this is a 1996 guide on how to help someone use a computer. it’s strikingly resonant with ‘how to be a parent’, or really ‘how to help anyone with anything’. a nice example of “the universal within the particular”
this is a 1996 guide on how to help someone use a computer. it’s strikingly resonant with ‘how to be a parent’, or really ‘how to help anyone with anything’. a nice example of “the universal within the particular”
All the other tinkerers were asking themselves the same question: how to make the computer something intimate, friendly, and accessible? Also, what might people want to do with a computer if they could carry it around? The problem, as Alan put it, was that programmers at the time “lived in this tiny world, full of phrases we learned when we were ta... See more
Sheila Heti • The History of the Personal Computer
Advising is hard. It’s a complex activity that involves negotiating someone’s difficulty in dealing with a problem and their responsibility for dealing with it. Often, it degenerates into telling people what to do or showing off how much we know. Perhaps if more of us understood advising a little better, we could avoid giving overbearing advice and... See more
