Too big to Know- Prologue, chapter-1
“Google is degrading our memories. Google is making us stupid. The Internet loves fervid, cult-driven amateurs and drives professionals out of business. The inter net represents the ascension of yahoos, a victory lap for plagiarists, the end of culture, the beginning of a dark ages inhabited by glassy-eyed chronic masturbators who judge truth by the number of thumbs up, wisdom by the number of views, and the knowledge by whatever is the most fun to believe.”
-This quote is basically assuming that google is giving us stupid ideas and answers to most of our questions or research. And its stating that we learn things on the internet thats most likely not true and we just believe in these type of info for the fun of it.
” Knowledge is treasure, knowing is the distinctively human activity, and our system of knowledge is the basis for the hope that we might all one day come to agreement and live in peace.”
-This is assuming that everyone needs knowledge in order for them to actually understand and function each day. Without knowledge we would probably all be running around with no care in the world like loose untamed animals because we wouldn’t have the knowledge to know whats wrong or right. So we need knowledge in our lives in order for us to all work together as one in the future.
” Who writes—contrasts the solid traces we used to leave behind with the digital dust we currently leave in our wake: more of it for sure, but also more likely to be blown away by a hard-drive failure or a change from floppies to CDs to DVDs to Blu-Rays to whatever comes next and next after that.”
-This quote is basically assuming that pen and paper was the beginning of everything papers, poetry, numbers, paintings, art etc. But now that we are introduced to Technology our generation is starting to forget about how we started in the first place and if we continue to use technology for everything our use for pen and paper will no longer exist.
Technical Writing
These two quotes are basically telling us that as a technical writer we need to have a very good technical background in order to be explaining to non experts about the concept and the complicated details of technology and skills that are need to become a good technical writer. You have to understand new features and items and basically learn about whatever new technology that comes out each year so that way your up to date and are able to inform your readers intellegently.
“A technical writer is really a translator. You start with a complicated piece of technology, and your mission is to explain to a nonexpert how to use that technology.”
“As a technical writer, you need strong organizational skills because you have to organize the information you gather. In many cases, getting information isn’t difficult, but identifying what’s relevant for your readers can be challenging. Many experienced technical writers create several new books each year. They must absorb new information and then understand, organize, prioritize, and deliver it.”
This quote is basically assuming that even though we are technical experts we can’t possibly know and learn everything new about every new technology that releases, yes we will one day know it all but it takes time to learn and remember these kinds of information.
“You cant possibly be expected to know everything about the new stuff”
Nice post, Sammy.
“-This quote is basically assuming that pen and paper was the beginning of everything papers, poetry, numbers, paintings, art etc. But now that we are introduced to Technology our generation is starting to forget about how we started in the first place and if we continue to use technology for everything our use for pen and paper will no longer exist.”
Nice observations. To add to it, I believe the author was expressing the fact that because we hardly use pen and paper to record our thoughts anymore, eventually it will be impossible to find traces of things we write, as in the example he gave about the author who passed away.
Cheers,
Dago
Sammy,
I totally agree with your explanation on the quote about knowledge from “Too Big To Know.” The use of the literary technique, simile helps to prove the point you are making. You agreed with the quote and made an assumption that for everyone to work together in the future, they will need knowledge. Your third quote from the text was also explained in a well manner. You let the readers know exactly what was being spoken about. I was a little lost when reading the quote, and then when I read your explanation, it became clairvoyant. I believe that today’s society went from paper and pen to tablet and stylus. Maybe some people find it more professional to carry these gadgets with them instead of a boring notepad and a pen/pencil. You also analyzed the quotes from “Technical Writing” pretty well. Basically, you summed up what chapter one was talking about into a few sentences. And those few sentences are the main ideas of what a technical writer does.
Yours Truly,
Avinash Singh
The explanation of “Too Big To Know” and “Technical writing” are very interesting. I liked these analyses. For “Too Big To Know”, the author described Google is degrading our memories and make us stupid, this is very true and most likely what we are doing everyday. If we type the key word in the Google search engine, we can get lots of information, but it is very hard to determine which one we should really use. Nowadays, most people are relying on Google very much, because they don’t go out to see the world. We wouldn’t grow up if we live with Google. We should reference on it but not rely on it. For “Technical writing”, your point is good, the technical experts cannot know and learn everything new about every new technology that releases. And we will not know nor to learn it. Time is very important to us in terms of learning. I suggest that you can be more focus on translating. For everything, even work or school knowledge, you translate it well means you understood it well.
Source: http://www.writer-on-line.com/content/view/319/66/~Articles/Technical-Writing/Five-Tips-to-Improve-Your-Technical-Writing.html
Zhao.ZhiFei