I've been working on a theory the last few years that digital technology has only 3 widespread effects: a) slowing things down for the consumer or hands-on worker b) making things unnecessarily complicated for the consumer or hands-on worker c) saving corporations money
And mind you, I programmed micros for a living between 1978 and 2000. I'm not sure I was in the right field. -Lon Mike Johnston wrote: > > William Robb wrote: > > > Digital users seem to need a course in rocket science to get pictures. > > Well, maybe they just need a COURSE, period. Who's educating the public > about how to use digital? The old paradigm is that the camera stores have > knowledgeable salespeople who can serve as the front line for educating the > consumer. That hardly works now that mail order and mass-market stores are > #1 and #2 in terms of disseminating the devices. Plus, there are literally > thousands of schools that teach photography, and about a zillion books that > cover the basics (again, and again, and again...). > > There's no sort of infrastructure for teaching digital. Everybody uses > different cameras, everybody uses different image-management programs, > everybody uses different computers and picture formats and transportation > media. Where are consumers supposed to go to learn this stuff? My local > community college doesn't even teach a course in Photoshop because anyone > who's enough of an expert in Photoshop to teach it can get a better job than > being a teacher. The few books that are out are basically out of date before > they see the inside of a bookstore, and because of the lack of > standardization they assume an equipment set that few specific readers > actually have. > > True, we have the internet, but that's like educating a sixth grader by > dumping a set of encyclopaedias on his head. My Mom owns a digital camera > and a six-year-old Macintosh, and she can no more find her way to a digital > print than I can find my way to the Powerball jackpot. > > I've got more than a little sympathy for the digital neophyte. It wasn't all > that easy for _me_, and I have just a tad more knowledge about making still > pictures than the average bear. > > --Mike
