ITauthor podcast #21 – Three generations of computer users (Part 2)
November 23rd, 2008
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I wanted to find out how people of different generations use computers, what they use their computers for, how they use them and what they feel about computers and software generally. So who better to ask than three generations of women from my family.
In this, the second in a series of three podcasts, I talk to my 17-year-old daughter, Martha Christie about how she uses computers at school and at home.
Of online help Martha says:
"Those things drive me crazy. I don't think I've ever actually used any of those help systems for anything on the computer. I just don't find them useful at all.
...
There's so much writing to read and I hate that kind of thing. It's like ... if you get like a help manual with something you just throw it away before you start
...
I just can't read through it all. I'd rather just try it and then if it goes wrong I just scrap it and start again."
On the most effective way of learning, she says:
"If you want to learn something, asking a person is the best way to do it."
"I don't think I just want to be told the answer ... Getting something explained to you and getting it shown to you is different from just getting told an answer. Like if I asked a teacher for help and they just told me the answer, I wouldn't be like: 'Oh that's great, thanks' ... The best teachers don't tell you an answer - they tell you how to find the answer yourself."
She makes an interesting point about how when she wants to do something on the computer she'd naturally try and use one of the applications that are already on the computer - even if it wasn't purpose built for the thing she wanted to do - rather than search for, download and install a new application from the Internet.
I also found it revealing that she wasn't aware that most help systems for applications have an index and a search facility.
She didn't like the idea of help videos, because she wouldn't want to sit through a whole video to find out how to do something.
Finally, she's also the only person I know who's ever had anything good to say about the Microsoft Office Assistant dog.
One of the software applications mentioned in the interview is:
Painter Classic
Metacreations Painter Classic came bundled with a Wacom tablet I bought years ago. Used with a drawing tablet it was a very impressive bit of software. Corel bought Metacreations and the latest incarnation of that software is Painter X (i.e. version 10).
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/gb/en/Product/1166553885783
This is one of the paintings Martha created using Painter Classic, in 2003, when she was twelve:
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I wanted to find out how people of different generations use computers, what they use their computers for, how they use them and what they feel about computers and software generally. So who better to ask than three generations of women from my family.
Graham Campbell talks to attendees at this year’s ISTC (Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators) Conference in Nottingham.
