cases we have specialized system operators who run the software, too. We are indeed in the Middle Ages of IT.
Re: We are still in the Middle Ages of IT Mark -That is an interesting point regarding the relationship between scribe and programmer. It particularly reminds me of the "data processing mindset" that we've discussed a lot, where the "illiterate" executive demands that his "chicken bone waving wizards" conjure a report that shows last year's sales, as opposed to the "personal computing mindset" in which that same executive would become literate and able to get that information himself. I suspect that as long as "chicken bone waving wizards" make less money than executives, it will "seem" cheaper to go through the channels of asking IT to program something than for the executive to learn how to do it themselves. On the other hand, what is the opportunity cost for an executive to write their own reports, even if it only takes 30 minutes of their time? What else could they be doing with those 30 minutes, as opposed to banging out an email in 30 seconds asking for the report?J.Ja
Mark -That is an interesting point regarding the relationship between scribe and programmer. It particularly reminds me of the "data processing mindset" that we've discussed a lot, where the "illiterate" executive demands that his "chicken bone waving wizards" conjure a report that shows last year's sales, as opposed to the "personal computing mindset" in which that same executive would become literate and able to get that information himself. I suspect that as long as "chicken bone waving wizards" make less money than executives, it will "seem" cheaper to go through the channels of asking IT to program something than for the executive to learn how to do it themselves. On the other hand, what is the opportunity cost for an executive to write their own reports, even if it only takes 30 minutes of their time? What else could they be doing with those 30 minutes, as opposed to banging out an email in 30 seconds asking for the report?J.Ja
Re: We are still in the Middle Ages of IT Hi Justin. Maybe you should approve my comment that you're responding to. It'll make more sense. :)
Hi Justin. Maybe you should approve my comment that you're responding to. It'll make more sense. :)
Re: We are still in the Middle Ages of IT Doh! Thanks! Done. :)J.Ja
Doh! Thanks! Done. :)J.Ja
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