Only recently, though, did it hit me, the common ground between flawed writing and inadequate computer skills. My colleagues use computers to do their jobs, but their understanding of computer technology is just as superficial as their students' knowledge of language or logic. Far easier to dump everything onto overworked and understaffed tech support people, who are so busy solving problems and putting out fires that no time remains for long-range planning, intelligent spending, thoughtful training, and preventive maintenance. Just hang around a help-desk for awhile and you'll see what I mean. But users who don't see any reason for this interrogation will become just as hostile as the student writer confronting a different kind of literacy gap.
Many barriers block communication and stifle literacy.
Some technically savvy folks would rather keep the convenient power relationships as they are, than change the status quo and actually try to communicate with their clients. More perniciously, too many professors loftily dismiss such expertise as beneath them or beyond them, much as they brag about not being able to program a VCR or jump-start their cars. Computer tools require more training, more resources, and more patience than our society seems willing to admit. As in many other areas, these problems are not solvable simply by making more information conveniently available on the Web or throwing more undersupported computers in schools. Designers and managers and technical support coordinators must take a breather from their headlong pursuit of bleeding-edge technology, and understand their constituents' needs and situations at the deepest level.