Saturday, November 10, 2007
Follow-up exercise:
How NOT to Help Technostressed Users!
Watch the video called "How NOT to Help Technostressed Users" (click on the image in the left-hand column of this page; the video will play at the top of the page). Now refer to Phil Agre's "How to Help Someone Use a Computer" (if you do not have your handout, there is a link to it at the bottom of this page). How are some of Agre's observations demonstrated in this skit? List at least three things that the character Nick Burns is doing wrong. Have you ever felt humiliated by someone who was helping you perform some task on a computer? Have you ever inadvertently been a Nick Burns? If you were Nick Burns, how would you go about identifying, assessing, and alleviating your users' computer anxiety or technostress?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
While Nick Burns is an exaggerated charicature, there are some out there like him. He is insulting, sarcastic, and shows off his knowledge of the technology in a demeaning way. Instead of guiding the people through the steps to fix the problems, he tells them what to do really fast and when they don't get it right away, he moves them out of their seats and takes over the keyboard, fixing the problem quickly and humiliating the people.
While I have never known anyone as rude as he, I have known computer guys who forget that I don't know as much as them, and they tend to "talk tech" with me, and not wanting to appear ignorant, I tend to nod a lot and agree with them. I know this gives them the impression that I understand and it is wrong of me to do, but I don't want to appear stupid.
Have I ever been a Nick Burns? While I don't think I have ever been rude when helping someone, I know that I do tend to want to take over the keyboard and "do it for them." This doesn't happen too often, but sometimes I find it easier to show them what to do than to tell them how to do it. I'll have to watch myself on this from now on.
How could Nick identify, assess and alleviate their technostress?
To identify, he should ask, "What is it you are trying to do? or "What is it you want the computer to do?"
To assess, he should ask them to show him what steps they have taken to get to the point they are at currently.
To alleviate, he should teach them the correct way to to do it, or the commands needed to get the computer to do the task they need. If it's a question of upgrading the software, or fixing something like the screensaver, he should walk them through step by step and let them take notes so if it ever happens again, they will know what to do to fix it.
Post a Comment