Explaining Leo to new users: The Curse of Knowledge
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Steve Allen
Aug 14, 2010, 11:54:44 PM8/14/10
to leo-editor
I just read Edward's "Leo in a Nutshell", which can be found here:
http://edreamleo.blogspot.com/2010/08/leo-in-nutshell.html
As a long-time Leo user, I can see in my mind's eye each one of
Edward's points as he makes it, and each point is in fact very clear
to me. But as I perused the comments, I saw where one of the
commenter said:
"I don't understand what Leo is at all... A video showing a Leo
user, using Leo, would be great."
But Edward's explanation was very clear and succinct. Why didn't this
guy (and other Leo newbies) get it?
Hmmm.
Just as each of Edward's points were clear to me, I'm sure they were
quite clear to Edward as he was writing them. Unfortunately, those
familiar with Leo tend to have the "Curse of Knowledge" when it comes
to explaining Leo to new users. And of course, the "Curse of
Knowledge" doesn't just apply to explanations of Leo. For a brief
synopsis of the "Curse of Knowledge", please see the link below.
http://idratherbewriting.com/2007/01/24/the-curse-of-knowledge-the-more-you-know-the-worse-communicator-you-become/
Because I've had the privilege of working with Leo over the past 7
years, I could integrate each one of Edward's points in my mind's
eye. This was because of my framework of knowledge given by working
with Leo on a day-to-day basis. But to someone who doesn't know Leo,
Edward might as well be reading Shakespeare to a cat.
Let's dissect a simple sentence that makes perfect sense to long-time
Leo users:
"@edit: Leo reads the entire external file into the @edit node's
body text."
A person new to Leo may have the following thoughts:
- What's @edit?
- What does that @ mean?
- Where is "@edit" located within the file?
- "external" files are mentioned; are there "internal" files?
- what's a node?
- what's a body text
To those of us familiar with Leo, these seem like ridiculous
questions. But *try* to imagine what it would be like if you didn't
know *anything* about Leo.
So how do we surmount this obstacle? I'll offer a proposed solution
in a moment, but first--let's look at how day-to-day Leo users became
comfortable with the new concepts of Leo.
One way Leo users became comfortable with Leo was by reading the
documentation and playing with Leo. However, back in 2003(?) when I
first started learning Leo, I was overwhelmed by the documentation.
There were so many new terms and symbols (e.g. sentinels and @nodes,
and what have you). Fortunately, I stumbled across some
"Screenbooks", and it finally all started to make sense to me.
http://www.3dtree.com/ev/e/sbooks/leo/sbframetoc_ie.htm
It was the *combination" of the visuals of Leo in action--along with
the textual explanation of Leo concepts as you went through the
Screenbooks--that allowed me to understand what the text in the
documentation was talking about.
So, back to the question: "How do we surmount the obstacle of
explaining Leo to new users"?
Again, Edward created a very clear and succinct explanation of Leo. I
think the missing ingredient is exactly what that commenter suggested,
and what I found useful in my own experience:
Tie the explanatory text to visuals of Leo in action.
For example, for each one of Edward's "Leo in a Nutshell" points,
let's *show* Leo being used in that particular use case. In other
words, when we talk about clones, let a screencast visually detail how
information might be cloned and moved to different sections of the
outline to provide different views of the same information. Update
one of the cloned nodes body text, and then move to the other section
of the outline to show them how it's been updated there as well. Do
this for each point you're trying to explain.
It's my belief that a visual reference to Leo in action, which occurs
at the same time the explanatory information is given as voice-overs
in the screencast(s) will give Leo newbies a frame of reference for
understanding what is being talked about.
And once they *understand* Leo, they will become excited. Excited
about the endless possibilities. As we have.
Edward, I just want to take this opportunity to thank you for Leo. At
the risk of sounding hyperbolic, It is quite simply, the most
wonderful piece of software I've ever used. Thanks for your selfless
contribution to the Leo community. And thanks to all the Leo
contributors.
And I think if we can get past the "Curse of Knowledge", we might be
able to share just a little more of the brilliance of Leo with rest of
the world.
http://edreamleo.blogspot.com/2010/08/leo-in-nutshell.html
As a long-time Leo user, I can see in my mind's eye each one of
Edward's points as he makes it, and each point is in fact very clear
to me. But as I perused the comments, I saw where one of the
commenter said:
"I don't understand what Leo is at all... A video showing a Leo
user, using Leo, would be great."
But Edward's explanation was very clear and succinct. Why didn't this
guy (and other Leo newbies) get it?
Hmmm.
