The world of dreams is a strange and mysterious place and people are so fascinated with what happens in their sleep. Just recently, I was listening to someone try to remember what other symbols besides fish in dreams meant someone you know is pregnant.

There is always debate about whether your dreams represent subconscious desires or premonitions of things to come. Are they a product of the worrisome thoughts before sleep, or simply images compiled from our experiences?

Sometimes dreams are purely fantastical, with imaginary creatures and monsters. Yet other nights the dream may seem so real it leaves us disoriented when we awake.  Who has never woken up when they clutched the bed mid-fall? Or felt their heart racing from the run in their dreams?

Then there are the occasions when reality intrudes on the dreams. The telephone that turns out to be an alarm clock. The rain that is really pouring outside. The mysterious distant voice calling your name that turns out to be your mother.

So who is to say exactly where dreams and reality separate? Maybe we’re dreaming our lives now and this post doesn’t even exist.

Yep, it’s that time of year. It’s been a while since you’ve heard much from me on this. Last year was a bad year for me, and among the things that suffered was my carnivalitis which was very weak. This year, however, I’m back!!

Friday is the kick-off for the Mas Camp Fridays and I can’t wait! Two more days till I will be jumping and waving and chipping and wining! Whoohoo!!

I don’t want to

yet

I still do.

400 posts. Seems a far way from the day I started. But means I have shared a whole lot with whoever reads this. Here’s to the next 400.

In this day and age (boy, there’s a cliche, but it does fit sometimes), computer literacy is almost a necessity for daily life. Even more so an essential requirement in the world of work. Few businesses (outside the informal sector and those sole entrepreneurs with fabulous memories, penmanship, unlimited phone credit etc.) can get through a day without using computers as a daily part of their employees’ toolset. Looking through the job ads in the papers, we see that even the ’simplest’ of jobs often lists under its requirements some level of proficiency.

Unfortunately, coming from the I.T. field, what I am witnessing in businesses is a disturbing misunderstanding of what literacy and proficiency actually entail.

Using MS Word like a typewriter to spit out letters…

Using your spreadsheet software like a calculator…

Using your email programme to send and manage the equivalents of post-its…

These are all symptoms of the “of course I can use a computer” disorder. Refusing to admit that they only have basic knowledge of how to use a computer to actually improve their work processes, people are sitting and making more work for themselves and others.

What I consider to be the important elements of computer literacy are not things specific to any software. In fact, that is one of the key points. To be literate involves several skills that are severely lacking in the general population (a fact to which anyone involved in any sort of user support can attest).

1. The fundamental understanding that software is meant to try to help you improve (and or reduce) your work
2. Understanding that most software nowadays is developed to work in a reasonably standard fashion
3. Taking knowledge gained in using one software application and applying it to others even when seeing them for the first time
4. An ability to use a help file (which most software programs have)
5. The ability to express in words the task being attempted to facilitate the search for assistance (human or technological)
6. An understanding of the general terms that are used in the context of computing
7. An interest in learning how the features of the software can be used

But computer literacy is not just about software. The average person is not expected to be able to put together a working computer. Nor are they necessarily expected to to be able to diagnose and troubleshoot everything. But some familiarity with the hardware tool that they are using is really not asking too much. Examples of things that should be known include

1. The purpose of any buttons on the computer
2. The name and/or purpose of all keys on the keyboard
3. The purpose of any ports (see 6 above) on the computer
4. The meaning of any lights on the computer
5. What the working configuration of their computer looks like (which cables plugged where)
6. General care and maintenance of the computer (on a surface level)

The development of these skills should be considered top priority to anyone considering entering the world of work. A person who enters an organization functioning at the above level of literacy will soon prove themselves an invaluable asset because they will be able to

• work at a much higher level of productivity
• anticipate and identify additional potential improvements
• reduce the support and training costs associated with their employment

and most importantly, they will gain the support and respect of their I.T. department.