shamelessly_mkp (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shamelessly_mkp) wrote2014-09-08 02:43 am
shamelessly_mkp) wrote2014-09-08 02:43 am
into-the-weeds: c-is-for-circinate: gorlt: why are people so afraid to google things? why come to...
into-the-weeds:
c-is-for-circinate:
gorlt:
why are people so afraid to google things? why come to someone’s inbox and ask a researchable question where you may have to wait hours, days, even weeks for a response when you can google it in less than 3 seconds? what are you afraid of? results?
1) Because doing research is a skill, and not everybody has it. Data mining is difficult. What seems to you to be a simple, obvious google search is not necessarily that obvious. How do you know which keywords to use? How do you know which website that pops up will have the information you’re looking for?
2) Because figuring out what information is reliable and what information isn’t reliable is a god damn crapshoot—again, especially if you’re not highly practiced, but often even if you are. Maybe you get three or four or ten different answers, possibly mostly in agreement, possibly conflicting. Who’s trustworthy? Who’s lying out their asses? How do you make these disparate pieces of information fit together?
3) Because the sources you find on the internet are very rarely tailored to exactly the question you’re trying to ask. You may not even know exactly the question you’re trying to ask. A static internet webpage cannot work with you to figure out what you need to know.
4) Because a great many people learn things better in an interactive context than just from words on a page. This is why we have teachers in classrooms instead of just babysitters and textbooks. As a group, we complain about and dislike schools where class involves a teacher acting like a babysitter, and telling the kids to just look things up in their textbook. Remember?
Addendum, a large number of people on tumblr and on the internet at large may have intellectual disabilities, difficulties with language processing, etc etc, which make 1-4 significantly more difficult. People without disabilities may also find points 1-4 hard. Some people with disabilities may find them all easy. But it is well worth considering that not everybody’s brain works like yours does, and not everybody interfaces with information like you can.
5) Sometimes, because the question has to do with the person we’re asking specifically. If Amy gets really angry every time the subject of Bob comes up, I am not going to go to Carol to ask what Amy’s deal is. I am going to say, “Hey Amy, why do you get so angry about Bob?”
Then either Amy well tell me what her deal is herself, or, if we’re on the internet, 30% chance Amy is going to call me a fucking scumsucking idiot and rage about me all in caps with a lot of exclamation points for the rest of the night.
6) Often, because the people being asked these questions set themselves up as experts in the first place. They blog extensively about a subject, or speak knowledgeably about it. They write lengthy posts pertaining to their topic. Maybe they just reference this topic in passing a whole lot. But very, very often, when a blogger gets asked a question, it’s because that blogger has demonstrated knowledge about the topic at hand.
It is nobody’s responsibility to spend their time writing essays to educate random strangers on the internet. HOWEVER, it is not that far a leap to think that some people, when puzzled by a confusing question, would rather ask an expert than try to deal with datamining a solution on their own.
Of course, tumblr has developed a culture where it’s even odds that you’ll get a fantastic, well-thought-out, informative answer, or you’ll be publicly shamed and excoriated for daring to ask such a dumb, dumb, stupid question.
And fuck you, you scum-sucking idiot, for adding to it.
Please just marry me already.
via:Tumblr http://ift.tt/1lQ8xnx
c-is-for-circinate:
gorlt:
why are people so afraid to google things? why come to someone’s inbox and ask a researchable question where you may have to wait hours, days, even weeks for a response when you can google it in less than 3 seconds? what are you afraid of? results?
1) Because doing research is a skill, and not everybody has it. Data mining is difficult. What seems to you to be a simple, obvious google search is not necessarily that obvious. How do you know which keywords to use? How do you know which website that pops up will have the information you’re looking for?
2) Because figuring out what information is reliable and what information isn’t reliable is a god damn crapshoot—again, especially if you’re not highly practiced, but often even if you are. Maybe you get three or four or ten different answers, possibly mostly in agreement, possibly conflicting. Who’s trustworthy? Who’s lying out their asses? How do you make these disparate pieces of information fit together?
3) Because the sources you find on the internet are very rarely tailored to exactly the question you’re trying to ask. You may not even know exactly the question you’re trying to ask. A static internet webpage cannot work with you to figure out what you need to know.
4) Because a great many people learn things better in an interactive context than just from words on a page. This is why we have teachers in classrooms instead of just babysitters and textbooks. As a group, we complain about and dislike schools where class involves a teacher acting like a babysitter, and telling the kids to just look things up in their textbook. Remember?
Addendum, a large number of people on tumblr and on the internet at large may have intellectual disabilities, difficulties with language processing, etc etc, which make 1-4 significantly more difficult. People without disabilities may also find points 1-4 hard. Some people with disabilities may find them all easy. But it is well worth considering that not everybody’s brain works like yours does, and not everybody interfaces with information like you can.
5) Sometimes, because the question has to do with the person we’re asking specifically. If Amy gets really angry every time the subject of Bob comes up, I am not going to go to Carol to ask what Amy’s deal is. I am going to say, “Hey Amy, why do you get so angry about Bob?”
Then either Amy well tell me what her deal is herself, or, if we’re on the internet, 30% chance Amy is going to call me a fucking scumsucking idiot and rage about me all in caps with a lot of exclamation points for the rest of the night.
6) Often, because the people being asked these questions set themselves up as experts in the first place. They blog extensively about a subject, or speak knowledgeably about it. They write lengthy posts pertaining to their topic. Maybe they just reference this topic in passing a whole lot. But very, very often, when a blogger gets asked a question, it’s because that blogger has demonstrated knowledge about the topic at hand.
It is nobody’s responsibility to spend their time writing essays to educate random strangers on the internet. HOWEVER, it is not that far a leap to think that some people, when puzzled by a confusing question, would rather ask an expert than try to deal with datamining a solution on their own.
Of course, tumblr has developed a culture where it’s even odds that you’ll get a fantastic, well-thought-out, informative answer, or you’ll be publicly shamed and excoriated for daring to ask such a dumb, dumb, stupid question.
And fuck you, you scum-sucking idiot, for adding to it.
Please just marry me already.
via:Tumblr http://ift.tt/1lQ8xnx