On a good day I can answer two of the questions that come up during the BBC's programme University Challenge: the quiz where university students answer questions on a wide range of subjects. Using my smart phone I can answer more - it depends on how fast and accurate I can type ! Answering questions using the web is a powerful thing. But what if I want to learn more about a subject ?
I often come across a subject when reading about a hobby, developing a new skill or sparked by curiosity, where I need to find out more. But the subject can be like a brick wall built of strange words and unfamiliar concepts. I am stuck ! For me there is only one approach and that is self-learning, in other words, working through the subject by myself. The following is the way that I use the web to help me learn.
I start by identifying the people who are working on the subject and search for what they have written, for example blogs, papers, public presentations, books, videos on YouTube etc. I also search out any commentators, or critics, on the subject. This initial phase is like detective work - pulling together scraps of information about the subject and assembling them into some sort of overview.
Let me give an example. Tim Harford wrote an interesting article about our inability to predict the impact of new technology on how we get it wrong when imagining the effects of new technology on the future of everyday life. In the article he mentioned an interesting idea proposed by the economists Daron Acemogula and David Autor where we should view work in bite-size chunks - tasks rather jobs. Basically they think that “routine, codifiable tasks” can be automated while purely human skills such as problem solving and creativity can not. Searches produced papers by the two economists with titles such as: Skills, Tasks and Technologies: Implications for Employment and Earnings, Polanyi’s Paradox and the Shape of Employment Growth, and The “task approach” to labor markets: an overview ). I found Tim’s email address on the web and contacted him for advice on the best papers and he kindly suggested Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation ).
The next stage is to immerse myself in all of the information that I have gathered which feels like drowning. But after surfacing for a few coffees I find that some of the new terminology makes sense and the subject starts to take shape.
Eventually I reach point where I feel confident enough to test my understanding of the new subject. This is done by working through some examples, or tutorials, and then using my new knowledge on a problem. This can be done more easily in some areas than others, for example using open source software I can test my understanding of new concepts in computer technology. For other subjects then I can only read about it e.g. surgery.
Continuing with my example, the subject falls under the heading economics. Therefore applying what I have learned I can draw any sensible conclusions about changes in business ? For example what is driving the increase in call centres ? Part of the job of a salesperson was to make regular calls to customers to try and drum up new business or chase repeat orders; this was usually when selling to a business and is still practiced today. However, call centres take the “task” of calling customers to retail customers and probably reduce the cost per call due to centralisation of the task. Not a rigorous conclusion but the start of a few interesting thoughts.
What I have described above is the first step. To gain a greater level of expertise in a subject can take many years: there is a debate raging on the web that suggests that around 10000
hours is required to gain a high level of expertise in a subject which is a long time but exploring a new subject is the fun of learning.
Next time I sit down to watch University Challenge I hope too have gained more knowledge from my self-learning so that I can answer more than my usual couple of questions - if not I can always access the web !