Glacial Erratics

This is the tale of a wiki, some mailing lists, purple numbers, a microwave, DougEngelbart and a whale. Unfinished.    (00012L)

The online side of the PlaNetwork Conference involved a wiki and some mailing lists. They both had PurpleNumbers, in part to help link resources from different media. Both the lists and the wiki got a lot of use, but there was not a lot of literate interlinking, either between the lists and the wiki nor between wiki page. In fact, in some cases entire mail messages were copied into wiki pages.    (00012M)

The conference included a group of rotating volunteers called the Assembler Team. These people were responsible for expediting the distribution and refactoring of knowledge learned throughout the various conference sessions. At one, someone said:    (00012N)

The someone might have been Doug Engelbart, but it is hard to tell because the person who was transcribing into the wiki page was not used to the environment.    (00012P)

That statement is classic Doug: Where's the stuff that helps me move forward, that provides the structure and the direction to get me to whatever is next? What is it that is out there in the process and the communication in the environment that is augmenting my thinking?    (00012Q)

Over the weekend I helped my sister and her family move into a new house. On the way out to dinner my brother-in-law, girlfriend and nephew stood around the new (to us) microwave. Jeff had it in his head that he wanted to set the timer for the night light. We couldn't figure out how. I suggested the Help button (RtFm). Sabrina suggested a thing like a microwave shouldn't need a manual.    (00012R)

We figured it out. The help-speak required a little interpretation. All together now, we got it.    (00012S)

What's the common thread? New stuff requires learning and learning can take time (obvious, no?). People like me, with my BlueOxen hat on, can't expect to drop a new thing like PurpleNumbers or Wikis on folk and have it work. Something in the environment, in the process and the communication that surrounds the use, must provide the structure and direction to get things started. ContextIsEverything.    (00012T)

Even when a tool is very simple, its use is never quiet clear without an available task. Do we know what a screwdriver is for without a screw and a place to screw it? Do we know without looking at it? At what's nearby?    (00012U)

The literacy part is left as an exercise for the reader, because this is very good and I'm distracted.    (00012V)

Happy Happy, Joy Joy.    (00012W)