Now that I think about it… you don’t really hear about this anymore. I forget sometimes that VCRs are obsolete; I guess it shows my own generational and technological bias (I still use mine occasionally to time-shift, since I don’t own a DVR or use BitTorrent).

But with other devices with built-in clocks, you don’t run into this problem as much, perhaps because we’ve had 30 years to get used to programming digital clocks using poorly-labeled, non-intuitive, multi-modal, context-sensitive controls; or because clock programming user interfaces have gotten better; or most likely, since most connected devices now automatically program their own clocks (thanks to time signals from a variety of sources).

Using the VCR clock as an example, we see that the first, longest, laziest phase of technological acceptance was a Darwinian sort of familiarity — it required no effort from product manufacturers, just relying on technology users to adapt, or age out of the marketplace. It places everything on users, requiring them to learn the required syntax (education), or at least memorize the steps (training).

(It helps if you’re talking about something completely new — users had no expectations, and we were jazzed enough to be able to do something new, that we were willing to put up with crappy, barely-existent interfaces because that’s the way it was. It took us a while to figure out that things could be better. This isn’t really the case nowadays.)

The second phase in the maturing technology was largely design-driven improvements, adding step-by-step menus and displays using natural language and clearly labeled controls, and even introducing layered-on services like VCR Plus codes to make things easier for people.

It also means having a better understanding of how people actually use things (which is why I’ll bet that the most used button on your microwave oven is “Minute Plus” or a functional equivalent). It’s more of a matter of will, recognizing that usability is important, and accepting that the costs of adding friendly controls was worth it.

The third phase — “it just works” — represents the maturation of technology, where tasks like setting the clock aren’t just made easier, they’re made unnecessary and completely hidden from the user (as in the case of, say, your cell phone, which gets everything from the network). It becomes part of the overhead managed by the device and the network — at the cost of a little control, maybe a little privacy.

Because so much of what we deal with these days is software, and because design and usability have moved closer to the head of the class since we see how it drives adoption (Apple, anyone?), and because we place more emphasis on usability testing and feedback from the marketplace, the third phase isn’t really the third phase anymore: We not only expect things to work, we expect them to work the way we want them to, without having to figure them out. Which is a huge change from the expectation that we need to figure something out to make it work, and throwing up our hands when it doesn’t

I wonder what the modern equivalent of the VCR clock flashing 12:00 is, as the signifier of technological incompetence or refusal? A wireless router that still broadcasts a default SSID (”Linksys”) is one, or anything that  shows that the default settings haven’t been changed, I suppose.

I have a few other candidates, but they mostly present as attitudinal choices (refusnik/Luddite stuff — people who choose not to engage with the technology at all).

Have your own flashing 12:00 candidates? Have we lost something, expecting things to work automagically without education or intervention? Leave a comment.

There’s a trick to eating crab snow crab legs. It’s not a particularly tricky trick — as it turns out, you just *snap* one way, then *snap* the other way, and pull — but I’d forgotten, and it took me a few tries to remember how to do it.

So of course that got me thinking about social media and the social sharing of knowledge.

I didn’t push away from the table to do a quick Web search (I considered it, but I ended up muddling through), but afterwards, I took a look around. Even though I’m a fan of the written word, a demonstration like this clearly calls for video. It doesn’t need to be super-fancy, with multiple angles, off-camera narration, or onscreen annotations — one of the best ones was informal, but instructional, shot with a cameraphone or cheap digicam in a busy seafood place. (You can also see fancier versions, including commercial kitchen technique for speed-cracking Dungeness crab that features good use of slo-mo and graphics.)

The crab-cracking videos are an illustration of how people generally like being helpful and demonstrating their expertise, and how social learning makes it possible for people to contribute their knowledge on topics both mundane and esoteric, practical and trivial.

But what does this prove, other than I’m hungry right now? How does the posting of how-to’s, tutorials and videos on cracking crab, carving turkey like a butcher, folding fitted sheets, disassembling Mossberg 500 shotguns, lacing shoes differently, building $14 Steadycams, and any one of a million other trivial things, make the world a better place?

