Explaining Open Standards email attachements [summary what to send?]

[Sam Liddicott]

On Tue, 2010-04-06 at 20:08 +0100, Theo Schmidt wrote:

> Of course it depends on the person you are sending the file to, his or her 
> environment, and your aim. Is the person computer-literate? Is it a large 
> company? Is it a government office in a country required to accept your ODTs? Do 
> you want to "educate" or cause the least bother?


As bother is a personal measure, I think that each person can be
educated towards their own personal aims - once they can be recognized.
Switching of ones aims is a different topic.


* Idealists [perfect-world] can be educated towards the ideals

(I am not an idealist so this description is incomplete)
An idealist wants the problem to not be there and will act ideally,
reluctant to sacrifice ideals, and expects others to do the same.
This attitude preserves the ideal by not changing, and consequently is
often seen as not understanding of the nature of change required in
others comes across as unhelpful or unforgiving, and therefore
unattractive to non-idealists.


* Pragmatists [help-my-correspondents] can be educated towards
pragmatism

(I am not a pragmatist because I will adopt the pain)
Pragmatists will take intelligent steps to avoid pain, but will not
willingly adopt pain as idealists do in bringing about the ideal.
They willingly use .doc instead of .docx when educated because they see
that it aids communication.
They will not use .odt because it hampers communication although it aids
the communication of the ideal.
Pragmatists can be used to spread the message as they help others aid
communication according to their natural impulses to help others.


* Minimalists [help-me] can be educated towards minimal steps

(I am not a minimalist)
Minimalists must feel the pain in order to make the change. They will
use .pdf instead of .docx, but only in order to avoid the complaints,
and will secretly suspect that the recipient is being awkward and should
just upgrade to the latest software.

I had a painful conversation with someone sending out docx posters. I
explained nicely the problem and solution and got an annoyed message
back asking why I didn't just say "send me a PDF" instead of all the
other guff she didn't have time to read or comprehend.  I was shocked,
having understood that if there is a problem I should not just demand
the solution but explain the problem and how to avoid it - but I learned
that not everyone cares that much, especially people who don't enjoy
technology.


This brings us to a new group
* evangelists [help-the-world]

(I think I am an evangelist)
To avoid frustration, an evangelist should understand the path between
the current state and the ideal and how it will be traversed most
efficiently.
This includes and understanding of how to deal with non-idealists in a
way which will further idealistic aims as far as the non-idealists can
be persuaded to - and this will not be perceived as a disadvantage by
the non-idealist. i.e. the non-idealist acts to the good he sees
although it is not the good the idealist sees.

It also requires understanding of the temporal paradigm - i.e. there are
more non-idealists being born every minute, therefore in order to avoid
failing, evangelists should adopt solutions which increase the rate of
adoption and education by non-idealists by appealing to the values of
non-idealists.
Otherwise, in rejecting the message, non-idealists also shield from the
message those that they would have influenced and thus we lose out to
the temporal paradigm.

In past times, Idealists would have formed a monastery, but evangelists
understand that to convert is better than to separate; answering the
Buddhist concept of Bodhisattva.

[I'm a non-pure evangelist because although I spend my money on vendors
that support open-ness, and act as an advocate to others, I don't see
why I should suffer with poor drivers in the mean time, so I use
non-free software because it liberates me more while waiting for the
free software. (i.e. I may as well walk in the prison-garden before my
release. Remaining in my cell doesn't help my lawyer argue my case, and
using incomplete open source graphics drivers doesn't help convert my
family to free software).]



Which brings us back to Theo's question on the document: Do you/we want
to educate or cause the least bother?

And this question: Which is your target audience? 
* Evangelist => strategic document like this message
* Idealist => "Like the Why I rejected your attachment" link you posted
* Pragmatist => How to communicate: A view of interoperability
* Minimalist => Simple etiquette: How to stop your correspondents
complaining

I think your document is directed to the pragmatist but it contains
elements of idealism that they cannot appreciate as they go contrary to
the pragmatists notion of "good"

Sam



Sam



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