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<HR><H2>Fw: [RRE]how to help someone use a computer</H2>
<H3>daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Fri Oct 16 20:39:45 1998
)</H3>
<PRE>
From: "Bruce Mitchener, Jr." &lt;bruce@puremagic.com&gt;
To: &lt;coldstuff@cold.org&gt;
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 17:29:42 -0700

This is just as applicable to any of us.  Perhaps especially to us.

 - Bruce

-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Agre &lt;pagre@weber.ucsd.edu&gt;
To: Red Rock Eater News Service &lt;rre@lists.gseis.ucla.edu&gt;
Date: Tuesday, October 13, 1998 3:58 PM
Subject: [RRE]how to help someone use a computer


&gt;[I would greatly appreciate if you could forward this article to everyone
&gt;who needs it.  This might include teachers, consultants, customer support
&gt;people, help desk staffers, system administrators, librarians, trainers,
&gt;technical writers, and kids who know more about computers than their
parents.]
&gt;
&gt;
&gt;=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
&gt;This message was forwarded through the Red Rock Eater News Service (RRE).
&gt;Send any replies to the original author, listed in the From: field below.
&gt;You are welcome to send the message along to others but please do not use
&gt;the "redirect" command.  For information on RRE, including instructions
&gt;for (un)subscribing, see http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/people/pagre/rre.html
&gt;or send a message to requests@lists.gseis.ucla.edu with Subject: info rre
&gt;=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
&gt;
&gt;
&gt;How to help someone use a computer.
&gt;
&gt;Phil Agre
&gt;http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/
&gt;
&gt;Computer people are generally fine human beings, but nonetheless
&gt;they do a lot of inadvertent harm in the ways they "help" other
&gt;people with their computer problems.  Now that we're trying to get
&gt;everyone on the net, I thought it might be helpful to write down
&gt;everything I've been taught about helping people use computers.
&gt;
&gt;First you have to tell yourself some things:
&gt;
&gt; * Nobody is born knowing this stuff.
&gt;
&gt; * You've forgotten what it's like to be a beginner.
&gt;
&gt; * If it's not obvious to them, it's not obvious.
&gt;
&gt; * A computer is a means to an end.  The person you're helping
&gt;   probably cares mostly about the end.  This is reasonable.
&gt;
&gt; * Their knowledge of the computer is grounded in what they can
&gt;   do and see -- "when I do this, it does that".  They need to
&gt;   develop a deeper understanding, of course, but this can only
&gt;   happen slowly, and not through abstract theory but through
&gt;   the real, concrete situations they encounter in their work.
&gt;
&gt; * By the time they ask you for help, they've probably tried
&gt;   several different things.  As a result, their computer might
&gt;   be in a strange state.  That's not their fault.
&gt;
&gt; * The best way to learn is through apprenticeship -- that is,
&gt;   by doing some real task together with someone who has skills
&gt;   that you don't have.
&gt;
&gt; * Your primary goal is not to solve their problem.  Your primary
&gt;   goal is to help them become one notch more capable of solving
&gt;   their problem on their own.  So it's okay if they take notes.
&gt;
&gt; * Most user interfaces are terrible.  When people make mistakes
&gt;   it's usually the fault of the interface.  You've forgotten how
&gt;   many ways you've learned to adapt to bad interfaces.  You've
&gt;   forgotten how many things you once assumed that the interface
&gt;   would be able to do for you.
&gt;
&gt; * Knowledge lives in communities, not individuals.  A computer
&gt;   user who's not part of a community of computer users is going
&gt;   to have a harder time of it than one who is.
&gt;
&gt;Having convinced yourself of these things, you are more likely to
&gt;follow some important rules:
&gt;
&gt; * Don't take the keyboard.  Let them do all the typing, even
&gt;   if it's slower that way, and even if you have to point them
&gt;   to each and every key they need to type.  That's the only way
&gt;   they're going to learn from the interaction.
&gt;
&gt; * Find out what they're really trying to do.  Is there another
&gt;   way to go about it?
&gt;
&gt; * Attend to the symbolism of the interaction.  Most especially,
&gt;   try not to tower over them.  If at all possible, squat down
&gt;   so your eyes are just below the level of theirs.  When they're
&gt;   looking at the computer, look at the computer.  When they're
&gt;   looking at you, look back at them.
&gt;
&gt; * If something is true, show them how they can see it's true.
&gt;
&gt; * Be aware of how abstract your language is.  For example, "Get
&gt;   into the editor" is abstract and "press this key" is concrete.
&gt;   Don't say anything unless you intend for them to understand
&gt;   it.  Keep adjusting your language downward towards concrete
&gt;   units until they start to get it, then slowly adjust back up
&gt;   towards greater abstraction so long as they're following you.
&gt;   When formulating a take-home lesson ("when it does this and
&gt;   that, you should check such-and-such"), check once again that
&gt;   you're using language of the right degree of abstraction for
&gt;   this user right now.
&gt;
&gt; * Whenever they start to blame themselves, blame the computer,
&gt;   no matter how many times it takes, in a calm, authoritative
&gt;   tone of voice.  When they get nailed by a false assumption
&gt;   about the computer's behavior, tell them their assumption was
&gt;   reasonable.  Tell *yourself* that it was reasonable.  It was.
&gt;
&gt; * Never do something for someone that they are capable of doing
&gt;   for themselves.
&gt;
&gt; * Don't say "it's in the manual".  (You probably knew that.)
&gt;
&gt;(This article is adapted from The Network Observer, which can be found
&gt;on the Web at http://communication.ucsd.edu/pagre/tno.html, copyright
&gt;1996 by Phil Agre.  It may be forwarded on the Internet to anyone for
&gt;any noncommercial purpose.  It may also be reprinted in any publication,
&gt;provided that: (a) I am credited as the author, (b) my copyright is
&gt;acknowledged, (c) the article is reprinted in its entirety, verbatim,
&gt;without any additions, deletions, and modifications, and (d) one copy
&gt;of the publication is sent to me at the address listed on my home page.)
&gt;
&gt;

</PRE>
