On Mon, Jul 14, 2003 at 01:30:17PM -0700, Eric Armstrong wrote: (01)
> Ok. I'm getting impressed again. That was too easy for you,
> wasn't it.
>
> We seem to have a nicely searchable email archive that
> creates wiki pages, is that it??? (02)
The archives don't create Wiki pages, people do. (03)
I'm glad you were impressed. I wish more people were. :-) One of the
reasons I believe so strongly in the processes and tools that we
espouse is that they have truly made me Less Dumb (TM). (04)
I had hoped that some of the lessons I learned could easily be
transferred via an asynchronous collaboratory such as this, but I grow
less hopeful. I think one of the ways that synchronous collaboration
can complement asynchronous collaboration is to simply create
motivation. (05)
Case in point: I had read many things about IBIS and Dialog Mapping
that impressed me, but wasn't motivated to try it myself until I took
Jeff Conklin's workshop. That workshop was like a kick in the rear;
not only did it motivate me to try it and get good at it, it also
motivated me to get involved with that community. (06)
How many people here have downloaded Compendium and tried it? I'll
bet that the number of people here who have used Compendium five times
or more is exactly the same as those who have seen it in action. (07)
Another case in point: Wiki usage. At the PlaNetwork conference last
month, we had pretty good Wiki participation. That's because people
at the conference were kicking other people's butts, saying, "Use the
Wiki! Use the Wiki!" Some of those people are now big Wiki
believers, but they probably never would have even tried it had they
not been at the conference. (08)
> It made me realize that I lived without computers for my
> entire academic career, without a web for most of professional
> one, and without a really *useful* email or forum archive
> until, maybe, now.
>
> So after years and years of this, it's easier for me to
> put together thoughts and write them up, than it is to
> find them. (09)
There are people who don't use computers who are amazing at finding
things. For example, there's a guy at my local public library who has
the reputation for being the guy that knows everything. He's had that
reputation since well before the wide availability of the Internet.
Computers have enhanced his abilities, but those abilities were
already amazing. (010)
My point is, finding things is not a "new school" skill. In fact,
while computers have been great in drawing people's attentions to the
desire to find things, far too often, people neglect the old school
capabilities. For example, read my review of Elaine Svenonius's book
on information organization: (011)
http://www.newarchitectmag.com/documents/s=4181/new1013635633/index.html (012)
-Eugene (013)
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This message is archived at: (014)
http://collab.blueoxen.net/forums/cgi-bin/mesg.cgi?a=tools-yak&i=20030714212958.GQ13362@douge.blueoxen.net (015)
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