Category: Research

A Change of Direction. Is Longer and Less Often Better?

I found the site Create And Go. They have a very nice post about blogging in 2023.

One of their recommendations is longer and more in-depth posts. And to do that even if it results in less frequent posts.

I am happy to hear that. I like longer and in-depth writing more anyway.

I started this blog over a year ago. I’ve enjoyed writing it. I enjoy writing about the topic of people using technology. But I have struggled at times to meet my self-set goal of two posts a week.

I’m not sure if I’ll continue this particular blog on this domain, or change to a different domain. That will probably be the first long-form post for me to write, to really consider that question.

Identify the Problem, Part 5: Rely on Technology for Short-term Gain Instead of Long-Term Skill, Newspapers and Music

I listened recently to the episode “The Future of Reporting with Mandy Matney,” from the The Emily Show. That is a podcast by Emily D. Baker. For this episode, she interviewed Mandy Matney of the True Sunlight podcast, formerly known as the Murdaugh Murders podcast.

After that long prelude, the parts I’m going to write about are fairly short:

  • Matney said she used to work as a reporter for a newspaper that was owned by a larger newspaper conglomerate. She said the big newspapers focus more on “trending” topics than complex and important issues which will take a lot of resources to follow and research. Among other things, at one point she was assigned to write three to five articles a day about issues trending on Twitter or Reddit. News stories don’t get national attention unless they start trending, and then almost all of the national papers repeat the same information with different headlines.
  • Baker replied that she is seeing something similar while covering stories about the music industry. Instead of investing in a band for a few albums to see if the band can gain a following and take off, the music industry will now invest in a band or performer for one song. And if that one song doesn’t take off on TikTok, then they move on.

In doing this, both industries are killing the things that originally created them. Technology makes this easier. It might provide a more convincing rationale in the short term. But that is still what is happening.

Khan Academy, Second Week Observations

This is my second week of working through Khan Academy classes on computer programming. Today, I was looking forward to possibly getting in some extra time watching classes this weekend.

I’ve watched lots of online classes. It’s not unusual for me to like a subject so much I look forward to learning more. But I didn’t expect that to happen with computer programming classes, especially not after only two sessions of classes.

I sat and thought about that reaction for a while.

My Observations, After Two Weeks and a Few Hours

There’s a bit of gamification with badges on my user profile. It’s not an oppressive or annoying amount, but it’s enough to be a little extra bit of fun.

There’s lots of opportunities to interact with other students. There’s a questions section below most of the lessons and it’s fairly active.

Khan Academy is very good about providing opportunities to practice what was learned. There are frequent challenges to create various programs and functions. I think that programming is like many other skills where there’s a big difference between learning the theory and applying it. So I appreciate the challenges and projects. I really appreciate that the programs are run within Khan Academy’s own site. With programming, it’s easy to go through a teach-yourself book or video and get sidetracked or stumped by system-specific problems on the local system.

I’m going to assume the discussion areas are moderated. There’s also a bit of friction to be able to comment on other user’s posts. I think it’s the account has to be at least three days old and has to have a minimum number of points. Points are earned by finishing videos, projects, and challenges. After years of being on different forums, there’s something pleasant about the atmosphere on forums where it takes some work to be able to post. It’s as if the requirement for time and work to be able to post results in a more thoughtful and deliberate user base.

Khan Academy, First Impressions, First Lessons

I mentioned a while back that I wanted to learn more about how websites are built and how they work. And that I’d chosen Khan Academy as a place to start.

Well, I signed up. After spending an hour going through some beginner lessons, here are my impressions.

  • It’s easy to sign up as an adult. They do ask for birth date. I’m assuming for younger ages there may be more restrictions or requirements for signing up.
  • It’s free, although they do politely ask for donations.
  • They have a lot for adult learners, but it’s clearly aimed at school and college students.
  • Their lessons on website programming are under “Computer Programming,” not under anything with “web” or “internet” in the name. (Is this because they felt a good way to get kids interested in programming in general was through website construction?)
  • Their Computer Programming course starts with Javascript. That surprised me. After going through some lessons, I can see why it would be a good introduction for kids and new learners. They focus on using Javascript to draw, with ellipses, rectangles, and arcs. And they use that as a way to introduce concepts such as syntax, parameters, checking documentation, and relying on documentation instead of personal memory.
  • They regularly have exercises to use newly learned concepts. The exercises do have some hints for students who might not be sure how to start. (Memories of C/C++: a semicolon has to go at the end of every line. It’s nice to be told right away that a semicolon is missing, not after the entire thing is written out and compiling is attempted. That used to irritate me greatly with C/C++.)

