Too Big to Know – Prologue, Chapter 1
1. “The real limitation isn’t the capacity of our individual brains but that of the media we have used to get past our brains’ limitations” (Page 5).
- Our limitations in life are made by us and only by us. No one has the power to limit anyone’s learning abilities. However, in the event where we use media to get past our mental limitations, we end up putting a limit on how far we will take our mental abilities. Instead, one could eliminate media resources and use the information at hand.
2. “Filters no longer filter out. They filter forward, bringing their results to the front. What doesn’t make it through a filter is still visible and available in the background” (Page 6).
- Filters are a great source for finding exactly what you are looking for. One may not want all the information on a certain topic. Thus, using a filter is beneficial to individuals. If what you filter is not what you’re looking for, there is always available info left in the background. And filtering the background info in a different way can also help find what you’re looking for.
3. “Toffler pointed to research indicating that too much information can hurt our ability to think. If too many bits of information are transferred into our wetware, we can exceed our “channel capacity” – a term straight out of Information Science” (Page 11).
- Sometimes an overload of info can interfere with our mental abilities. Each person has a different “channel capacity”. And only that person could determine whether the info is hurting or helping their abilities to think further.
Technical Writing 101
1. “The “technical” part of technical writing doesn’t necessarily mean that you must be a programmer, electrical engineer, or other hardcore techie” (Page 8).
- As long you have a firm understanding of the technology and how it functions you are writing about you are good to go.
2. “Writing about new technology (often nonexistent at the beginning of the project—and sometimes surprisingly close to the end) means that you can’t possibly be expected to know everything about the new stuff” (Page 9).
- Your ignorance about any new technology will in fact help you because odds are people have encountered the same problems you have. And from these problems you can learn how to word it better so people will understand and not make the same errors you encountered.
3. “The problem is not getting information but identifying what information is relevant” (Page 13).
- People don’t want to read on and on about something and not have it get right to the point. Being able to find the relevant info Is an important part of technical writing because you are providing people with info that is direct and understandable.
Your editorial is elegantly stated, well organized and concise. I also believe that we as individuals are our worse enemy pertaining to the walls built around our learning capacity. Though historically there have been those in power that want to stay in power and as a result suppress or constrict what’s available to learn for fear of exposure and or uprising if certain truths were to surface. For example slavery, most governing and political parties, religious institutions and corporations stand to lose a great deal if they did not filter for their subordinates.
Of course things are very different now because of awareness which I believe are due to advances in technology, but for many of these institutions old habits are hard to break.
However by eliminating media points of view are cut off and it might make it more difficult to discern ones nature of intent.
I definitely agree 100 percent about the usefulness of filters, it allows one to hone in on exactly what you want to know. The part about information overload is understandable, but I believe there come a point where useful information, point of views, comments etc becomes redundant. Saying this, I believe that from the narrowing process of the filter combined with all available information on a particular topic one could derive a thorough and clear understanding.
As far as the technical writing goes, it makes perfect sense when you said others will encounter the same problems as the contributor of a new technological project. It’s called feedback and for this reason many companies depending on the product has trial periods, updates, and prototypes.
~Lovelace
I have to agree with you Marc, in your analysis to the following quote: “Filters no longer filter out. They filter forward, bringing their results to the front. What doesn’t make it through a filter is still visible and available in the background” (Too Big to Know” Page 6). You bring a good point when you mention that filters are a good source for finding exactly what you are looking for. I would like to add to that, because I also think that the author is trying to say that filtering information prevent us from getting unusable information; information that instead of helping us understand a topic can confuse us more. Now days anybody can provide information online, anybody can be a critic or an instructor. But how much filtering is good and how little filtering is not enough? Or should we even need filters? I think that’s debate that we encounter in today’s vast number of information.
David D.
Marc I love the quotes you used it was well put together and your assignment flowed and was very interesting. I love when you said, “Our limitations in life are made by us and only by us. No one has the power to limit anyone’s learning abilities.” This is so true because we tend to find scapegoats in life to why we didn’t learn something and reach our true potentential in live when in reality we as you greatly described that we have the power to how far we can reach in life.
In your technical writing you mentioned, “The “technical” part of technical writing doesn’t necessarily mean that you must be a programmer, electrical engineer, or other hardcore techie” (Page 8). I really appreciate that, because when I first researched the class I misubderstood it and thought that technical writing had alot to do with programming. However the book also said that you don’t have to know everything about the technology. I greatly appreciate the fact that you choose that quote and took the time to explain it. I really enjoyed reading your assignment 1 I think it was very great and everyone can learn something just by reading it. I also like how you broke down every individual quotes, because your explanations were related to the quote and you didn’t stray from your point. Great Assignment I loved it.
cash mitch
Marc I love the quotes you used it was well put together and your assignment flowed and was very interesting. I love when you said, “Our limitations in life are made by us and only by us. No one has the power to limit anyone’s learning abilities.” This is so true because we tend to find scapegoats in life to why we didn’t learn something and reach our true potentential in live when in reality we as you greatly described that we have the power to how far we can reach in life.
In your technical writing you mentioned, “The “technical” part of technical writing doesn’t necessarily mean that you must be a programmer, electrical engineer, or other hardcore techie” (Page 8). I really appreciate that, because when I first researched the class I misubderstood it and thought that technical writing had alot to do with programming. However the book also said that you don’t have to know everything about the technology. I greatly appreciate the fact that you choose that quote and took the time to explain it. I really enjoyed reading your assignment 1 I think it was very great and everyone can learn something just by reading it. I also like how you broke down every individual quotes, because your explanations were related to the quote and you didn’t stray from your point. Great Assignment I loved it.
cash mitch