I think it’s an incremental thing — each one of these trivial wins ultimately adds to the storehouse of total human knowledge. Each new piece of knowledge has the potential to help someone, and because it’s placed somewhere  browseable, searchable, and findable by others on an on-demand, even mobile, basis, it means that people are more likely to find the knowledge they need, when it will be most useful to them.

What’s more, there’s no incremental cost — the tutorial on how to on iron a shirt doesn’t displace the plans for affordable Third World solar ovens, any more than ridiculously detailed explanations of lightsaber combat detracts from the usefulness of the Web at large.

(I do worry sometimes that the group mind will dumb us down and make us so dependent on the shared hive mind that we’re unable to function as individuals without it. Though that ground’s been covered pretty thoroughly in science fiction and I won’t revisit it now.)

In closing, I do want to call back to my January entry on being useful by sharing your expertise and remind businesses that sharing useful knowledge is good — being helpful can help you. Even if it’s for something “trivial.”

Got your own thoughts on the social sharing of knowledge? Leave a comment below.

His signature line says it all:

Christopher S. Penn

Read: www.ChristopherSPenn.com

Hire: www.AwakenYourSuperhero.com

Listen: www.MarketingOverCoffee.com

Listen: www.FinancialAidPodcast.com

Attend: www.PodCampBoston.org

It cleverly encourages you to action. Here is an overview of Chris‘ many areas of interest. I know that Chris places a high value on education.

Connie: Your work is obviously a passion. How did you get started in college
financing topics & how long have you been involved?

Chris: I’ve been in education finance now for more than 4 years, coming to it from working in credit union data centers. The real impetus, though, to be passionate about the work itself started when I started the Financial Aid Podcast in 2005. Nothing inspires passion like talking
to real people with real problems to solve.

Connie: As a parent paying for college I have to admit it’s like buying a new car each year. Are you reaching out to young parents to encourage them to start planning?

Chris: Absolutely, but also encouraging students themselves to take charge of their college finance experience. There are tons of scholarships out there, many with only a few competitors, so with some planning ahead of time and some work, paying for college using mostly free money is possible.

Connie: In regard to the FAFSA (Federal Application For Student Aid), We chose to not fill it out this because of the results from last year (ie: nothing). What is your reaction to that?

Chris: Generally speaking, it’s better to fill it out than not, simply because it doesn’t cost you anything to complete one, and you *might* qualify for something. Given even a small chance of being eligible for something isn’t a bad thing, and at the least, the student would qualify for Stafford loans, which are relatively low interest. (more details and disclosures at www.StaffordLoan.com)

Connie: How do you integrate social media tools into your work? Can you imagine your work without them? How would that affect your reach?

Chris: Social media is indispensable for my work, but not necessarily just because of reach. We use every practical tool we can at the Student Loan Network, from Facebook to good old fashioned email to even limited direct postal mail. It all depends on the audience. Where social media shines is that it forces me to be very disciplined in how I do my research and how I present material to the world. When you’re a senior executive at the average company, you don’t talk to customers all that often, and as a result, when you’re in meetings, you’re very often just guessing. “Consumers will love our new flexible scalable blah blah blah…” – you’ve heard it. Social media lets me stay in touch with the people we’re supposed to be serving, and have a very strong idea of what’s really on people’s minds as opposed to guessing. It also forces me to be super sure of my research because I can’t hide behind the corporate wall. If I publish something on my blog or podcast, I’m answerable to my audience for it,
so I have to give it my best shot.

Connie: Switching topics… You’re one of the founders of PodCamp Boston – what was the motivation for starting it? How has it evolved?

Chris: Truthfully, Chris Brogan and I didn’t want to travel to the West Coast for all the podcasting events! When we started PodCamp, PME, Podcast Academy, and Podcast Hotel were all West Coast events, which was frustrating, not to mention expensive. So we created PodCamp based on our experiences at BarCamp Boston. How has it evolved? It’s turned into a movement, and its scope has broadened to include new media in all its forms, not just podcasting. PodCamp’s mission now is more or less to be the welcome wagon conference for folks interested in new media. That’s our niche – bringing new people into new media, helping connect niches and verticals, pros and amateurs, everyone who wants to be involved in new media but isn’t sure where to start.

Shashi, our Social Media Swami, recently did a quick informal interview with Chris.

Are you the parent of a student or maybe a student attending college? What are your challenges in financing your education?