The problem with knowledge …

My world outside of computer storage is BMX Racing. My kids are very, very good at it and I’m very, very involved in the administration of their sport. So being a computer nerd and a BMX administrator I combine the two and have been developing and delivering training to people who use, or are planning to use, the specialised software package that we score BMX racing with.

I’ll do this backwards because that’s the point of this blurb. At the end of the day, when people are finished their training, they are (almost) always glad that they have participated, invigorated to learn more and view their roles and the technology with much more respect. This in general makes them a much more valuable person to their organisation and an asset to the sport … which was the whole point of the exercise in the first place.

However, and this is the back to front bit … none of them really (a) wanted to do the training, or (b) thought that they would really get very much from it; or (c) were pretty convinced that they knew as much as they needed to and therefore this would be a “waste of time”.

So where does fit with RAID?

If you needed to ask that then you are a definite (c) above. I can also tell you that you don’t know as much as you need to know, that you don’t know as much as is good for you and your organisation and that by learning more about the technology you will become a more valuable asset to yourself and your organisation.

So how and where do you learn more about RAID? Adaptec don’t really run qualified training courses any more (and neither do our competitors as far as I’m aware). So you read a bit here and there, but there’s not much information available in the general computer press as they don’t’ find RAID the most interesting of subjects. They certainly don’t go into technical detail or function of cards … the press (whether it be magazine or online) tend to generally look at the spec sheets from the vendor, or focus on the performance characteristics of the product.

This is somewhat like the motoring journalists of the world when it comes to the Bugatti Veyron. Do they harp on the fact that it develops maximum torque at certain revs so when cornering you are best to be in a gear that leads you into the corner at the bottom of that rev range so you have pull out of the corner? No … they all go “350km/h!!!”. So the reader of their magazines found out what is possible, but not how to do anything of real value.

This is similar to RAID card testers. Yes, you can attach 256 hard drives. Yes, you can put 32 drives in a RAID array. Does anyone tell you the pros and cons of doing something as crazy as this? No, because generally that person doing the testing doesn’t know the answers either.

So where do you go?

Frankly my dear, I don’t give … (Rhett Butler I’m not). Yes, I do care, and no, I don’t have an answer. Tom’s Hardware is about the best of websites that I’ve found for giving technical information along with technical specifications … the “why” that goes along with the where and how, but even they don’t wish to bore their readers to death so don’t dig into a lot of detail of real value to the technician who doesn’t even realise that he needs to learn something, let alone want to learn something.

The reality is that a very small number of people learn a very small amount by talking to people like me. If they don’t fall asleep 3 minutes into the conversation they normally come away with some snippets of information that are of value to them. Problem is that we’re just skimming the surface of people who need to learn something more about the technology they use on a day to day basis.

Is this blog the place to try and teach people? You tell me. Is it the techno-nerds (not an insult) who read this thing or is it the people who want generic information so they can get a general understanding of a technology and then get their techs to drill down and understand the fully story?

Even when I talk to myself I get answers, but bloggers are supposed to write this stuff without care or notice of whether people are reading or taking any notice of what is being written. I certainly am no journalist, and am not the “super engineer” who can answer every question, but just how do we go about getting information out to people in a manner that keeps them awake, keeps them coming back and most importantly benefits themselves and their organisation.

Oh well, more things to ponder but the train is coming into my station and the wife is jabbing me in the ribs so I’ll have to end it here, get off the train and go do some real work in the real world. There, another meaningless blog that did not mention anything technical … I’m getting good at this blogging stuff!

Ciao
Neil