Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The Challenge in EXPLAINING

I think, one of the major challenges in understanding technical concepts is that we have these... "technical people" who are most of the time: introverts, shy, quiet, soft-spoken and often considered: "people of few words" explaining/communicating supposedly "technical" (foreign/new/complicated) concepts to "non-technical-people."See there's one problem right there--- the technical person communicating/talking to the novice/the newbie (and possibly: non-technical person). THEY DON'T SPEAK IN THE SAME WAY and possibly not even THE SAME "LANGUAGE".

So really to me? along with the failure of someone not understanding a technical concept-- the failure of being able to explain/communicate that technical concept should also be considered and factored in. Truly, it's not enough that you know the nitty-gritty "techs" to do your job-- if you are not able to make other people appreciate nor understand the value and sense of what you are doing then at the end of the day-- you might actually lose your job. Do note that: expensive and extensive researches and studies are most often funded by business-need or political-gains and etc. Knowledge for knowledge's sake, without use is like farming with no one to eat it.

in context:

Have you ever gone to a boring and mundane training session, where you would just probably feel that:
(1.) This "teacher" doesn't really like what he/she is doing...
(2.) This "teacher" doesn't really know, for his/her-self what he/she is talking about...
(3.) This "teacher" can't even convince his/herself about the value of what he/she is teaching-- hence, how would i get convinced of it?

and so on.

well, if you continue to read this blog-- then probably you have, else-- this could be just a curious read. :-)

Anyways.

A marketing professor once told me-- that anyone presenting in-front (to present) bears the responsibility of capturing the interest and attention of his/her audience, thus a presenter is not just a presenter he or she is a: PRESENTER-TAINIER. Why? because basically, the failure to make your audience listen, pay attention, and actually consider what you are presenting equates to failure in your presentation (and attempt at communication).

The "presentertainer" -- I think, should be a rule of thumb for any author, entertainer, speaker, politician, and so on because for your words to be appreciated and message to be conveyed then you would have to speak the same "language" as your audience. 

And we can even go back to the basic goal of communication is: to make the other person understand the message that you are trying to send--
DESPITE the noise that could possibly corrupt your message; while
CONSIDERING the possible social/contextual/personal factors that will affect the ear  of your listener.


Thus, there exists a CHALLENGE IN EXPLAINING/CHALLENGE OF COMMUNICATING.
Now, I'll try  to put this challenge upon myself through this blog and even, generally, my life, and ensure that whenever I communicate to a "significant other" (people well worth of the effort of explaining) then i'd have to ensure that my message is received to how i want it received or at least close to it.

I'm betting that once we have risen above the challenge of communicating and explaining: what seems to be in "alien-lingo" and taking that and converting it to something possibly a 10 year old can understand or your mom would probably appreciate--

then we'd have less of those crappy: "it's technical" excuses, that put a damper on any conversation, or worse the: "you're not technical, so you're probably not going to understand it" crap-- that people who claim to know what they're doing say when they just can't explain it or probably, some people just love feeling smart.

secret tip: sometimes with techie people the phrase "i don't know" is hard to pronounce (maybe because it's not in binary?? ehehehehe) hence they just say "it's technical" :-) 

hahahahahaha



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The Mission and Vision of this Blog

I don't know about other people, but for me-- Programmers are no different from artists nor from mathematicians, authors and so on. Call me crazy, for the comparison but honestly-- to me: TECHNICAL ain't really that complicated... (when explained correctly) 

I.T. JUST GETS COMPLICATED when, people try who don't really know it try to EXPLAIN IT-- hence the claim and excuse: "it's technical" or "i don't want to get into the technical details"

One of my Professors, back in DLSU once told me that: if someone is unable to explain something in SIMPLE TERMS-- then he or she didn't really UNDERSTAND nor INTERNALIZED the concept-- most probably he/she just merely MEMORIZED IT. Hence the distinction between immediately accepting something as FACT and just memorizing it versus getting down to details and exploiting/milking the meanings in order to duly comprehend, understand, internalize, and set to heart the definition/meaning/and other possible new areas of study regarding it. You can dictate a prayer all your life and not know what it means; or You can memorize all the names of the president but not know what they contributed; and so on...


Now, from there I envisioned my mission... to humanize the technical and make-made-easy the complicated.

My Mission is: to take these technical concepts, and so-called "techie" or "business" jargons that geeks, nerds, and the so called "intellectuals" hold on to, to make them feel smart and secure about their intelligence, AND bring them down to the HUMAN REALM-- hence to inevitably BE ABLE TO CLEARLY COMMUNICATE THE SIMPLE CONCEPTS SURROUNDING I.T. and make it possible for the common man to understand what the "techie" claim as technical-- with nothing but a mere webster's dictionary at hand, an open mind, and some background on elementary fundamentals.

My Vision: make people understand and appreciate I.T.-- and make them realize the importance of knowing your fundamentals as:
1. Use and Definition of words
2. Elementary Fundamentals in: Science, Math, English
3. CONTEXT CLUES and the Magic of Comprehension

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