The idea that the way a question is asked (and by whom) will affect the answer is not all that surprising, but it was unexpected. We tend to know that asnwers change based on when the question was asked, but I never really thought about the extent of that change. Now, I have a better opinion and will keep this in mind more.
Treat computers as humans, I think not. We are all unique as people, but computers are massed produced. When a computer asks you how it's doing, its not actually the computer asking, but the company that produced the computer. We intuitively know that computers do not feel our emotions and therefore answer their questions honestly.
Then you read on and realize that, as humans, we do treat computers nicer when they are asking us the question than when another method is used. Why this is, I am still unsure. Maybe the rest of the book will explain it.
Quality, quantity, relevance, and clarity are required in any conversation, including that with computers. I didn't realize how much each of these items was important until it was laid out in front of me in simple words. The problem is that computers don't follow most of these rules, how can they be modified to do so? I don't know, but some day there will be a resolution to this problem.
The final question in this book is "Should we ask less of media and their makers?" I believe the answer is no. Because of the amount of time that people spend around media, the politeness that we are taught as children needs to be reaffirmed regularly. If left without use for long enough, people will forget how to be polite. Hopefully the use of politeness in media will help us not only correct our politeness, but learn new ways to be polite.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Extra Credit #1: Why We Make Mistakes
WOW.
I always knew that there were a large amount of tasks that could not be done simultaneously, but this chapter really drove it home. Ironically, I was trying to watch TV and read this chapter at the same time; it didn't work.
The idea behind this chapter is really straight forward and simple. Keep your tasks separate. While I have never been one to drive and text, this chapter leads me to believe that even driving and talking on the phone is a bad idea. It's also leading me to think about the major items being redesigned daily. We must ensure that, despite the desire for more devices, we are able to use these devices without placing the users, or others, in harms way.
I agree that there is a common misconception about the ability to multitask, but find it highly interesting that women apparently succeed at recovering faster than men. As people, we need to realize the extent of our capabilities. I believe that in most cases, a quick transition between items is easy to recover from, but jumping to an action that takes a long time to recover from is much more common.
We usually take the time to respond to an email when we notice that there is a new one in our inbox, but since we've stopped anyway, we will respond to all the emails in our inbox. But email isn't the only action that we take in this manner: texting, watching TV, reading books, etc.
No longer will I allow myself to be as distracted by everyday things. I have learned that multi-tasking doesn't exist and therefore I will be choosing to remove distractions from my view when working. Hopefully, everyone else starts thinking the same way.
I always knew that there were a large amount of tasks that could not be done simultaneously, but this chapter really drove it home. Ironically, I was trying to watch TV and read this chapter at the same time; it didn't work.
The idea behind this chapter is really straight forward and simple. Keep your tasks separate. While I have never been one to drive and text, this chapter leads me to believe that even driving and talking on the phone is a bad idea. It's also leading me to think about the major items being redesigned daily. We must ensure that, despite the desire for more devices, we are able to use these devices without placing the users, or others, in harms way.
I agree that there is a common misconception about the ability to multitask, but find it highly interesting that women apparently succeed at recovering faster than men. As people, we need to realize the extent of our capabilities. I believe that in most cases, a quick transition between items is easy to recover from, but jumping to an action that takes a long time to recover from is much more common.
We usually take the time to respond to an email when we notice that there is a new one in our inbox, but since we've stopped anyway, we will respond to all the emails in our inbox. But email isn't the only action that we take in this manner: texting, watching TV, reading books, etc.
No longer will I allow myself to be as distracted by everyday things. I have learned that multi-tasking doesn't exist and therefore I will be choosing to remove distractions from my view when working. Hopefully, everyone else starts thinking the same way.
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