How clever is Hexus? ..and where do your get your tech knowledge?

[sammyc]

Those last posts quite neatly cover the usual spread of acquiring knowledge - books & printed research across a topic; specific research for a project; learning in the course of your job; hobbying/geekdom; & sort-of-osmosis.

That takes you through 'high-concentration & application' at one end of the scale (The Animus' textbooks) through to 'enjoying what you do & barely class it as study' at the other (the soaps & football analogy). That is the side of things that always bugs teachers of course; why can't you memorize Henry VIII's wives the same as football trivia. It is simply easier to retain that stuff because as well as being interested it kind of just 'goes in' eg you don't actually learn & revise song lyrics, Eastenders, etc etc. And it usually stays in, too, unlike learned facts & figures. (Not that that is a new observation of course).

Interesting to me to see how it applies in this specific field, as I would not really know without asking which of these is more applicable to in-depth tech knowledge - ie is it nearer to nuts & bolts study & learning your subject, or more towards soaking it up as you go. Or whether that very much depends on the individual.

I think that a valuable attitude is to really learn things as best as you can, to the best depth available, but ensuring you don't become blinkered and complacent. Technology frequently leaves you being a master of understanding equines, in a world of motorcars.

I can appreciate that, as I touched on in my last post - as well as there being a huge amount to take in in the field of tech, it has this enormous turnover of specifics. If you lock a tech expert in a cupboard for a year* then he will retain most/all of his bare bones knowledge, ie he will still know what a gpu is, but that will be in quite a contrast to the fact he may now be significantly out of touch with current gpu brands & specs. Whereas an astronomer for example will find most/all of his knowledge is still valid & will only have to catch up on any new data rather than ditch & replace a good deal of what he knew previously. I imagine. So you are all giving yourself a pretty high workload just to keep up, & also make sure you don't become blinkered & closed off to new developments, as you say. Again, nothing you don't all know, just thinking aloud.

*the hexite of your choice, let's say

[kalniel]

If you lock a tech expert in a cupboard for a year* then he will retain most/all of his bare bones knowledge, ie he will still know what a gpu is, but that will be in quite a contrast to the fact he may now be significantly out of touch with current gpu brands & specs. Whereas an astronomer for example will find most/all of his knowledge is still valid & will only have to catch up on any new data rather than ditch & replace a good deal of what he knew previously. I imagine. So you are all giving yourself a pretty high workload just to keep up, & also make sure you don't become blinkered & closed off to new developments, as you say. Again, nothing you don't all know, just thinking aloud.

*the hexite of your choice, let's say

Don't forget she hexites too

But I think it ebbs and flows to some extent - there's the background knowledge and general interest stuff, but I know my knowledge tends to peak around things I've researched for myself, so if I'm about to or have recently bought something in the area then I'm more likely to be up to speed. Otherwise it's knowing where to look to get the answers to help whoever needs it in the amount of time/effort available - helping people is nice, but I don't always have the free time for it!

[wasabi]

There is a risk of herd mentality, in that one idea or problem solution ,say gain momentum at the expense of others,

Very true. People tend to do what is popular or their peer group are doing - just because it is online doesn't stop human behaviour.

i reckon we get more internetish, knowing stuff as an individual becomes less important. Knowing how to ask the right question on the internet and interpret/filter the information becomes more important.

As is being constantly aware the web 2 is heavily monetised so being aware of commercial influences (witness alleged Dungeon Keeper review fiddling everyone is talking about on Google Play).