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Re: Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age?
Subject:Re: Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age? From:Ned Bedinger <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:41:01 -0700
Boudreaux, Madelyn (GE Healthcare, consultant) wrote:
> Not knowing what browser one is using isn't akin to not knowing how the
> car works. It's more akin to not knowing what kind of car one drives, or
> perhaps, if it's a manual or an automatic.
Right, and if pressed I'd say it is even further down the brand chain.
It is like not knowing what brand of ballpoint pen you have in your pocket.
So much of this is ultimately about context and context-sensitive
learning. For another example, stop me in the hallway and ask me where
the "o" key is on a QWERTY keyboard. I know where it is, but I know deep
in my fingers. I don't have a reason to keep such information in working
memory. My hesitating response could be interpreted by an imaginative
columnist as "not able to talk about it." Feh. Another pointless drama
drummed up to entertain the incurious.
Ned "Insectivore" Bedinger
doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com
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