Carbamp ’09 – not too much brain, please.

^ Yes, i was trying to be funny.

But seriously, i want to talk about my recent attendance at Barcamp SG ’09. Barcamp is basically a gathering of people involved, interested in and earn money from social media. We have bloggers, film critics, geeks, students (like me), and the list goes on, and on, and on. The programme of the day revolved around a voting process where participants vote for topics to be discussed and presented.

I hate long posts (and so do you). In light of that, I will only talk about one single topic that I identified with. This topic below relates to me, you and brains.

“How to explain difficult concepts to lesser beings (for smart geeks)” by @coleman (you can find him on twitter)

Tip#1:  Watch the curse of knowledge – I guess many of us are cursed by the knowledge we have. This knowledge then causes us to speak in a language that people lacking that particular knowledge do not understand. So yes, cut down on technical jargon – speaking in shakspearen english to an ah ‘beng’ just doesn’t cut it. Anymore.

Tip#2: Use analogies. There, I just proved my first point.

Tip#3: Oversimplify first. By oversimplifying an idea, it would be easier for the person to grasp. Something like an appetizer (man, i love analogies). It is only ethical to force-feed someone only if you have whet his/her appetite, makes sense?

At the end of the day, my point is this – technology is unleashing all our inner geeks. If we don’t look back and start breaking down what we know into edible pieces, we are going to die with that very knowledge. By learning ‘how to explain difficult concepts to lesser beings’, we benefit both ourselves and also the learner. Only speak html to someone who understands HTML, if he/she doesn’t, then use the three steps above

To all vowel haters and synonym lovers out there, stop LOL-ing.

 

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