4 ms·
You aren't the only one thinking it's a waste of resources. However I learned a little bit from the argument I received when I submitted about this recently. h
by clintjhill 18y ago
You aren't the only one thinking it's a waste of resources. However I learned a little bit from the argument I received when I submitted about this recently.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=417522 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=417522
In my post I was speaking to the "I did this in X hours" kinds of projects I was seeing. I said there ought to be better problems to hunt down and solve. Some railed against me saying I didn't talk about big enough problems. Some said beginners ought to do things that are "quick and easy" as to gain feedback and see a project through.
I don't buy any of that. I'm going on my 10th year of software development and almost everyday I find myself feeling like a beginner. And I still see Twitter based apps finding "oops" in tweets to be a pretty big waste when our school systems can't properly share data. However I obviously haven't found a way to articulate my feelings in the best way yet.
I learned that not everyone cares about "good problems". They care about "cool problems". The good problems are the ones that are hard and may take more than 4 hours to really even understand. And probably quite longer to solve. The cool problems are much different. They aren't problems really and are mostly made up features looking for an audience.
There are many people smarter than I that will call Twitter a protocol and liken it to the next sliced bread. I look at the schools my daughters will be attending and I wonder why they can't get their crap together.
- tptacek 18y agoQuick, rattle off 3 small Twitter applications that would improve a school system. I'll start: snow days. Homework announcements. A continuous discussion with teachers and parents about curricula. Volunteering. I'm not in love with Twitter, but the value is apparent to me: it's a social networking tool that just gets out of the way.
- deleted 18y ago[deleted]
- clintjhill 18y agoJust to be clear, I have my own project for the education space, it just isn't "twitter" like. I don't want it to look like I'm pissing and moaning without contributing to the solution.
- tptacek 18y agoI'm not saying you're goldbricking, I'm saying that you might be underestimating how far Twitter can ride the network effect.
- diN0bot 18y agothat's a good point. it is also true that us geeks tend to be too into technology, rather than understanding the people and situation actually using the solution. i don't use twitter or SMS, and i use my cell phone simply for free calling with my folks, so i don't assume that twitter apps (or cell phone apps) could help students or school administrators. knowlege about the market is always a far more significant unknown for me than technological unknowns.
- Angostura 18y agoAren't the first too the kind of thing you can do just as well by subscribing to an RSS feed?
- tptacek 18y agoFrom where? By setting up a blog? You lose.
- sachinag 18y agoNot to derail, but a friend of mine has a "Twitter for schools" that's been getting a ton of traction - http://www.edmodo.com http://www.edmodo.com (He's an IT guy at one of the suburban school districts out here, which is why he knows exactly what his users want.)
- michaelneale 18y ago>I learned that not everyone cares about "good problems". They care about "cool problems". Exactly, and sadly true.