The Qwertyrash Blogs

I wrote a reply to a piece on David Alison’s blog that I’d like to share the gist of. David was discussing how some people are resistant to technology.

This reminds me of 20 years ago when I was working for the police and we introduced computers to police stations. We made it optional to use them. So all the younger cops leapt onto them, but all the oldies stuck to safety of their typewriters.

In no time at all though, the oldies were using the computers too. Why? Because they saw how much easier it was to redo reports (that nearly always needed changes). A quick edit, and press the print button. Unlike the typewriter where the whole report had to be retyped.

This story tells you three things:

1) People resistant to technology will only change when they can clearly see a value to them.

2) That change is most likely when it’s their peers who demonstrate the advantage.

3) And not so obviously, there’s safety in having someone local - especially peers -to hold your hand. (In my story, the young police in the stations.)

So if you are trying to get a person or people onto a new technology, let their peers do the evangelizing.

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Just repeating what I wrote on The Google Cache about Adobe Flash and using it to make websites:
I used to hate Flash-based websites. Hmmm? Actually, I still do. I’d never seen a Flash-based site that made me want to make one. Instead, they all turned me off Flash. They all seem to be about showing […]

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After much resistance, finally upgraded my Mac’s RAM from 1GB to 3GB. The difference is amazing.
I needed it because I run Windows (in Parallels), Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Safari and Firefox all at the same time. Plus a few others like Mail and Pastor. Not surprisingly that was killing my machine.
Now it flies! Well, it’s not […]

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Have finally seen the light and started using del.icio.us (although I hate the spelling). I kick myself for not using it years ago. So often I’ve visted pages and then nebver been able to find them again.
I’m using it now though because I want to access my bookmarks at home and school.
However, visually, it’s rather […]

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I rarely see one that catches my eye, but this one sure did. It is Visual Thesaurus.Doesn’t sound catchy yet.

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Joined Facebook today coz everyone - especially Robert Scoble - www.scobleizer.com - keeps talking about it…. Admittedly, that was friends already on Facebook.Then it proposes other ways to make friends on Facebook, such as networking.

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Have spent the last three days trying to get my student edition of Adobe Creative Suite registered. Five emails from two different email accounts with relevant documentation attached failed to arrive at Adobe.Eventually it seems the problem might be Adobe limiting emails with attachments.

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Stumbled across this recent interview, Disposing with Disposability, on Utne which really struck a chord. It’s worth a read.

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If you’ve been on another planet for a while, you might not have heard of the next generation games console from Nintendo, the Wii, which gets you off the couch.

And even if you have, check out these cool videos of average person playing the Wii for the first time.

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I’m back from a few days holiday at the beach and I’ve got to tell you about my new watch. It’s magical.

I haven’t worked out how to harness its magical powers, but when I do, look out!

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