2008 Woodie Awards
'Learning curve' meant to be fun, not frightening
Matt Cook
Issue date: 2/27/07 Section: Technology
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Modern technology has one of the largest learning curves of any field of interest or study.
This is largely because of its ever-changing nature: so many new products come out in any given period of time that a person hardly has time to learn how to use the one or two he or she owns before the technology has been updated. This makes technology fun and exciting, but also contributes to a cutthroat mentality.
However, people all over the world have shown that the learning curve can be overcome by anybody wiling to try.
Case in point: A couple of weekends ago my girlfriend and I were faced with a task of almost herculean proportions. We were to convince her grandfather that he needed to buy an Apple desktop or laptop to replace his dead PC running Windows 2000 which he had used for years.
Could we do it? Was he dedicated to Windows, or could we show him the best of both sides of the computer market?
Fortunately, we both know the subject matter and potential buyer very well. Our approach needed to feel less like we were salespeople and more like concerned friends. In the end, we sold him the pros and cons of buying a Mac versus getting a PC with the shiny new Windows Vista operating system, and I'm proud to announce that soon he will be a happy Mac owner.
This is just one situation demonstrating the learning curve (in this case, lack of knowledge about different operating systems) associated with technology.
Take, for another example, the difficulty of bringing computers and the Internet to impoverished nations. Some children in these nations who have never seen a book will be introduced to computers before they ever see the written, published word. Is that scary to you or exciting?
Then there are nations, as I mentioned last week, who are skipping land-based telephone systems and going straight to cell phones in large numbers. Once again, does this demonstrate land line phone's uselessness or just the advent of a new technology replacing the old?
Does the modern technology learning curve separate the "haves" from the "have nots" or does technology, at the end of the day, contribute more to globalization than any other factor?
As I like to say so very often when pondering technology, only time will tell.
This is largely because of its ever-changing nature: so many new products come out in any given period of time that a person hardly has time to learn how to use the one or two he or she owns before the technology has been updated. This makes technology fun and exciting, but also contributes to a cutthroat mentality.
However, people all over the world have shown that the learning curve can be overcome by anybody wiling to try.
Case in point: A couple of weekends ago my girlfriend and I were faced with a task of almost herculean proportions. We were to convince her grandfather that he needed to buy an Apple desktop or laptop to replace his dead PC running Windows 2000 which he had used for years.
Could we do it? Was he dedicated to Windows, or could we show him the best of both sides of the computer market?
Fortunately, we both know the subject matter and potential buyer very well. Our approach needed to feel less like we were salespeople and more like concerned friends. In the end, we sold him the pros and cons of buying a Mac versus getting a PC with the shiny new Windows Vista operating system, and I'm proud to announce that soon he will be a happy Mac owner.
This is just one situation demonstrating the learning curve (in this case, lack of knowledge about different operating systems) associated with technology.
Take, for another example, the difficulty of bringing computers and the Internet to impoverished nations. Some children in these nations who have never seen a book will be introduced to computers before they ever see the written, published word. Is that scary to you or exciting?
Then there are nations, as I mentioned last week, who are skipping land-based telephone systems and going straight to cell phones in large numbers. Once again, does this demonstrate land line phone's uselessness or just the advent of a new technology replacing the old?
Does the modern technology learning curve separate the "haves" from the "have nots" or does technology, at the end of the day, contribute more to globalization than any other factor?
As I like to say so very often when pondering technology, only time will tell.
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