Just as each of Edward's points were clear to me, I'm sure they were
quite clear to Edward as he was writing them. Unfortunately, those
familiar with Leo tend to have the "Curse of Knowledge" when it comes
to explaining Leo to new users. And of course, the "Curse of
Knowledge" doesn't just apply to explanations of Leo. For a brief
synopsis of the "Curse of Knowledge", please see the link below.
http://idratherbewriting.com/2007/01/24/the-curse-of-knowledge-the-more-you-know-the-worse-communicator-you-become/
Because I've had the privilege of working with Leo over the past 7
years, I could integrate each one of Edward's points in my mind's
eye. This was because of my framework of knowledge given by working
with Leo on a day-to-day basis. But to someone who doesn't know Leo,
Edward might as well be reading Shakespeare to a cat.
Let's dissect a simple sentence that makes perfect sense to long-time
Leo users:
"@edit: Leo reads the entire external file into the @edit node's
body text."
A person new to Leo may have the following thoughts:
- What's @edit?
- What does that @ mean?
- Where is "@edit" located within the file?
- "external" files are mentioned; are there "internal" files?
- what's a node?
- what's a body text
To those of us familiar with Leo, these seem like ridiculous
questions. But *try* to imagine what it would be like if you didn't
know *anything* about Leo.
So how do we surmount this obstacle? I'll offer a proposed solution
in a moment, but first--let's look at how day-to-day Leo users became
comfortable with the new concepts of Leo.
One way Leo users became comfortable with Leo was by reading the
documentation and playing with Leo. However, back in 2003(?) when I
first started learning Leo, I was overwhelmed by the documentation.
There were so many new terms and symbols (e.g. sentinels and @nodes,
and what have you). Fortunately, I stumbled across some
"Screenbooks", and it finally all started to make sense to me.
http://www.3dtree.com/ev/e/sbooks/leo/sbframetoc_ie.htm
It was the *combination" of the visuals of Leo in action--along with
the textual explanation of Leo concepts as you went through the
Screenbooks--that allowed me to understand what the text in the
documentation was talking about.
So, back to the question: "How do we surmount the obstacle of
explaining Leo to new users"?
Again, Edward created a very clear and succinct explanation of Leo. I
think the missing ingredient is exactly what that commenter suggested,
and what I found useful in my own experience:
Tie the explanatory text to visuals of Leo in action.
For example, for each one of Edward's "Leo in a Nutshell" points,
let's *show* Leo being used in that particular use case. In other
words, when we talk about clones, let a screencast visually detail how
information might be cloned and moved to different sections of the
outline to provide different views of the same information. Update
one of the cloned nodes body text, and then move to the other section
of the outline to show them how it's been updated there as well. Do
this for each point you're trying to explain.
It's my belief that a visual reference to Leo in action, which occurs
at the same time the explanatory information is given as voice-overs
in the screencast(s) will give Leo newbies a frame of reference for
understanding what is being talked about.
And once they *understand* Leo, they will become excited. Excited
about the endless possibilities. As we have.
Edward, I just want to take this opportunity to thank you for Leo. At
the risk of sounding hyperbolic, It is quite simply, the most
wonderful piece of software I've ever used. Thanks for your selfless
contribution to the Leo community. And thanks to all the Leo
contributors.
And I think if we can get past the "Curse of Knowledge", we might be
able to share just a little more of the brilliance of Leo with rest of
the world.
Ville M. Vainio
Aug 17, 2010, 3:04:09 PM8/17/10
to leo-e...@googlegroups.com
On Sun, Aug 15, 2010 at 6:10 PM, Steve Allen <qt0...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Fortunately, I stumbled across some "Screenbooks", and it finally all
> started
> to make sense to me.
> http://www.3dtree.com/ev/e/sbooks/leo/sbframetoc_ie.htm
These convinced me to look deeper into Leo as well. Most of those are
quite obsolete though, dwelling on @root etc.
I guess we should make enough screencasts (like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu6J-J0qFi0 , but more in depth) to
drive through the core concepts of Leo. Screencast already has the 2
biggest ones, @thin nodes and clones.
--
Ville M. Vainio @@ Forum Nokia
Edward K. Ream
Aug 17, 2010, 4:25:45 PM8/17/10
to leo-editor
On Aug 14, 10:54 pm, Steve Allen <qt02...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Let's dissect a simple sentence that makes perfect sense to long-time
> Leo users:
> "@edit: Leo reads the entire external file into the @edit node's
> body text."
>
> A person new to Leo may have the following thoughts:
> - What's @edit?
> - What does that @ mean?
> - Where is "@edit" located within the file?
> - "external" files are mentioned; are there "internal" files?
> - what's a node?
> - what's a body text
> To those of us familiar with Leo, these seem like ridiculous
> questions. But *try* to imagine what it would be like if you didn't
> know *anything* about Leo.
>
> So how do we surmount this obstacle?
> Fortunately, I stumbled across some
> "Screenbooks", and it finally all started to make sense to me.http://www.3dtree.com/ev/e/sbooks/leo/sbframetoc_ie.htm
> So, back to the question: "How do we surmount the obstacle of
> explaining Leo to new users"?
