A new place to explore

After reading chapter 4, one of the readers in the cafe commented:

I don't know why Peter wasted so much time and space explaining his 'mental model of the Internet'. We don't need to know all these details in order to use the Internet effectively. When I ring my sister in India from Canada, I don't need to know how the analogue sound is modulated and transmitted over wire, how amplifiers are used along the way to boost the signal, etc. All I care about is conversing with my sister!

Peter said, "The Internet isn't about computers talking to each other, it is about applications talking to each other". Actually it is about people talking to each other! The applications are the tools that make our communication, collaboration, or whatever, possible. Just like the phone-wire, I don't need to know how the applications work unless I am developing them for profit.

This was swiftly answered by another reader, Mary Rickman-Taylor, from The Arizona Institute of Business and Technology, who countered:

I don't agree that the time and space spent on the "mental model of the Internet" was wasted. It is helpful for understanding and useful to be clear that the messages are pretty well cut up like the Star Trek transporter machine and then literally reassembled at the other end, and that it takes programs (applications) to do this to keep everything straight.

I do agree that the Internet is about people talking to each other and it is true that I don't need to know how the applications work to use the system - but by knowing how the system works allows me to be an informed participant, whether as a user, as a consumer, or as a citizen - it allows me to participate in the process, and allows me to avoid being gouged or hustled by charlatans or overly greedy folk, or hoodwinked by the likes ofÉ

I see this exercise as an opportunity to think "outside of the box" for all of us, and do some real speculation as to what sort of e-business might be created.

Mary Rickman-Taylor

These two contrasting view points illustrate the inherent problems associated with knowledge gaps. Certainly we can work without all the detail that goes on behind the scenes. We have to do this most of the time – after all, why bother to learn non essential detail when there is so much else to know and to learn? But, with lack of knowledge there is a risk of becoming trapped inside stereotyped metaphors. Only by exploring the details are we able to see beyond the obvious.

The problem is of course, there are so many areas to understand and explore that everyone is forced to ignore the details of most of them. But, this is why it is so important to become involved in different groups and discussion forums because although each individual might be limited to exploring only a few areas in detail, many people between them can explore many more.

Using the metaphor of the caves again, we can think of many people exploring an underground system of caves together. Each might be in a different cave looking for a hidden passage into a new cave system. When one person discovers an opening in their area, they can call to the others – taking everyone along with them to explore the new area that has opened up. In this way a group of people can act like a unified organism, which has the ability to explore many different areas at the same time. This is the principle behind the virtual cafe.

For years, I saw the effort to spend time learning how the Internet really functioned as an unnecessary waste of my time. It was only a chance event, the communication with Yvan Caron, that drew my attention to the detail. Yet, it had a profound effect on my thinking and allowed me to see beyond the stereotyped view I'd always had and into a new cave of wonder and unexplored opportunity.

By having a knowledge of what happens inside the box – even though it may be perfunctory – has opened up a new environment outside of the box to explore.