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"How to help someone use a computer.", a guide from 1996 (pages.gseis.ucla.edu)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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A friend shared a post from someone else that was talking about this article. I've quoted the text from that post below:

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"

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

While I do share your sentiment on most of these points, I think this guide assumes the person with the problem is already in an intrigued state of mind about the problem. Them being interested about the end result doesn't change this in this matter, as they are interested in getting results AND learning the steps to do that, rather than learning how the steps are constructed by the working of the computer. That applies to computer-literate people (more precisely people who know how to navigate the front-end usually) who are also not related to computer engineering in any time of their lives. They don't need to know the video player program generates logs, let aside having knowledge about how to read them.

However, the people with a computer problem but with no interest in learning how to solve it and just would like it to work without their effort, which I assume the guide doesn't have in mind as target audience, are the type that a lot of people immediately think of when such stuff is mentioned. I'd agree your sentiment applies correctly to this specific type.