I was trying to learn some stuff about the structure of the internet and came across this page when looking up 'subnet': http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212850,00.html If they think the reader doesn't understand how to pronounce "quad" or can't grasp the concept of a "quarter," how on earth could they understand the other stuff?
Haha, was doing a bit about IT training today at uni and the lecturer was saying about balancing your language for the target audience...but this is silly. Never heard of someone saying '2 bits' as a quarter. 'Can I have 2 bits of your finest green please?' :lol:
Just remember that not everyone has the same background as you. Everyone has to learn somewhere, sometime.
Oh my purpose wasn't to degrade people who don't understand those issues. I was questioning the writer's choice of words to explain.
Mairsil, I think that was J.G's point, that the material was not very open & was badly pitched at a diverse audience. I agree, it's often perplexing listening to very knowledgeable computer / IT guys as they speak a language which is like a fortified town under siege. They tend to defend the usage of such language as it genuinely does make it simpler for people dealing with it on a daily basis. Ask a question and a lot of IT guys roll their eyes as if you were meant to have been born with this stuff pre-installed! I deal with a ''lot'' of clients who are not computer literate and it's good policy to start slow and build up to it. That was the point I think J.G was making. It just ''assumes'' too much. He wasn't having a dig at people who don't understand, he was making the point that the material was presented in a certain way that makes it difficult to be immediately understood.
"Ask a question and a lot of IT guys roll their eyes as if you were meant to have been born with this stuff pre-installed!" Yeah I think that's a pretty common problem with message boards on the internet in general. I'll often hear people explain difficult concepts in a way that would be impossible for a rookie to understand. I'm usually the rookie, but when I'm not it's easy to spot. Makes me wonder when people forgot that there was a point in time when they didn't know that info...heh. With this story I was wondering why he was basically giving life lessons in the middle of a technical explanation. Maybe that's the best way to describe it.
If you want to understand something thoroughly though, you can't ignore the building blocks, which are often linguistic. People forget this. I don't want to feel obligated to NOT use "tech jargon" since in reality it's the most appropriate way to communicate when talking about tech. Of course it can be annoying when people purposefully use jargon on a narrow audience who is certain to not understand, but most people aren't asses like that. Usually the speakers are reasonable and assume that the audience can do some of their own research to attain the missing building blocks, and they feel it's not their duty to do that for the audience unless they are being compensated for their efforts!
"quad" isnt a weird word at all... Hell, most people call ATVs quads That happens even inside the IT crowd, specially with old school guys...
The problem is, most users don't even try the simple solutions before coming to ask you for help. or they ask incredibly vague questions and make sweeping statements: "Why doesn't my printer work", "My computer is broken", "Excel isn't working" etc. They don't give any additional information to help you troubleshoot and expect you to know the answer to their problem immediately. Invariably a simple computer restart fixes the problem (it'd say 80% of the time) or the printer is out of paper/jammed, which if someone used their common sense could have fixed easily themselves without forcing you to go over and fix it for them. Also a vast number of office workers are jobs-worths and won't do anything outside of their typical role, causing you to fix the same issue time after time. They sit there (often refusing to leave their precious work space) and watch you fix it, then the next time it happens they're on the 'phone again. So, although they might roll their eyes sometimes, cut IT guys some slack :lol: /raw-nerve
I cut IT guys a huge amount of slack as I have a healthy respect for what they do. It's a bit of a cliche that IT people have few social graces, yet it is common for IT guys to have a pile of work to wade through and ''basic'' issues can become raw nerves. For example I can see the frustration in most IT guys eyes the second someone puts their hand up and states ''I've forgotten my log-in'' etc. On Friday before I left work I got a message flash up on my screen in one of the labs about a potential virus threat. Unlike a lot of people who'd panic, log off and run away I actually took a screen dump and walked over to the helpdesk (3mins) and gave them as much information as I could, allayed their fears about executables and downloads (their pet hates) and they seemed very pleasant and approchable because they could see I at least 'try' before contacting them. Many people are techno-phobic, or actually less fearful of the technology as they are of their own lack of understanding. When something goes wrong the natural reaction is to sit back and let someone else unravel it. We are told, inspite of our basic understand of computers that we MUST hand such instances over to the IT guys, so perhaps you need to cut the staff / end user a little slack too! :lol: With an increasing technologically dependent working (& home) environment the technology is becoming much more integral and intergrated. Where as previously you were required to have a rudimentary appreciation of the whole, these days everything is networked and impacts upon others so you are expected to accept less of that responsibility! Stick a disc in, press A then B and bingo it's done. So when it no longer functions your natural instinct is to press A then B and when that fails, you immediately call IT. IT guys also love to walk away from a resolved situation with the parting shot ''Now, don't touch anything and it'll be ok''. I've heard that so often. People therefore don't and immediately erase the steps they have watched from their mind thus when it happens again..........
