Clean up in aisle 12

I found this post languishing in draft mode of my typepad account.  Isn't it funny how things that are so important at the moment fade so quickly from our memories.  Note the unresolved portion of the story that obviously kept me from posting this originally.

Having said that, the main concerns raised still remain...

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From some time in the spring of 2005

Sunday.  A day to get some yard work done.  And a day to do some much needed shopping for some food.  During this past semester Silvia and I haven't seen much of one another.  I'm working a 9-5 day now and was teaching until 10:30 or 11:00 three nights out of the week.  When I wasn't in the classroom, she was, either teaching or being taught.  University life at its finest.

So grades are in (or will be on Monday, at least) and now we have two whole weeks before the hellish summer semester kicks in.  Silvia is booked to teach 4 nights out of the week.  Maybe I'll see her in August.

But for now I have  two weeks where the only person I hope to see in the evening is her.

Which means that we are off of the diet of pizza and white castle for the coming two weeks.  Which leads me back to aisle 12.

A local supermarket, a mispriced item, a quick run to the courtesy booth.

"This package is mislabeled, it should be 1.99/pound instead of 2.99"

"Oh yes, we've been having trouble with having these labeled properly.  Just tell the cashier to weigh the item and enter 1.99"

No worries.  We get to checkout and  almost forget to ask the cashier, catching the error just in time.  I explain what had been told to me at the courtesy  booth.  He is very apologetic but he can't fathom a way to assist me.  He and the girl at checkout start to attempt to figure out the correct price in their heads.  She proffers a suggested amount and he shrugs his shoulders, claiming that he's no good at math.  I patiently explain again that all he needs t odo is place it on the scale and weight the item and the system will do the work of calculating the proper amount.

At this point I have two orthogonal concerns - one is that this young man is unable to calculate the proper result manually and the second is that he doesn't understand the computer system at his command.

The first  is of concern to me because I used to teach high school mathematics.   There were a number of ways to approach this problem to get a rough ball park answer, and he was unable to select even one.  Perhaps he was too nervous to make an attempt at doing math in public.  Some people don't like to read in public.  And cell phones have tip calculator software for a reason.

The other concern is multipronged.  The system didn't make it obvious that it could solve the problem, and it was apparent he hadn't encountered this before.  He kept explaining that he needed a 4 digit product code in order for the scale to be of any use.  It is obvious that this is the primary use of the scale.  Everything else is bar-coded with an exact amount or price lookup based upon the UPC.  It is only produce that needs to be weighed, and each of those items does have a 4 digit code glued to the surface. (Mmmmmmmm..... toxic glue.....)

{{Resolution of the matter goes here}}

 

So back to my question - what happens when the very tools that are used to allow a business to run more efficiently (a good thing) simultaneously place lower cognitive demands on its workers (a bad thing), making them slaves to either the machine or a routine way of operating.

With jobs moving off shore and other parts of the world bridging the knowledge gap, the consolation trumpted by captains of industry  has been that the truly creative work in the IT field will still be performed state-side .  Just the mundane tasks will be moved to sites where there are lower costs of production.  But what of the people who  {post ends here}

I think I was going to write.... are not in this group of creative thinkers?

Comments

[Gregg Helfman]

Isn't this one of the fundamental issues with technology?

Technology (at least technology that is created properly-- which clearly that cash register was not) allows tasks in our lives to be completed more easily and more efficiently. It calculates, completes, and corrects (I love alliteration) all those tiny mundane things our brains *used* to do- but seem tedious to us now.

The problem occurs when people rely on computers, calculators, and other forms of technology to perform every single task in their lives.

The bottom line is that people rely too heavily on technology. We're all guilty of it. I can't even remember a single person's phone number because I know it is stored in my cell phone. What happens when I leave my phone at home, my battery dies, or my phone breaks? If I had an emergency and had to call my parents or someone else, I don't know what I'd do because I do not know anyone's number by heart.

Education is where this all begins. Schools are bringing technology into the classroom more than ever before. Computers are a great tool to supplement education... but not to replace it. That is something that needs to be emphasized.

[Bill]

Greg - thanks for the comment. You are correct that everyone comes to rely on the technologies that they use. What do you think about the interface/affordances of the computer system. Shouldn't it have been designed better to make it obvious that it could work in other ways?

[Gregg Helfman]

Well thats the issue with software development. Developers thing about the easiest and quickest way to get a piece of software out. Designers are the ones who worry about the functionality. We don't even have designers on a lot of the software we create. The developers may put some colors and stuff... but its the designers who need to look at the software, understand what functions it can perform, and make put it together in a way that the user can understand.

I'm a designer in a development role-- so I have a huge conflict on every project I work on!