On 2 Feb 97 at 14:33, E. Allen Smith wrote:
> In other words, most people today can't figure something out from
> simple pre-packaged information; they have to be hand-held. And with a
> lot lower proportion of experienced to new users on AOL (and on the other
> quickly-expanding services you mention below), the hand-holding doesn't
> happen.
>
Allen hits the nail right on the head with this one. Most people
either can't figure out or just can't be bothered to make the
attempt, even if they can. Whether politics has anything to do or
not, it is a cultural problem. I doubt if there are any quick fixes.
Anything more than short phrases or something like a Dave Letterman
top ten list is too much trouble to read, understand, and then act
upon. With the growth of Internet, written communication manifested
itself on an unsuspecting public, raised on television. Web,
initially an information treasure trove, made friendlier by hypertext
and links, is slowly turning into yet another mindnumbing tv clone.
My hopes that literacy would increase because of the net are being
dashed. :-(
Email is still a relic of the past, enforcing one to do archaic
things - like actually reading textual matter and comprehending,
creating command lines consisting of multiple words - some of them
unspellable like SUBSCRIBE and even worse UNSUBSCRIBE. (Didn't
we get away from the nasty MSDOS to avoid have to type such things?
Don't even mention uniks) Either list manager software will get
better in parsing, using AI, telepathy etc., or lists will soon be
used by a few - rather like the book reading public. There will
always be one. Volunteer list owners will probably cater only to this
audience - the unwashed masses preferring to use point and click web
based boards, IRC and such. After all, email has to be read and for
participation, one has to actually write something. I think this is
the reason that "chats" are more popular - it is more like small
talk. No Zen like deep thoughts or large vocabulary required. :-)
Looking at the current trends, free email lists may start to
disappear, as MUAs get more TV like - multimedia MIME mail complete
with animated, audible ad banners and neat boxes to fill your
credit card number in. At best, there may be a cult following for
discussion oriented lists, rather like the book buying public. What
can I say, I am a pessimist too. May be because I am involved in the
adult learning process as an occasional trainer. :-)
Educating large masses of users who don't want to learn will be the
challenge of the next millennium.
Gess
PS: I used to insist that subscribers learn to spell or cut and paste
words like SUBSCRIBE or use available aliases like JOIN and LEAVE.
But repeated usage of SUSCRIBE/SUSCRIVE and other creative
spellings has forced me to accept all these, as a gesture towards
being more "user-friendly". Now working on "GET ME OFF THIS STINKING
LIST" and variations thereof. :-)
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