Comments on: Thoughts on the Rapidly Changing Pace of Technology

By: Parker

Parker — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 01:16:30 +0000

Great quality stuff.

By: Jacobs Media - jacoBLOG

Jacobs Media - jacoBLOG — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:29:06 +0000

[...] sobering economic realities of radio, coupled with the rapidly changing technology environment, have forced radio programmers and managers to rethink many things. The way we [...]

By: Edgework: Matt Mullenweg at Like It Matters

Edgework: Matt Mullenweg at Like It Matters — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:35:14 +0000

[...] The Rapidly Changing Pace of Technology: Some Thoughts on Our Response to It | I’d Rather Be Writing Pingback on Jul 24th, 2007 “[...] recently listened to a podcast in which Matt Mullenweg, one of [...]

By: Insurance & Technology

Insurance & Technology — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:06:04 +0000

[...] Ray Kurzweil postulates that the rate of change over the next 100 years will be more like 20,000 years of change. We can look at the rapid-version histories of Java and the .NET Framework as examples of the rate [...]

By: avi

avi — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 08:41:08 +0000

I agree that technical writer must keep pace with the technology they document. However, as for the writing technology, one can produce the same amount of documentation he did five years ago, using the exactly same tool. Whether it is FM, RH or plain Word, productivity hasn’t improved recently (I wish it were).

By: Warren

Warren — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 13:52:54 +0000

Forget about the ‘large’ technological changes that are in your face – what about all the subtle, not so-obvious changes and cultural innovations that have had a major impact on the way we live:

- CDs & DVDs
- digital cameras
- bank cards
- cheap airflights (thanks to advances in technology and competition)
- playstations
- microwave ovens, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, lawn-mowers and other household appliances
- cosmetic surgey
- toilet paper

We tend to take change for granted, not realising the inciduous and incremental impact this has on the way we live. I remember growing up, not having a TV or washing machine. I used to help my mom wash the clothes in the bathtub and spend my time playing in the garden and reading comic books.

Nowdays my kids spend their time watching TV or videos, or playing on the computer and playstation. There would be a major crisis if we didn’t have a washing machine or dishwasher!

The first point is this – change is not just about technology (it never is). It’s about the way that technology is implemented in society and comes to affect our lives. Think about the Iraq war and the way that technology has enabled this to be fought – technology that has enabled small and highly trained armies to be rapidly mobilized halfway across the world – in what many years ago would have taken millions of soldiers and years to achieve. And the Iraq war illustrates quite clearly some of the limitations of technology in solving human problems.

The second point – so far technology has not changed who we are. In Western societies, we may be stronger, healthier, better educated and live longer — but we still share the same physical characteristics, thought processes and emotions as our ancestors from thousands of years ago.

By: Janet

Janet — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 17:09:13 +0000

I’m with Scott. As someone who learned to type on a manual typewriter (because no one had electric ones!), I’ve been around long enough to experience too many software changes that seemed to be primarily for the benefit of software companies’ bottom lines. At this stage in my life my brain doesn’t really want to take in new technical information unless it’s going to make the product or process _better_, not just different.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 11:36:31 +0000

letters, I agree that access to resources is a huge issue. The digital divide will continue to grow. However, laptops are getting cheaper and technology is spreading to developed countries fairly rapidly. I’m interested to see the emergence of China in the IT world.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 11:32:38 +0000

Roger, I liked your comment and agree — there are many changes that aren’t necessarily big changes like paradigm shifts. I think if we had paradigm shifts every month it would be very challenging to live (but also very exciting).

The Internet has been a significant shift. I also think Web 2.0, particularly blogging, has also been a significant shift.

Scott, you’re right that change without an increased benefit in the platform isn’t welcome. There is quite a bit of debate in the WordPress community about the frequent updates to WordPress that only seem to be security fixes. Because updating can be such a hassle, it does cause one to reflect more about change.

Thanks for reading my blog. I really enjoy getting your feedback. It helps me see the topics I’m writing about more clearly.

By: Scot Herrick

Scot Herrick — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 22:57:09 +0000

Without going philosophical (I agree with Roger above) but at a more ‘runway’ level, the increased number of releases in software are often filled with untested code resulting in bugs, security leaks, and making existing tools (read: plugins) inoperable.

Consequently, for the user of the technology, the pace of change has made life much harder — not the easier way promised by the change makers.

I’ll take reliability in the platform over releasing something new every 90-120 days just to move the pace along. I’ll take the reliability of my technology platform working well so that I can concentrate on what I’m supposed to be doing: writing content for my site.

I’m not advocating a release a year. There has to be a balance between releasing new stuff and reliability for the user.

Too often, we just get the release and the (internal, hidden from the customer) vow that we’ll fix stuff later. We get the cost of that unreliability.