>
> Again, Edward created a very clear and succinct explanation of Leo. I
> think the missing ingredient is exactly what that commenter suggested,
> and what I found useful in my own experience:
>
> Tie the explanatory text to visuals of Leo in action.
>
> For example, for each one of Edward's "Leo in a Nutshell" points,
> let's *show* Leo being used in that particular use case. In other
> words, when we talk about clones, let a screencast visually detail how
> information might be cloned and moved to different sections of the
> outline to provide different views of the same information. Update
> one of the cloned nodes body text, and then move to the other section
> of the outline to show them how it's been updated there as well. Do
> this for each point you're trying to explain.
Ok. I'm convinced. Here is my wish-list for a visual tutorial for
> explaining Leo to new users"?
>
> Again, Edward created a very clear and succinct explanation of Leo. I
> think the missing ingredient is exactly what that commenter suggested,
> and what I found useful in my own experience:
>
> Tie the explanatory text to visuals of Leo in action.
>
> For example, for each one of Edward's "Leo in a Nutshell" points,
> let's *show* Leo being used in that particular use case. In other
> words, when we talk about clones, let a screencast visually detail how
> information might be cloned and moved to different sections of the
> outline to provide different views of the same information. Update
> one of the cloned nodes body text, and then move to the other section
> of the outline to show them how it's been updated there as well. Do
> this for each point you're trying to explain.
Leo:
- People should be able to use it without installing Leo.
- The Leo screen shots should be clearly visible, whatever the
resolution.
- Some form of commentary is essential, but it doesn't have to be
spoken. In fact, a slideshow might be more useful: people could
follow along at their own pace.
- It should be easy enough to create such a presentation that people
(including me) might actually do so.
Joe Orr's Leo tutorial at http://www.3dtree.com/ev/e/sbooks/leo/sbframetoc_ie.htm
is *very* close to what we want. BTW, it's the "other tutorial"
mentioned on Leo's home page. The tutorial does a great job with both
text and screen shots: they look like real text, not just blobs. And
the red arrows, callout text and introductory text on each page
provide all the commentary that one could want.
Joe created the tutorial with Screenbook Maker: http://www.screenbooks.net/e/sbm/features.htm.
Screenbook Maker looks like a great tool for creating documentation.
I just downloaded Screenbook Maker 1.5.7 from
http://www.brothersoft.com/screenbook-maker-285869.html. This is not
the page I expected, so it's not clear whether this page is safe. I
do *not* recommend downloading this program just now. I'll contact
Joe Orr first to see what he says.
For sure the tutorial needs updating. Besides the look of the screen,
a *lot* of things have changed in Leo. An updated and expanded
Screenbook tutorial might well be an effective antidote to the curse
of knowledge.
I wonder: would it be possible to script Screenbook Maker from Leo?
Wouldn't that be great... I'll ask Joe about this. I doubt that
@button existed when Joe wrote the tutorial. We might be able to
automate the creation of Screenbooks from within Leo!
> And I think if we can get past the "Curse of Knowledge", we might be
> able to share just a little more of the brilliance of Leo with rest of
> the world.
doesn't matter now what features (or bugs!) Leo has. To the first
approximation, the only thing that matters is that *potential* users
can start to have a feel for what Leo is all about without actually
using Leo.
Edward
Edward K. Ream
Aug 18, 2010, 12:06:04 PM8/18/10
to leo-editor
On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 3:25 PM, Edward K. Ream <edre...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Joe Orr's Leo tutorial at http://www.3dtree.com/ev/e/sbooks/leo/sbframetoc_ie.htm
> is *very* close to what we want. BTW, it's the "other tutorial"
> mentioned on Leo's home page. The tutorial does a great job with both
> text and screen shots: they look like real text, not just blobs. And
> the red arrows, callout text and introductory text on each page
> provide all the commentary that one could want.
>
> Joe created the tutorial with Screenbook Maker: http://www.screenbooks.net/e/sbm/features.htm.
> Screenbook Maker looks like a great tool for creating documentation.
> I just downloaded Screenbook Maker 1.5.7 from
> http://www.brothersoft.com/screenbook-maker-285869.html. This is not
> the page I expected, so it's not clear whether this page is safe. I
> do *not* recommend downloading this program just now. I'll contact
> Joe Orr first to see what he says.
This should be a safe download.
Indeed, http://www.3dtree.com/ hosts Leo's own Screenbook tutorial.
At http://www.3dtree.com/ there is the following:
QQQ
This site is used for testing by NYCircuits Inc.
The multilingual learning library temporarily hosted here has been
returned to www.evisa.com.
NYCircuits Developer blogs:
* Joe Orr
QQQ
Thus, the download site, NYCircuits, *is* related to Screenbook and
Joe Orr. That should be good enough provenance :-)
Edward
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