Bridging Worlds: The IT Support Professional as Interpreter Between Cultures

One result of the action of Moore’s Law, the doubling of IT (Information Technology) power every 18 months, is a widening gap in the understanding of this technology between those who work directly in developing and implementing it, and those who, specializing in other kinds of work, primarily simply use it — even when users and implementers are in different fields within IT. Traditionally, support for users has been provided by implementers, as it is obvious that support requires technical understanding. To be most effective, however, user support must be a specialty distinct from implementation, with its own models and paradigms. The Understanding Gap has widened to the point that the cultures — the conceptual frameworks and vocabularies — of users and implementers no longer have enough in common for them to communicate effectively. This lack of communication can only grow worse as the Gap increases. Rather than simply being an extension of the responsibilities of the implem...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1999
• Where: SIGUCCS
• Authors: Don Rea
• Keywords: Conceptual Frameworks, Information Management, SIGUCCS 1999, Support Specialists, User Support