On ‘GTFM’ and a Place for Experts
October 25, 2011 Richard Shearwood
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IT Jungle‘s executive managing editor Dan Burger last week wrote: “But if all the manuals are Web-based, what will I do with all that space on my book shelves?” More importantly, what will you do when you are trying to work out why your Internet is down? Or, as often happens to me, working on a server in a DC screened for mobile signals and with no Internet access at the machine? Even more importantly: have you USED the IBM support portal? Unusable results and a clunky interface mean that even IBMers use Google to find stuff. It has to be done right or you might just as well let Google be your interface. And finally, if everyone just “wants to drive the car” then who is going to make all these how-to videos and write the guides? The cloud crowd? I know the joke about “experts” but, actually, there is a place for experts. The diminishing importance of acquiring internal knowledge vs. relying on external sources is a worrying trend. You can’t synthesize a solution out of data you don’t own–not until Google finds a way to dump search indexes into your brain anyway–so, until that day, keep reading. And sometimes you might even want to read a book, instead of a Web page. RELATED STORY
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