(no subject)
I find it entirely too ironic.
I'm working on this paper, about how experienced users of computers are able to reduce the cognitive load of using the computer by appropriating it (that is, getting so familiar with it that it becomes transparent when working) only to find that I'm thwarted yet again.
It seems the definitive version of my thesis, the one that I produced for submission and which probably resides on the old Dell downstairs (which I have yet to set-up again since I moved about three moves ago), is copy protected. The library, in producing the PDF version for distributing via the Digital Thesis project, has disallowed copying. I need a password to access my own work. I just want to be able to bring in some of the stuff I wrote without having to wait for M$word to finish thinking. I don't know why it is soooo resource intensive on the Mac. I'm sure it was done on purpose.
I think I should document this experience and use it as an example of how even with knowledgeable users, the technology can still be counterproductive to thinking.
Interestingly, I looked up flow on wikipedia as I'm sure this has something to do with the process of appropriation. This lead to the idea of overlearning (wtf?) and thence to automaticity. I think that last term really highlights the ideas in this paper. There's an almost automatic process to some tasks that we do, we don't think of them. It's like touch typing, you know where the letters are. Hunt and peck is the novice level, while touch typing is the appropriation of the computer for thinking. My fingers go faster than my brain sometimes, but not always. I can think a word and the letters appear. I no longer think the letters for the word to appear. It's only when we come across something that doesn't work in the way we expect that our mastery is questioned, and we become aware of what we are doing (or we are actually describing it as we do it).
DRM serves that purpose. To highlight that we do not own that for which we have paid. Hmm. Interesting. I think I need to go watch that trusted computing video again.
I'm working on this paper, about how experienced users of computers are able to reduce the cognitive load of using the computer by appropriating it (that is, getting so familiar with it that it becomes transparent when working) only to find that I'm thwarted yet again.
It seems the definitive version of my thesis, the one that I produced for submission and which probably resides on the old Dell downstairs (which I have yet to set-up again since I moved about three moves ago), is copy protected. The library, in producing the PDF version for distributing via the Digital Thesis project, has disallowed copying. I need a password to access my own work. I just want to be able to bring in some of the stuff I wrote without having to wait for M$word to finish thinking. I don't know why it is soooo resource intensive on the Mac. I'm sure it was done on purpose.
I think I should document this experience and use it as an example of how even with knowledgeable users, the technology can still be counterproductive to thinking.
Interestingly, I looked up flow on wikipedia as I'm sure this has something to do with the process of appropriation. This lead to the idea of overlearning (wtf?) and thence to automaticity. I think that last term really highlights the ideas in this paper. There's an almost automatic process to some tasks that we do, we don't think of them. It's like touch typing, you know where the letters are. Hunt and peck is the novice level, while touch typing is the appropriation of the computer for thinking. My fingers go faster than my brain sometimes, but not always. I can think a word and the letters appear. I no longer think the letters for the word to appear. It's only when we come across something that doesn't work in the way we expect that our mastery is questioned, and we become aware of what we are doing (or we are actually describing it as we do it).
DRM serves that purpose. To highlight that we do not own that for which we have paid. Hmm. Interesting. I think I need to go watch that trusted computing video again.