[mdlug] Future presentations.

[Garry Stahl]

> Yes. Thank you for the presentation.  We'll have to think of more topics like this.
>
I can think of one, but I'll be damned if I can think of an adequate 
presenter.  Linux education.  As a newbie slowly crawling out of that 
state I have noted that most help is not very helpful.  To paraphrase, 
the average advice to newbies breaks down thus:

Newbie:  "I have a dillywhop problem"
Guru 1:  "Gain the knowledge level I have then do X and Y."
Guru 2:  X might be helpful, but Y will simply muddy the problem, I 
suggest you read the man page and try Z.
Guru 3:  "X and Y worked for me."
Guru 4:  "Get a real distribution" (That is a direct quote from our 
group, I will not fatally embarrass the quoted)
Guru 1:  I recursive my suggestion and add additional highly technical 
detail that clarifies nothing to the New User.

By this point the Newbie is wondering if Windows is so bad after all. 
  Yes, our little group is as guilty as any other in this respect.  The 
steepest part of the Linux learning curve is often the people that try 
and help you.  We need, and I seriously think we need a better awareness 
of how we are approaching those that wish to learn Linux.

Things to Not Do:
1)  Read the Man page:  These documents are written by everyone from 
Charles Dickens, to Charles Manson.  Many assume a certain level of 
technological knowledge and are singularly unhelpful to-the beginner. 
  Most resemble crib notes for those than know what they are doing and 
are meaningless jargon to those that don't.  Like 90% of computer 
documentation, useless.

2)  Type anything into the CLI:  Yes, I personally know how powerful the 
command line interface is, when you understand it.  If you understand it 
that is.  Most computer users, especially those migrating from Windows 
don't even know what one looks like.  The user end of computing is the 
graphical user interface, like it or not.  I personally have been very 
frustrated  in trying to learn anything useful in CLI.  Decent manuals 
and self help guides are either very well hidden or nonexistent.  I 
would LOVE to get a DOS 6.22 system up and running to demonstrate the 
help system to the Linux community at large.  Unlike man pages that 
sucker taught me how to use DOS.  That said, learn the GUI interface. 
  It is better than you think and it is how most of the computer world 
approaches the computer.

3)  Degrade the Distribution they are using.  This is the least helpful 
thing you can possibly do.  Get serious, it is time to end the religious 
wars, dump your rpm and Apt-get flags in the trash and learn to help 
people, not push an agenda save the Linux kernel itself.  Remember, all 
a distributions is is a wrapper for the Linux kernel.  It is Linux 
itself we care about. If you don't know your way around a distribution, 
suggest someone helpful that does.

4)  Forget that not everyone is a coder:  The question used to be is 
Linux ready for Grandma?  As long as knowledge of the CLI is required, 
no.  This doesn't mean that Grandma is stupid.  Many people are 
excellent drivers, they use their cars successfully every day to 
accomplish the tasks they need to do.  Some are even professional 
drivers that make a living with their cars.  That doesn't mean they can 
fix the engine or repair the suspension.  Again this does not make them 
stupid.  Computers are general use tools whose primary task, believe it 
or not, is not to keep computer professionals in a job.  It is to 
organize, aid you to write, communicate, draw and many other things. 
  However it is a complex machine prone to breakdowns that requires 
professionals whose primary job is the computer itself.  Your users are 
not idiots, Their primary knowledge base is something else, say 
automotive design, or graphical arts.  The computer is the tool they 
use, not their primary competence.  Would you like to design your own 
car or design and print all your own books?  Respect the fact that not 
everyone can be a computer wizard, but the computer is a necessary tool 
in today.s world.

Things to Do:
1)  Remember that you were once not as knowledgeable as you are now. 
  Learning has a curve.  Respect the fact that beginners must needs 
start at a beginning.  Define a beginning that is reasonable and explain 
in terms they can understand.

2)  Remember that this person wishes to learn.  If they just wanted it 
to work they would pay someone to fix it.  Do not place roadblocks in 
the path of those that seek knowledge, help them as you yourself would 
like to be helped.

3) Patience is a virtue:  And you must needs be virtuous.  Can't manage 
that?  Guide them to someone that is.  Know your limitations technical 
or social.  Teaching is a skill within itself and not everyone has it.

4)  Ask questions.  Never assume.  Learn the basic knowledge level of 
the person you are working with.  You can better teach if you know what 
you need to teach and what you do not need to teach.

5)  Encourage questions.  THERE ARE NO STUPID QUESTIONS!!  No matter how 
obvious you might think the answer is, they would not be asking if they 
understood.  Different people have different competencies and differing 
ways of learning.  You may have to change your approach depending on who 
you are teaching.

6)  If the wish to learn is present, do not do it for them.  Most people 
learn better by doing than watching something done.  It is going to take 
longer, but it is more likely to stay with them if you talk them through 
it rather than your fingers flying over the keyboard too fast to follow.

&)  Remember that most people are not idiots.  Yes, this is true.  If 
most people were idiots they world would be burning.  I personally think 
Scott Adams hit the nail on the head.  Everyone is an idiot twice a day. 
  Yes, you too.  The problem is there are enough people that you run 
into people having their daily moments.  And guess what, they run into 
you having yours.  Confirmation bias means you remember the "idiot" that 
cut you off, not the several thousand drivers that did not.  Not 
possessing your level of computer knowledge is neither idiocy nor a 
crime against humanity.  See having patience.



-- 
Garry  AKA  --Phoenix--  Rising above the Flames.

Politically I have given up on being an anything-arian. I am for accountability and nothing else. Hold the government, in specific the office holders, elected or appointed, accountable for all actions taken in office. Authority must be granted grudgingly and reluctantly. When it is abused it must be snatched away at once. Be it a minimum wage screener at the TSA or the President of the United States.
Star Trek mort. Viva la Star Trek admiraetur
The Olde Phoenix Inn http://phoenixinn.iwarp.com
Metro Detroit Linux Users Group http://www.mdlug.org