TechTalk

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/

I’ve been reading a bit of Seth Godin lately, and in looking at his blog I came across this post on ignoring the little labels that say things like “Do not remove”, “Do not touch”, or “Warranty void if seal is broken”.

Seth would argue that all those labels are suggesting that you, the user and owner of the product, are not smart enough to fix it, tweak it, explore it. I would argue that tradtionally IT departments have suggested the same thing to their users.

I feel like I’m walking a thin line in suggesting this, but I would encourage you to explore. Try something new. Intentionally do something you think is going to make your computer melt. I’ve taken steps to make sure that most changes can be easily reversed. So go ahead and try it.

At a recent conference in Toronto, David Warlick conveys some interesting information from Stephen Heppel, a university professor, and a list of items that students decided all teachers should be able to do. The list includes:

I’m curious how many of us are able to complete each of those tasks? What do you think?

I don’t like quoting people and claiming it as my own content, but in this case I can’t pass it up. Seth Godin suggests a great way to check the validity of e-mails that are too good to be true.

Next time you get an email (copied to all your friends plus people you don’t know) warning you about some horrible computer virus, some sick kid collecting greeting cards or the National Do Not Call List, don’t just blindly follow instructions and then forward to everyone you know.

Instead, go to Google and type in the word “snopes” followed by the gist of the cause or the event or emergency. Snopes will then tell you whether it’s a hoax or not. Save you and your list a whole lot of time.

Try it. If you can do a google search, you can follow Seth’s advice.

Bill Strickland is the founder of the Manchester Bidwell, a world class instittue in Pittsburgh that is devoted to vocational instruction. As you watch the video you will quickly realize that there is no secret to Bill’s success, he simply treated people as all people should be treated.

This video was put out by the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conferene. Though there may be a few lines in this video that will raise an eyebrow, I think it is well worth a look.