kpreid comments on Open Thread, July 1-15, 2013 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: Vaniver 01 July 2013 05:10PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Article Navigation

Comments (342)
Tags: open_thread

Comments (342)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: sixes_and_sevens 02 July 2013 01:30:25PM 6 points [-]

I've been thinking about tacit knowledge recently.

A very concrete example of tacit knowledge that I rub up against on a regular basis is a basic understanding of file types. In the past I have needed to explain to educated and ostensibly computer-literate professionals under the age of 40 that a jpeg is an image, and a PDF is a document, and they're different kinds of entities that aren't freely interchangeable. It's difficult for me to imagine how someone could not know this. I don't recall ever having to learn it. It seems intuitively obvious. (Uh-oh!)

So I wonder if there aren't some massive gains to be had from understanding tacit knowledge more than I do. Some applications:

  • Being aware of the things I know which are tacit knowledge, but not common knowledge
  • Building environments that impart tacit knowledge, (eg. through well-designed interfaces and clear conceptual models)
  • Structuring my own environment so I can more readily take on knowledge without apparent effort
  • Imparting useful memes implicitly to the people around me without them noticing

What do you think or know about tacit knowledge, LessWrong? Tell me. It might not be obvious.

Comment author: kpreid 03 July 2013 03:32:34AM 9 points [-]

a jpeg is an image, and a PDF is a document

Sir, you are wrong on the internet. A JPEG is a bitmap (formally, pixmap) image. A PDF is a vector image.

The PDF has additional structure which can support such functionality as copying text, hyperlinks, etc, but the primary function of a PDF is to represent a specific image (particularly, the same image whether displayed on screen or on paper).

Certainly a PDF is more "document"-ish than a JPEG, but there are also "document" qualities a PDF is notably lacking, such as being able to edit it and have the text reflow appropriately (which comes from having a structure of higher-level objects like "this text is in two columns with margins like so" and "this is a figure with caption" and an algorithm to do the layout). To say that there is a sharp line and that PDF belongs on the "document" side is, in my opinion, a poor use of words.

(Yes, this isn't the question you asked.)

Comment author: sixes_and_sevens 03 July 2013 09:51:47AM 4 points [-]

I'm not sure I want to get into an ontological debate on whether a PDF is a document or not, but I believe the fact that it's got the word "document" in its name and is primarily used for representing de facto documents makes my original statement accurate to several orders of approximation.

Powered by Reddit Powered by Reddit