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I have a phrase "topless computing" which for me is allowing the data to be accessible in an onwardly usable fashion. Not assuming the use case you have in min

I have a phrase "topless computing" which for me is allowing the data to be accessible in an onwardly usable fashion. Not assuming the use case you have in mind is the final one - someone will always have a better more specific use case It does mean we all need to become proficient at using those data flows - to become coders as we are all readers and writers today.

dokein 7y ago
I like the concept of individuals being proficient at understanding data the same way they understand language today. Am less sure that this is possible, because each brain has specialized areas (Broca's and Wernicke's) for processing language; we all have pattern recognition built in too; but abstracting the meaning and impact of data is a lot less intuitive. That said, I don't think "topless computing" is an ideal phrase, because the image many people will get is a woman typing while topless.
- darkerside 7y ago
  I think the answer is finding a way to transform data into a format that takes advantage of those brain centers. Visualization is a great example of this, but has a long way to go.
  - sroussey 7y ago
    How would you suggest visualizing it?
    - darkerside 7y ago
      Depends on the data
      - sroussey 7y ago
        I’m really interested though. Obviously location data on a map. What about interests?
justinclift 7y ago
> It does mean we all need to become proficient at using those data flows ... Pretty sure that's extremely unlikely to (ever) happen for even a majority of the population. a) People have their own interests and goals. They generally aren't going to put time into anything like this unless it seems like it'll help them achieve one of their interests/goals b) Not everyone is "switched on" technologically. Kids, elderly, even just some people with non-technical personality types. :/
- XMPPwocky 7y ago
  I think Excel proves this is a lot more possible than often thought.
- lopmotr 7y ago
  b) is education. Literacy is terrible without school too. But now nearly everyone spends years learning that skill and can use it throughout life. Not to say coding is necessarily as useful as reading and writing though.
  - lifeisstillgood 7y ago
    Absolutely- I am about 30,000 words into a book on Software Literacy and it's good to hear I am not the only fool thinking along these lines :-) Edit ... not that you are a fool :-)
  - justinclift 7y ago
    Education definitely won't work for many elderly people who are 1. Not Interested, and 2. May no longer be capable of picking up (or retaining) the skill. :(
    - lopmotr 7y ago
      I'm not talking about re-educating adults. Just that we could teach nearly everyone to program if it were important, in the same way we teach nearly everyone to read and write. Kids already learn long division at school, which is an algorithm. Programming is kind of easier in a way because if you have a goal, you can fumble you way towards it until it works, but you can't really fumble your way through long division if you don't know how to do it.

dokein 7y ago

I like the concept of individuals being proficient at understanding data the same way they understand language today. Am less sure that this is possible, because each brain has specialized areas (Broca's and Wernicke's) for processing language; we all have pattern recognition built in too; but abstracting the meaning and impact of data is a lot less intuitive. That said, I don't think "topless computing" is an ideal phrase, because the image many people will get is a woman typing while topless.

darkerside 7y ago
I think the answer is finding a way to transform data into a format that takes advantage of those brain centers. Visualization is a great example of this, but has a long way to go.
- sroussey 7y ago
  How would you suggest visualizing it?
  - darkerside 7y ago
    Depends on the data
    - sroussey 7y ago
      I’m really interested though. Obviously location data on a map. What about interests?

justinclift 7y ago

> It does mean we all need to become proficient at using those data flows ... Pretty sure that's extremely unlikely to (ever) happen for even a majority of the population. a) People have their own interests and goals. They generally aren't going to put time into anything like this unless it seems like it'll help them achieve one of their interests/goals b) Not everyone is "switched on" technologically. Kids, elderly, even just some people with non-technical personality types. :/

XMPPwocky 7y ago
I think Excel proves this is a lot more possible than often thought.
lopmotr 7y ago
b) is education. Literacy is terrible without school too. But now nearly everyone spends years learning that skill and can use it throughout life. Not to say coding is necessarily as useful as reading and writing though.
- lifeisstillgood 7y ago
  Absolutely- I am about 30,000 words into a book on Software Literacy and it's good to hear I am not the only fool thinking along these lines :-) Edit ... not that you are a fool :-)
- justinclift 7y ago
  Education definitely won't work for many elderly people who are 1. Not Interested, and 2. May no longer be capable of picking up (or retaining) the skill. :(
  - lopmotr 7y ago
    I'm not talking about re-educating adults. Just that we could teach nearly everyone to program if it were important, in the same way we teach nearly everyone to read and write. Kids already learn long division at school, which is an algorithm. Programming is kind of easier in a way because if you have a goal, you can fumble you way towards it until it works, but you can't really fumble your way through long division if you don't know how to do it.