9/23/2005
Tech Savvy?
Thanks to Don for an email about something he posted about computer users and general understanding. His always pithy comments and thoughts are so “on the mark” that I often click back through to see what started things. He points back to a Slashdot post, that I then followed back to Office blunders caused by computer jargon
Office blunders caused by computer jargon
Sep 23 2005
Western Mail
Office workers are baffled by computer jargon and make serious business blunders because they see ‘IT speak’ as a foreign language, a survey has revealed.
Among office workers 26% aren’t sure what a firewall does and therefore have been tempted to turn it off. A firewall is a form of computer security that prevents unauthorised access from the internet and turning it off is the worst thing you can do.
A massive 61% don’t understand the difference between gigabytes, kilobytes and megabytes and as a result have sent e-mails with huge attachments that have blocked clients’ systems.
Around 48% are confused by different kinds of files like Jpegs and PDFs and don’t know how they should be used.
A further 23% are not sure whether to upload or download - requiring further contact with the IT department for an explanation.
From java-script and cookies to Trojan horses and worms, over two-thirds (68%) of office workers believe IT lingo is incomprehensible. And almost 32% of office blunders are caused by misunderstandings surrounding ‘IT speak’.
Nearly 75% of people said they spend more than an hour every week simply trying to find out what something means in order to finish a task, according to the survey by recruitment consultants Computer People.
I point this all out for a reason. For those of us who have a technical customer base, those terms might all make sense, but in the general business world, think about how many people you encounter on a daily basis who have two core skills. They can point. They can click. Beyond that, they’re out of their element.
That’s one reason some of us make a really good living being thoughtful about how we explain things. And it isn’t amazing what we get paid for what we do sometimes?
Filed by Ken at 5:31 pm under Technology
I’ve always thought the tech language was deliberate obfuscation, from the get go. Engineer job security. In fact, as a non-tech guy, I’d have to say that the ‘language’ is more confusing than the tech itself. Take the term ‘e-mail client’. Clients, for me, are something I serve. But email clients are something that are designed to serve me. No?
Server is another. I hear server I think waiter or tennis partner. I can see how the server serves up something…but fridge or pantry might be better.
Never mind the acronyms. Despite the fact that I might know what html stands for, I’m still incapable of explaining what it is. The language is inorganic. Or rather, when it is organic, it’s misleading.
Like the term the Web. I’ll never be able to leave the spiders out if it. For me I have a clearer understanding of the Thing seeing it as Weinberger’s something something loosely joined or something. But I can never rememebr what it is, the phrase. Tight ends loosely joined. Somethings loosely joined at any rate.
The World Wide Knot might work better for me. Eliminates the centre core thing. But what sort of knot? The Interknot.
I’m led to believe there’s a difference between the net and the web. And that there is a huge structural difference. Call it the Knot and be done with it.
Online works when you’re on The Knot via an ethernet cable and telephone line, but what about this WiFi stuff. And how is it pronounced? I just the other day heard Linux pronounced as you would hear it if it was spelled Linnux. Pass the ether.
But all is not lost. There are some good phrases. ‘Workaround’ is a good one. ‘Hard drive crash’ is not bad. Though it has led to some confusion when I’ve had to ‘do the download’ - a phrase I used to use, corrected now - when I’ve had to download a driver for my printer or other peripherals (another good one). I think I’ve worked that one out though. A driver gets a car or a golf ball to a certain place. A printer driver gets info to the printer.
I like the word motherboard. Intuitively. No idea what it is, but it sounds absolutley essential.