{"id":4670,"date":"2015-09-18T15:05:36","date_gmt":"2015-09-18T20:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/?p=4670"},"modified":"2015-09-18T15:11:59","modified_gmt":"2015-09-18T20:11:59","slug":"when-to-pause-to-get-it-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/2015\/09\/18\/when-to-pause-to-get-it-down\/","title":{"rendered":"When to Pause to ‘Get It Down’?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim Grey on his Stories From the Software Salt Mines site<\/a>\u00a0makes a clearcut distinction that’s worth stamping into one’s awareness: “Personal computers are for content creators; mobile devices are for content consumers.” \u00a0Or, creators \u2013 think desktop; consumers \u2013 think mobile.<\/p>\n

\"me1-1\"<\/a>Makes pretty obvious sense \u2013\u00a0up to a point that seems to be approaching\u00a0with increasing speed. The\u00a0continuing development of iPads and other\u00a0mobile devices tempts us to use them for creating content, not just reading or viewing it. (Apple says that, come November, its newest iPad will have an external keyboard available.)<\/p>\n

Technical writers likely are paying increasing attention to these distinctions, or to their increasing tendency to blur together. It would be nice to create serviceable copy wherever you have the ability to pause a bit, not only at your desktop, but, say, in the park. Your insights might well be sharper and your writing fresher. Using a mobile device is like having your brain more readily at hand, providing your fingers have ready access to what you’re thinking.<\/p>\n

Mobile devices as “mere” displays allow us to take advantage of idle\u00a0time. Jim Grey notes that “an Internet device in our pocket lets us pleasantly wile away the minutes we spend waiting \u2014 in doctors\u2019 waiting rooms, before meetings begin, in the john.” But he’s not going to start blog posting on his phone.<\/p>\n

Unless, we’d venture,\u00a0Jim or any of us\u00a0finds ourselves\u00a0in\u00a0a situation where it would be advantageous to get our thoughts down\u00a0coherently\u00a0because they’re especially important to us or\u00a0maybe to others.<\/p>\n

You see what’s happening here? The modes of expression are tending to merge with the availabilty of technology that can help that happen. Reflections that used to be random meditations can now be recorded musings \u2013 if and when we feel they’re significant enough. This can help make us more observant, as well as more reflective, and that’s all to the good, most of the time.<\/p>\n

Remember the title of Jim Grey’s blog \u2013 “Stories from the Software Salt Mines.” We don’t want to feel that we’re living in a salt mine, just that we have the ability to use a mental pick and shovel when they’re occasionally advisable\u00a0\u2013 for the record,\u00a0say. Maybe we’d even get more sleep some nights. \u2013 Doug Bedell<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jim Grey on his Stories From the Software Salt Mines site\u00a0makes a clearcut distinction that’s worth stamping into one’s awareness: “Personal computers are for content creators; mobile devices are for content consumers.” \u00a0Or, creators \u2013 think desktop; consumers \u2013 think mobile. Makes pretty obvious sense \u2013\u00a0up to a point that seems to be approaching\u00a0with increasing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication","category-technology","category-the-writing-life"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t