Turkle Response 2:Epistemological Pluralism: Styles and Voices within the Computer Culture

This essay mainly focused on how each person can use a computer in a different way, especially when it comes to programming. By detailing people’s backstory and training (ie playing piano), etc and by analyzing people’s learning styles, we are able to see why people may succeed or fail at certain computing tasks, and how almost all learning styles can be accommodated by computers.

This article is really good in explaining no only why certain people program in certain ways, but it really gets into why it’s ok for them to program that way. For example, on page 137, it describes Alex as he makes a robot rather than a car.

I really identify with the analysis of learning in this article. I really feel like I often times have a unique learning style which changes with each problem I am given. I often can come across as a smart ass because of the odd questions I ask (and sometimes I do this because I think it’s funny), but most often, it’s because the way I address problems is to find what is interesting about a problem and solve it from the perspective that addresses the unique problems of the issue, not just figure out the answer.

So, for example, I, like Alex, would rather build a robot that uses the tires as feet rather than make the same car that every kid around me makes. Facing the problems of making a robot, which no one could assist me with (because it is a new approach and a new idea), is what having fun is all about. Of course, if I was getting a grade, I would probably make a car, but if I was given the freedom to do WHATEVER I WANTED and didn't have to face the pressure of getting a grade, I would most definitely take the robot approach.

So I encourage YOU, to be like Alex, and take the Robot Approach.