Tag: computers

• How to help someone use a [insert frustrating digital device]

  Thanks to Jessamyn West for republishing Phil Agre’s advice from 1996 on how to help someone use a computer. Swap out computer for “smartphone” or “e-reader” and it’s still quite relevant. Some favorites: As someone who helps people with technology for a living, both at a public service desk and in one-on-one appointments, I appreciate the…

  Feb 4, 2019

  # computers, libraries, reference desk, technology

• Cmd + Ctrl: towards smarter searching and dumber devices

  Let me echo Austin Kleon’s ode to the search box: Maybe it’s not so much the command prompt I’m nostalgic for, but the days when the computer wouldn’t do anything without me — I had to explicitly tell the computer what I wanted to do, and if I didn’t tell it, it would just sit…

  Dec 30, 2017

  # Ask Jeeves, Austin Kleon, computers, Cory Doctorow, design, Facebook, Internet, search, technology