Techno-mage

[gurdonark]

Everyone in science fiction novels these days discusses the vaguely cyberpunk notion of the "techno-mage". The idea is that science is so cool that it's like magic. This is not a particularly new idea in sci-fi, as it predates even the John Campbell pulp era of that genre. But the idea of calling a science magician a "techno-mage" is of more recent lineage.

Lately I notice that I am anything but a techno-mage. I don't write any software, at least not since the days when I could speak enough basic or Fortran to write the most primitive programs one could ever imagine. Yet the problem now extends to software usage. I use tons of programs and applications, as so many do. But sometimes I become the proverbial "old dog" incapable of learning "new tricks". A sampling of things I should know but do not include:
a. how to scan a document to create a PDF, as opposed to converting a word-processing document into a PDF;
b. how to use even the most basic recording studio software;
c. how to use a softsynth;
d. how to make an MP3;
e. how to burn a CD;
f. how to upload pictures from my digital camera into my computer;
g. how to cut and paste from Adobe to conventional documents with ease;
h. how to effectively take content from the web and edit it at home, although the lack of this skill probably has advantages; and
i. how to use basic publishing software.

I find that I have little patience for poorly-written directions in software manuals, and little inclination to seek out people who can teach me how to use them. I hate the embarrassment factor of asking people for help, and yet I lack the smarts to figure things out on my own. My mind runs to the theoretical better than to the mechanical.

I suppose, then, that I am not a techno-mage. Perhaps the antithesis is a techno-serf.

Comments

[arcanum-dogma.livejournal.com]

a. unless you use OCR software, you'll just get a big jpg and that's just not useful to most people - IOW: don't worry about it

b. i'm still learning this one and it's been a number of years...

c. i have one, have a few actually, don't really no how to use 'em either

d. it's part of b

e. it's almost the same as dragging and dropping a file into a different folder

f. that one is purposely too hard. if you've loaded the software, you can navigate to it through my computer as if it were another drive (which it is)

g. ease has nothing to do with it. this is the one document production chore that i hate beyond all reason.

h. edit? copy and paste. publish it back to the web? in about 4 hours, you could learn enough HTML to do it.

i. neither can many who call themselves publication designers.


if you want to learn any of those things at the "let's do a project" level, pick up the Visual QuickStart Guide for it (excludes audio software).

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Good idea. Thanks for the encouragement. I think that one thing I get into with software is that I would make it all far more point and click than it already is. A softsynth is a good example. So often they are designed to either mimic real synths, or MIDIs, or even digital recording studios. Actually, a softsynth needs to be none of this--if there is any design analog for conceptualization, it would be a multi-dimensional player piano.

Similarly, digi recording studios feel the need to mimic old analog 24 tracks, because they are designed with experienced engineers in mind. But a multi-track could be designed for 5 year olds and be much more useful==the function following the analog form is a lessening of the utility of the device.

I think that a lot of software is that way--we are limited by the poor way in which the conception of the funcitonality is bound to outmoded prior art forms.

[arcanum-dogma.livejournal.com]

i actually like the track layout, but only because i use it in other programs. for those who use photoshop, illustrator or flash, just substitute "layer" for "track" and then it falls into place.

mixing is horribly complex - there are numerous variables in analog recording and pros should have access to them - but you're right, not everyone is a pro. i've heard good things about garageband (for the mac) but i've only played with it once. i found it to be too dumbed-down for my needs.

softsynths should work like fonts (with some editing capabilities), period. of course, the never do. however, you can buy soundfonts - some of which are breathtaking when you consider how low-tech it really is when you use them.

to the last: yup, and that's why i'm doing my masters in interaction design.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I'll have to check out soundfonts. They sound my speed.

[(Anonymous)]

You do know how to copy pictures from your camera to your pc, you just forgot, mislaid the manual, and otherwise abstain from learning. So maybe a techno-neglecto (neglect, to fail to care or give proper attention to)?

Perhaps a Gurdonark solution is to put ALL of your gadget manuals and computer books in one stack, then treated them as 1000 pages of legal research, you could absorb the important parts in one sitting?


I always enjoyed Galen the Technomage on Babylon 5; still need to get those on DVD.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I've got to do more research. I first heard the term "techno-mage" on B5, also, and then later on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but somehow in my mind, its origin is from William Gibson's novels. I'll have to look into this.

I have the manual, all right, but the manual doesn't make sense. The obstacle, though, is that I am not sure I have the right port connections, although I was sure that I did. I will make this a new year's resolution to solve.

Your idea as to a good Gurdonark solution is right on, if a bit flattering. I think often about how important "context" is to not only understanding things, but to one's attitude for things. I can learn technical things or business things for a law case, and not blink an eye. But load a digicam photo? Impossible. It's a matter of in-built assumptions. I must be more plucky about such things.

B5 was such a great show, big-haired aliens and all. I want to get it all on DVD.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I like that term better--techno peasant.

Give me your address. I have it in my file directories, but it's so cool when it arrives via e mail. I'll bombard you with song and
card and perhaps that pastel chalk I have had set aside for your kids for 2 years. Maybe you put it in one of my polls....going to check......

[solitarywalker.livejournal.com]

Manuals these days are rare and almost always bad; documentation has in many cases devolved into a sort of Help function, which is almost invariably worthless.

O'Reilly and Associates (ORA) publishes some really good manuals in its "The Missing Manual" series (and others). Of course they only have manuals for major stuff, but you might check out <http://www.oreilly.com>.