What About Failing Manuals?

Manuals.. manuals everywhere but not one to depend on...

I am what they call an IT Professional. Most of the time, I get questions on things that I have no idea about.. yet I am the one who is supposed to give the answers. Many of those times, the so-called system and administrator manuals fail me - I can't find the answers in them. So, many times, manuals themselves fail and manuals fail me. And if they fail me, how do I give all the answers? In this blog, I will reveal that bit by bit.

After a few years in the Information Technology field, I find that the way IT support is set up actually makes the user more IT un-savvy. It does not build user confidence and they require affirmation of their actions from their so-called IT support people all the time. IT has become a personal technology needing you to handle many things yourself - much like the way you operate your own washing machine, microwave oven, toaster or vacuum cleaner. It is a paradigm- you need to think a certain way and how IT support set up today gets in the way of you learning that paradigm. Things are set up in such a way that it hides the user from IT instead of exposing them to it. This does not do much good because IT is something to be experienced. The support paradigm used are sometimes outmoded - from the days of text based computer systems created using COBOL or Dbase IV.

Ask our young ones. Haven't we heard of the many anecdotal evidence on how so-and-so's 3 year old nephew is so natural with the computer? Which manual did he refer to or school did he attend? None. It's all experiential, exploration, intuition and observation. This blog is dedicated to encourage that - that is how I learn and I find it hard to teach users any other way.

What Should I do to be More Savvy?

Read this blog. I will try to point you to the direction of IT paradigm for end users. For you, I know that sound, video, graphics and productivity is the main areas that are useful. That is the direction that I will try to steer towards. Also, some of us want to have net presence. Having a facebook account is one way. So is having your own website - one that reflects 'YOU'.. or your own blog.

So Which Direction Are We Heading?

The sky. Or more specifically, into the Cloud. Let me explain. Imagine this - there is nothing on your computer except your Internet browser and you have a very good Internet connection. Everything you do, is on your browser. Your documents, spreadsheet, editing your graphics, sound mixing, photo sharing and the list goes on. (Almost) Nothing is installed on your computer - no software. Everything is done from and on the Internet. The 'Cloud' is the Internet because on network diagrams, the Internet is usually symbolised by a cloud.

What Does that Translate to for Me?

Everytime you think of doing something, say, creating a mind-map, don't ask yourself: 'What software do I need to install?'. Ask: 'Which site provides me with a website that I can create mind-maps and edit it directly in my Internet browser?'. Then go to a search engine (Yahoo. Google etc) and search. Here's one such example: http://www.mindmeister.com/content/product. No installations needed. Just the Internet. Extrapolate this to all other things you do: text documents, spreadsheets, budget tracking, project management, record keeping etc. - all in a similar fashion. No installations needed. Just a browser and a good Internet connection. That is the direction for you.

Here's an exercise: Download a video from Youtube in this fashion.

Here's another: Record your PC screen with your voice and share it with your friends.

Remember, no installations, except maybe Flash player. You need it for Youtube anyway, and for a gazillion other sites.

Download Videos From YouTube

There is this great (FREE) site that allows you to download videos from YouTube. It gives you a choice of downloading it in low, medium and high quality. What's the difference? Visually, it means more pixellated or less pixellated. Low quality also sometimes means more jittery. High quality could also means more jittery if your computer resources cannot cope with the video demands. So, low or high must also be matched with how much computer resources you have. Another thing, it also means bigger or smaller file size. Low quality normally means smaller files size for computers with less resources and/or lesser Internet speeds. And the site is: http://www.keepvid.com/

Go ahead. Figure out how you use it. It is not exactly rocket science and nothing is going to explode if you fumble. Here's a screenshot of the site: