Keeping up with Technology
I’ve been both an information architect and a content strategist since 1985 when I began to work for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Massachusetts; I just didn’t know it. At that time I was responsible for over 16,000 fields in the development of a database system that was trying to combine over 35 legacy systems into two broad interfaces; one for business, the other for claims.
From there I moved on to a series of different data-mining projects that provided me even more experience “Dealing with Data.” No matter what I can say about any of these projects, things changed when it all went up onto the Internet. Up to that point I really didn’t worry too much about data creation or manipulation, or the myriad of things that could go wrong within a database — but once it was all online, I felt more exposed.
For some reason the Internet provided me with some apprehension to the point that I went out to research a textbook that could assure me that what I was doing was right. Maybe it was because I realized that this was a HUGE thing, and the fact that I was making up stuff as I went along was crazy.
Initially, there was nothing out there. Nada. Not a thing. It wasn’t until I actually began to teach what I was doing (and I had to justify what I was saying) — that I found a book. That’s when I found “The Non-designer’s Design Book” by Robin Williams, and at least it provided me a cushion of belief that I was doing things correctly.
One of the things that I say to my students is that keeping up with the technological knowledge base with this type of work is like this metaphor: dealing with a flat tire. If you have a flat, you know you can’t move forward unless you stop the car to change it. The same thing holds true when working with technology. Every once in a while, you have to stop and change the tire, or you need to stop to either learn something new or at least validate what you are doing. Sometimes this happens, silently, quickly and without much to do; other times, not so much.
I remember a time when Flash became very big, very quickly. Everyone was scurrying to build Flash resources within their teams. And I remember that one company hired one of our talented student graduates. That student was so excited about the position and this company. He knew Flash well, and was told that he should teach it to his other associates at this company. He did just that, and within six months, after everyone else had learned it — he was laid off —given a bogus reason. The student came to me with this story and I didn’t know what to say because it was so unethical. I also wondered how many other times that very thing happened to other young workers. Use them for their knowledge and then when they are done, let them go.
This is the unfortunate side of working with technology. Many times the people that are in charge don’t understand technology, and they don’t understand the depth that someone who works with technology has in their skill set — beyond the technology. The unfortunate thing is that we sometimes ingratiate ourselves to them, like that student did, thinking that our loyalty will somehow defeat their ignorance, when that ignorance can sometimes be a devastating flat tire that you just can’t fix.
From there I moved on to a series of different data-mining projects that provided me even more experience “Dealing with Data.” No matter what I can say about any of these projects, things changed when it all went up onto the Internet. Up to that point I really didn’t worry too much about data creation or manipulation, or the myriad of things that could go wrong within a database — but once it was all online, I felt more exposed.
For some reason the Internet provided me with some apprehension to the point that I went out to research a textbook that could assure me that what I was doing was right. Maybe it was because I realized that this was a HUGE thing, and the fact that I was making up stuff as I went along was crazy.
Initially, there was nothing out there. Nada. Not a thing. It wasn’t until I actually began to teach what I was doing (and I had to justify what I was saying) — that I found a book. That’s when I found “The Non-designer’s Design Book” by Robin Williams, and at least it provided me a cushion of belief that I was doing things correctly.
One of the things that I say to my students is that keeping up with the technological knowledge base with this type of work is like this metaphor: dealing with a flat tire. If you have a flat, you know you can’t move forward unless you stop the car to change it. The same thing holds true when working with technology. Every once in a while, you have to stop and change the tire, or you need to stop to either learn something new or at least validate what you are doing. Sometimes this happens, silently, quickly and without much to do; other times, not so much.
I remember a time when Flash became very big, very quickly. Everyone was scurrying to build Flash resources within their teams. And I remember that one company hired one of our talented student graduates. That student was so excited about the position and this company. He knew Flash well, and was told that he should teach it to his other associates at this company. He did just that, and within six months, after everyone else had learned it — he was laid off —given a bogus reason. The student came to me with this story and I didn’t know what to say because it was so unethical. I also wondered how many other times that very thing happened to other young workers. Use them for their knowledge and then when they are done, let them go.
This is the unfortunate side of working with technology. Many times the people that are in charge don’t understand technology, and they don’t understand the depth that someone who works with technology has in their skill set — beyond the technology. The unfortunate thing is that we sometimes ingratiate ourselves to them, like that student did, thinking that our loyalty will somehow defeat their ignorance, when that ignorance can sometimes be a devastating flat tire that you just can’t fix.
Comments
You make some really interesting and poignant points! So funny to think that our access to the Internet via the WWW (how many people STILL don't know the difference between the two!) is so readily available and now going on 20 years strong that is seems almost passe to many.
I will ALWAYS be astonished by technology!
Melissa Daley