Month: July 2007

Dreyfus Model experiment

The Dreyfus Model is a model of skills acquisition that describes how people progress in their knowledge:

  • Novice – Needs to be told exactly what to do. Very little context to base decisions on.
  • Advanced beginner – Has more context, but still needs rigid guidelines to follow.
  • Competent – Begins to question the reasoning behind the tasks, and can see longer term consequences.
  • Proficient – Still relies on rules, but able to seperate what is most important.
  • Expert – Works mainly on intuition, except in circumstances where problems occur

When we are involved in a discussion, guess the Dreyfus level of participants. Then, tailor the conversation to that. If you are the lower number one, bring the conversation to your level. Conversely, be sure you aren’t talking over the heads of the other participants.

why rules hurt experts

Politicized Medicine

Bush administration officials tried to suppress important public health reports because of political considerations. The administration would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or prison, mental and global health issues. Officials delayed for years and tried to “water down” a landmark report on secondhand smoke. The report concluded that even brief exposure to cigarette smoke could cause immediate harm.

This is a good example why we need open data, as proposed by the OECD, and tools for citizens to meaningfully analyze the raw data, without interference by political hacks.

del.icio.us usability lab

the del.icio.us team is in the midst of building a new platform which will speed up the site and help us grow even faster. We’re also taking a close look at our UI and exploring ways to make it both easier to use and more functional. Over the years we’ve heard a lot of feedback, both positive and negative. Many folks like the simple and terse nature of the site, while others take issue with certain elements of the design. Our challenge is to make del.icio.us better without messing up the stuff that already works.

uh oh. if del.icio.us is yahooized, good night