Overall, I’m very favorably impressed.

Well, Now I Feel Silly: Handles, Revisited

Just a day after I wrote a post about not finding much information on handles, handle design, or handle shape, my inbox received one of AAW’s regular emails. This was a showcase all about handles and AAW articles and videos about handles.

So, my gripe has been answered by God and cosmos, with a bit of a chuckle at my expense.

If I can get some good information about the how’s and why’s of handle design, I’ll be fine with the ironic timing.

Electric Motors: Power at Low Speeds

I’m currently reading through one of Bernie Tobisch’s books on sewing machines.

He mentions that older sewing machines have AC (alternating current) motors. These are simpler to build, but have low power at low speeds. He said this is why sometimes when first starting a seam, the sewist (which is a nice term, once I haven’t heard often) might have to turn the handwheel by hand to get the motor started.

He writes that newer machines have DC (direct current) motors. These have better power at low speeds. But they are also more complicated to build. Most houses aren’t wired for DC voltage. (I’m saying most because I’m sure somewhere there was someone who ran some DC power lines through their house.) Most houses in the U.S., 120 Vac RMS is what comes out of the wall. That will fry almost any DC motor. So, DC motors get used, but there’s more circuitry involved to make them work.

Somewhere I have a book about using small electric motors. I wanted to look at it the other day, so maybe I’ll spend some time this weekend finding it.

Learning From Mistakes: Audi Jacks, TS, TRS, and TRRS.

I messed up the headphone audio jack on my laptop. It still functions, but one headphone is about half the volume of the other headphone.

That’s not ideal.

So, I looked for USB-to-audio-jack adapters, and along the way I’m getting an education in types of audio jacks. I want to be able to use a pair of headphones which also have a microphone. That means I’m looking for a TRRS — Tip, Ring, Ring, Sleeve — adapter. Other audio jack types include TS (Tip, Sleeve) and TRS (Tip, Ring, Sleeve).

It gets more complicated from there.

After a quick web search, here are two articles I’ve found so far which have been very helpful:

I’m sure there’s more out there and there’s lots more for me to learn.

I talked to someone who was running an engineering class for kids, where they worked on solving problems with small pulleys, wheels, axles, motors, and so on. The person running the class said they found 90% of engineering is troubleshooting. I agreed; that’s true of any technology. I’m going down this rabbit hole because I messed up a piece of equipment and now I’m finding ways to work around my screwup, and it’s still 90% troubleshooting.

Another Look at Business Band Radios

Yes, I know I said I’d start working on learning websites.

The best laid plans of mice and men and all that.

I’m back to looking at business band radios. I’m noticing odd stuff about the market.

There doesn’t seem to be nearly as many companies making business band radios as companies making amateur / ham radios. That surprised me.

The ham radios often have a description of their power output. I’m not seeing that as often on business band radios. I’m not sure if that’s because there’s a set maximum output for business band, or if it’s because hams will look for output power specifications and business band radio customers don’t.

I am also wondering if GMRS has consumed most of the business band market. Doing a bit of reading, it sounds like GMRS is a far easier license to get. That also means GMRS can be crowded in some areas and the main benefit of business band is less competition for airtime.

Identify the Problem Part 1

This is a part I because I have some more reading to do.

In the last three days, I’ve seen three different articles and posts about the importance of identifying problems. One post was on an email list I’m on, the two articles are in the Harvard Business Review.

I’ll write more about the Harvard Business Review articles in my next post. The figure that really surprised me was a survey of over 100 C-suite business executives where 85% say their companies struggle with problem diagnosis.

The email list post was about copywriting, and it wasn’t a survey of how many people think other people can’t identify problems. It was a statement that an important part of sales and marketing is identifying what customer problem your product solves.

Perspective: The Last 20% Which Is 50% of the Entire Project, Part II — Ongoing Projects

Last week I wrote about the last 20% of a project which usually takes 50% or more of a project.

What if it’s a situation like this blog? This blog doesn’t have a set end date or a defined end goal. What then?

My experience is it will be entirely too easy to get caught up in details. I’ve thought about it, read about it, listened to podcasts about it. After all that, I’ve come to the conclusion an ongoing project can’t be treated as an ongoing project. It has to be treated as a succession of a number of set goals with set timelines.

The purpose of the goals and timelines isn’t to create an impossible amount of work, and to then beat myself or someone else over the head with failure to meet that impossible standard. Rather, the purpose of the goals and timelines is to have a strategic plan. This is the only way I can see to avoid being caught in endless rounds of minutiae that is the end details of any project.