toolNote t070801 The Craft of Toolcraft Attention to Toolcraft

nfoWare>toolcraft> 2007>08> t070801d> 0.01 2007-09-10 18:37 -0700

1. Tools

1.1 Digital tools, nfoWare, are our instruments for engaging with the information carried by digital formats and protocols.

1.2 nfoWare deals with the embodiment of information in digital form: all kinds of information, all kinds of digital forms.  To create, manipulate, and employ the information, it is necessary to rely on digital computers and software programs.  These are our tools for working between the digital forms and the perceivable forms that you and I comprehend. 

1.3 We might also choose to create new tools using other tools provided for that purpose: build new nfoWare using programming tools and related utilities.

1.4 Tools are different than the formats and protocols that they support.  They have their own idiosyncrasies and constraints on how they are usable and how they operate.  This means that, beside the formats and protocols that make the information perceivable, we must also contend with the nature of the tools that we are using.  For example,

• the computer hardware, its physical characteristics, interface provisions, and limitations
• the computer operating system and the way we interact with it
• utilities for families of operation, including
  • web browsers
  • media players
  • image processing and presentation software
  • productivity software (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.)
  • programming-language compilers and software-development tools

1.5 Not only must we deal with the tools as intermediaries and as instruments, we must also be prepared to troubleshoot breakdowns where the intended function is not accomplished.

2. Craft

2.1 Mastery of a tool requires the development of craft.  It is through experience and trial and error that we are able to adapt to the constraints of the tool and accomplish our purpose with it.  We learn what doesn't work as well as what does and at some point our facility with the tool becomes close to automatic.  

2.2 Even when there are appropriate guides and documentation and we actually consult them, documentation is useful but not a substitute for practice at the craft.  Some skills only arise in doing.  (Learning to hammer nails is not something we learned from a book, any more than we learned to walk or ride a bicycle or play the piano from a how-to guide.  My automobile's owner manual doesn't provide any information on how to drive the vehicle.  And there is no manual for life.)

2.3 As we become more adept, we form personal conceptual models of what the tool is and how to accomplish particular tasks with it.  Our conceptual model may be inaccurate, but not so far off that we can't obtain results.  Sometimes our conceptualization leads us into blind alleys, and we become frustrated with the tool unless we are wise enought to reassess the situation and alter our concept of it.

2.4 Craft is acquired through practice.  Our ready-to-hand, automatic skills are a form of tacit knowledge [6], knowledge that we have incorporated in our behavior but that we may not identify or be able to explain.

3. Concerns

4. Toolcraft

5. References and Resources

[1] Atwood, Jeff.

The Software Imprinting Dilemma.  Coding Horror (web log), 2007-07-30.  Available at <http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000921.html>.
    

[2] Chittleborough, Chris., et.al.

Baby Duck Syndrome.  article, Wikipedia, 2007-06-24.  Accessed at <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baby_Duck_Syndrome&oldid=140249786> on 2007-09-04 (via Jeff Atwood).
   

[3] Parker, Randall.

Programming Editors and the Baby Duck Syndrome.  TechiePundit (web log), 2002-09-07 (via Jeff Atwood).  Accessed at <http://www.techiepundit.com/archives/000031.html> on 2007-09-04 (via Jeff Atwood).
   Parker points to a related pathology -- assuming what we are familiar with is the best: "There are periodic Usenet group debates about programming editors where various people will proclaim with apparently sincere conviction that their preferred editor is the best. In some of these debates I've tried asking some of the believers of various editor faiths if they'd ever tried various other alternatives. Well, no. ... A lot of programmers have Baby Duck Syndrome and can't help themselves."

     

[4] Phipps, Simon.

Closing the Experience Gap.  SunMink (web log), sun.com, 2005-12-22.  Available at <http://blogs.sun.com/webmink/entry/closing_the_experience_gap>.
   "I hear this all the time ... the biggest barrier to adoption of desktop Unix ... is not the cost ... or the software.  It's the unfamiliarity, the experience gap."  Although Phipps is discussing the change of platforms and moving to thin computers, I think his point applies to any situation where there is a change from one technology to another and existing fluency is challenged.
        

[5] Seebach, Peter.

Baby Duck Syndrome.  The Cranky User (column), IBM Developer Works, 2005-03-02.  Accessed at <http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/wa-cranky50.html> on 2007-09-04 (via Jeff Atwood).
   There are examples of many situations and how suppliers cope with the user's tendency to want a new system just like the old system.  "Baby duck syndrome affects the way you learn to use computers and software. It can make it hard for you to make the most rational decisions about which software to use or when the learning curve of a given thing is worth the climb. ... Think of a program you use a lot. Now find a competing program and use it for a bit. Do you try to use the same work habits in the new program?"
   

[6] Udell, John.

The Tacit Dimension of Technical Support.  Strategic Developer (column), InfoWorld, 2005-06-15.  Accessed at <http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/06/15/25OPstrategic_1.html> on 2007-09-10. 
   Udell discusses the clash that can arise between two forms of tacit knowledge: "knowing how to do things versus knowing how to find out how to do things."  He goes on to say, "Of course, everybody relies on both kinds of tacit knowledge. When either kind fails us, we have to dredge up what was unconscious, examine it, and re-assimilate it. That's a hard problem ... [when] the unconscious knowledge we seek resides in other persons' heads and hands. Exporting that knowledge in a shareable format is one key challenge; helping people to connect with it is another."
   

[7] Udell, John.

Screencasting of Tacit Knowledge.  John Udell (web log), InfoWorld, 2006-09-19.  Accessed at <http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2006/09/19.html> on 2007-09-10.
   "To generalize from programming to all use of software-based tools, the equivalent of pair programming -- that is, direct observation of one another's use of such tools -- is ideal. But that's not always possible, in which case live screensharing or asynchronous screencasting is the next best thing to being there."
   

[8] Udell, John.

Transmission of Tacit Knowledge: Teaching What We Don't Know That We Know.  John Udell (web log), 2007-08-13.  Available at <http://blog.jonudell.net/2007/08/13/transmission-of-tacit-knowledge-teaching-what-we-dont-know-that-we-know/>.
   Udell illustrates the high level of tacit knowledge that is involved in using computer-based tools, formats, and programming languages.  He points out how on-line demonstrations/examples can be very useful in transmitting tacit knowledge: "There are all sorts of obvious reasons to narrate the work that we do. By doing so we build reputation, we attract like-minded collaborators, we draw constructive criticism, and we teach what we know.  Sometimes there’s also a non-obvious reason. It’s possible to teach what we don’t know that we know."
 

Attribution:

Hamilton, Dennis E.

Attention to Toolcraft.   The Craft of Toolcraft, nfoWare toolNote folio page t070801d 0.01, September 4, 2007.  Available at <http://nfoWare.com/toolcraft/2007/08/t070801d.htm>.

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0.01 2007-09-04-16:58 Sketch the way we'll pay attention to toolcraft

 

0.00 2007-08-30-16:55 Placeholder for Initiate Description of How Toolcraft Matters for nfoWare

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