I was reading Seth Godin’s blog this morning and the article of the day was called, Should you ignore the N00bs? It’s really the perfect follow up to the article I wrote yesterday called, The Struggle Between “Dumbing Down” and Educating the “Non-Technical“. Before I go any further I do want to point out the the “word,” “n00bs” is not a major misspelling but rather insider language in the tech/geek world for new users or “newbies.” This refers to people who often “don’t get” what to the “tech savvy” are relatively simple concepts. Seth gave an example of the old “Any Key” joke from the DOS days where you would receive a command to press, “Any Key” and often people who asked where the “Any Key” was.  It sounds silly to experienced tech users but we do have alt, ctrl, fn, and esc keys.  I can see the confusion to a point. Maybe the command should have read, “Press any key on the keyboard.”

I think that would have been enough to avoid any confusion for a number of people. However Seth also makes a good point when he said,

The problem with this approach is that you can never be simple enough. And of course, the bigger problem: Once you dumb it down so every single person gets it, you bake out the magic and the mystery and the elegance.

As I mentioned in my previous article and Seth reiterated, great design should be intuitive and eliminate confusion. I definitely believe in the concept of being “user friendly.”  Another strong point he made was to make it easy for people to ask for help or to see see the meanings in terms.  Does your web site for example have an FAQ section? Do you have a glossary of unfamiliar terms or link to definitions elsewhere on the web? At the least do you have a contact form, e-mail address or phone number others can contact you with?

One final but important aspect of a modern web site we stress having is a blog. Yes, a lot of web site visitors or people in general will not “get” a blog in terms of what it means but it gives you and/or your company or organization the opportunity to teach others on a frequent basis what you are passionate about and what makes your company remarkable.

It took me a long time to get some of the things I am most passionate about like RSS, Blogging, layers within graphic design programs, etc. No one dumbed down those ideas for me but once I “got it” it’s about all I talk about these days. I know they are some people who will never get or rather “care” about what we do and that’s fine but how can we reach out better to those who will get it?  What is your experience?

A topic I don’t see addressed near enough is where do you draw the line between dumbing down or simplifying technical concepts to the typical “non-techie.”

Of course I believe anything technical should be as “user-friendly” as possible. I hate most TV remote controls and despise a web service that requires a complicated login procedure. Their is however a difference between making something easy to use and the attitude of not wanting to use something in the first place because it’s “technical.”

In the course of history we have seen many technological advances and during those times we have seen resistance. This is not specific to the “information age” or “computers.” As many seem to say they know nothing about.

At one time radio and television were new and strange. We still for the most part have to deal with “tuning to a frequency” or channel or station which uses a number or call letters. With that which now seems more “geeky?” tuning an FM radio to 90.1 (my local NPR station) or going to a web browser and remember to type in npr.org?

I remember in high school taking a class called, Typing on an ancient and unwieldy device known as a “typewriter.” To this day having to remember “picas”, manual carriage returns, and the madness of figuring out how to center a headline or paragraph still makes me scratch my head but I’m still glad I took the class because even know the principles I learned help me with the software equivalents I use.

I suppose this is an area I struggle with because I crave learning new things, especially in the areas of technology and multimedia be it new devices, software, techniques, etc. It almost pains me when I get blank stares when I mention podcasts, blogs, RSS etc. Those are things I love and have experienced great value using. I have often been “warned” by the leadership of groups I was going to speak to on those subjects to “not get too technical” at the risk of “speaking over their heads.” Are you a business person who desires to learn the value of new technologies but are often lost in your understanding? Have you been to computer user groups where they seem to constantly rehash the “beginner stuff?” What topics in the technical field do you think business people need to be better educated about? If I could focus on just one topic on this blog for the next week or so which topic would you like to see addressed and explained how it could benefit your business, organization or personal productivity?

• Business Blogging?
• Social Networking (Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Forums, etc.)
• New Media
• Podcasting
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• Digital Photography
• Video
• Online Virtual Office

Can you think of anything else?

In case you haven’t noticed two of my biggest passions in the digital world are blogging (or rather writing and sharing my thoughts on the web) and digital photography. I lot of people think of me as a “computer guy” or tech geek but in reality I have always been more of a media person. My college major was not computer science. I was Mass Communications major at Winthrop College (now University) where i also worked on the student newspaper as a photographer. In those days I pretty much worked on black and white film and developed everything in a dark room. My have times have changed. To get anything I wrote published it would have to go through a stringent editorial process to show up in newspapers or magazines. I still agree that information in print should go through a serious editorial process but the web and digital devices give us a freedom to just try things without fear of words or images being etched into a permanent record so to speak.

Many times I was discouraged to continue writing (In fact I went for about 10 years with a lost passion of writing because of critical comments of frustrations in getting things published in print format) Photography earlier in my life was more of a challenge and expense that was often beyond my means. I did not have the freedom to take photos of anything because of development costs. Now I have a LOT of photos that have never been printed on paper but have been shared around the world via the web or I have kept them on my laptop or iPhone to share with others.

As I have spoken with a lot of potential clients about the great opportunities blogging, photography and other forms of “instant media” provide I have seen much of the same discouragement I felt about 10 years ago. One of the reasons I got so excited about entering into the profession of new media development which includes web site design and development was the opportunity to share my thoughts and vision through words and images and the ability to do it digitally.

Are you a business owner who is looking to share your unique business, products and service? We are very sensitive to the needs of clients, especially those who don’t have a technical background to be able to add information to their web sites themselves without having to know too many “technicalities.”

Have you been discouraged in the past with the red tape, editing workflow or expense involved with writing for an audience, or getting your images or video into more hands?

One of the blogs I follow the help me excel in my own business is Drew McLellan’s Marketing Minute. Drew has a lot of great advice about marketing and the conversation among other readers on his blog is always interesting. Today Drew posted on his blog that he was sponsoring a contest to win a book called, How Your Business can Survive and Prosper in a Recession. You will find on the post instructions on how to win the book but even if you don’t win I think this would be a good book to look into buying if you are a business owner. Remember, some of the best opportunities for innovation, marketing and optimizing your business can occur in challenging times. If you would like to learn more about the book, read testimonials, etc. go to the recession solution web site. You can also read more and subscribe on the recession solution blog.

I admit that as a “big picture” person who often overlooks the finer details, grammar is not one of my strong points even though I love writing, I often get confused about some of the tricky grammar rules and my spelling my be off from time to time, not because I don’t know how to spell certain things but rather I’ll type something quickly and not see my mistakes. One podcast I listen to on a frequent basis to help me overcome my grammatical failing is Grammar Girl’s Quick & Dirty Tips. Mignon Fogarty aka, Grammar Girl produces a short podcast (usually around 5 minutes) on grammatical issues.

This is a fine example of an educational podcast. A show that the user can download or listen to on their computer over the internet on a very niche topic. I’m also fascinated that Mignon has build a whole business around teaching other people grammar rules! Not only does she produce a fine podcast but she has also recently written a book, “Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing” and recently went on a book tour. You can follow her on Twitter, YouTube and other new media outlets. She has even appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show. If their is one thing I would like to see Grammar Girl do more of it would be video podcasts or at least a podcast in screencast format. The reason being is I am a very visual person and it helps me tremendously to see the words she is talking about. However for the visually oriented person reading her book will help as well writing while you listen to her as a practice exercise.

Grammar Girl has showed how the new media channel of podcasting can grow an audience and open up new business opportunities. Do you have ideas or an existing business that would benefit from a new media presence?