We covered a lot this week and some of it didn’t always make sense but that’s ok because that’s how we learn and gain the skills that will hopefully keep us from being unemployed.
I am Your Worst Nightmare
In class we talked about how organized our laptops and phones are and I have a confession to make. I don’t even name all of my documents, much less organize them because I know that if I want to find it I will; eventually. Sometimes, after I turn an assignment in, I just throw the document in the trash because I know I’ll have 30 days to go back and retrieve it. So, as much as I want to fight Chin’s allegations, I fear that they completely apply to me.
On the flip side, I’m not sure that I can be considered a reasonable case study as my STEM knowledge doesn’t really go past the random animal facts I remember from Wild Kratz. I really don’t have that many documents and I’m always able to find the ones I’m looking for despite my lack of organization. From talking to people in class and the one comment on the article, I don’t know that we can simply boil this phenomenon down to generational differences. I’m not saying that isn’t a factor in this interesting trend but I have a feeling that it probably isn’t quite as simple as this article would have us believe.
High Maintenance to be Low Maintenance
Ohhhh so you thought that one article on why Facebook is evil would be the last rant? No, apparently not. I won’t pretend I understood everything this one was trying to say but based on what I did understand, it kind of seemed like Stolley was just saying, “Markdown software isn’t just software. It’s a lifestyle.”
One thing I noticed throughout the article was that it seemed kind of of pretentious and unapproachable in the way it talked about making accessible content. It was just kind of ironic because there were these super long sentences with all this jargon that were really just trying to say, “Hey it would be cool if you focused on the recipient instead of yourself.” Like yes, it would be cool, but do you think you could do that too Stolley? Accessibility can be more than how a PDF downloads on your device.
That being said, I still think this article raises some interesting points about user centered design and accessibility that are especially important to consider as we use Markdown or HTML and finish up our user-focused how to guides.
Markdown With Flair (So Not Markdown)
Ok listen I am so not tech savvy and I know I’m going to regret saying this in the future but…is HTML fun? I think that maybe it is. I don’t have very much to say on this subject, it’s really just Markdown but with a smidge of < > and a dash of </>.
Comments
3 responses to “The Week Where I Finally See How the Readings are Connected”
Hi! I really enjoyed reading your article. You brought up some great questions, like is it really just generational differences that cause this divide between filing cabinet people and laundry basket people? I agree with you that there’s probably something else at play. For instance, I don’t know about y’all, but ADHD seems to run in my family. I can’t imagine that’s very helpful for remembering to organize a bunch of little files you don’t see or need to see everyday … but that’s just a hunch. Your criticism of Stolley was super interesting; I didn’t think about accessibility that way when I was reading the piece, but that’s a great point. What good is a piece about the need for accessibility if there’s only a small group of academics who can truly understand it? And I agree–HTML looks like it could be fun! Thanks for sharing your perspective!
I totally get the struggle with organization. Currently I’ve been trying to be better about organizing files but I’ve just let my downloads pile up so much. It’s crazy how we all have different approaches to managing our digital lives. I was confused about the lo-fi article as well, so don’t feel bad. It felt like more of an argumentative essay or article for trying to convert everyone to lo-fi. It did seem a bit pretentious as well. It’s a bit rich when the writer’s all about user-centered design but makes it feel so exclusive with complicated jargon. It’s like, if we want to promote accessibility, let’s keep it approachable, right? This article didn’t really convince me at all either way. I find HTML to be fun as well, in an aspect. It’s this whole new thing with some similarities to markdown. I’m still not confident in my skills but I’m hoping to learn more/improve.
As someone who organizes literally anything and everything I can get my hands on, reading that you just throw your assignments in the trash was crazy. Not that I’m judging whatsoever, it’s just a little jarring to read that and the fact that you don’t name your documents. However, I do agree that the stakes are a little lower for non-STEM undergrad students, as we don’t have documents upon documents to organize and keep track of.
“Markdown software isn’t just software. It’s a lifestyle” made me laugh out loud because that’s so true. I agree 100% with the rest of your argument about Stolley’s piece being pretentious and arrogant in a sense because of the presentation. While this article did raise some interesting points, it also made them difficult to grasp because of the jargon and the way it’s written.