Thanks alot for the praise. We do our best.
We are looking for people to help write other articles. It would help alot.
JG has many articles stuck on his newton (old apple PDA). He can fax from it but not email. We need someone who has a scanner of a fax machine that can do text indentification and then email me the articles. Please email me Karl@slalomspot.com if you can help.
Learning from the young'ns
-
Karl Floitgraf
- Slalomspot.com
- Posts: 584
- Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2003 2:00 am
- Location: North America
- Contact:
-
Matthew Wilson
- Posts: 241
- Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Lone Tree, CO
- Contact:
Learning from the young'ns
I was just checking out <a href="http://www.slalomspot.com" target="_blank">www.slalomspot.com</a> and took a look at their "Learn" section.
I noticed a couple of articles, one by JG and another by Ben Chapman. JG's article is interesting and informative. But Ben's article is simply practical--that is, it can be put into practice. It's not just advice, but a practical approach to developing a real world skill.
I think that this is REALLY important; and it may be an approach that we "adults" may want to make note of.
The print-based advice most of us find is burried within message board threads. This is valuable too, but I think that we lose something that is intrinsically valuable which the young folks at slalomspot.com have held onto. We lose the value of the advice on its own merit. In a thread situation someone will post some advice. A day later, the thread is convulated with responses that either affirm or discourage the advice initially given. After reading all of the responses, a reader then leaves the thread with few practical and specific things to go out and try. I would argue that more time is spent thinking about what is said then practicing what is advised.
Slalomspot.com offers a "Learn" section where one can read articles, then a seperate forum for discussing experiences or what was in the articles WITHOUT diminishing the merit of the article itself. The advice given still stands on its own, as its own entity. It retains its initial value--always. Advice found in threads, especially those threads where arguments or vast digressions from the advice given are posted, is eventually reduced in value.
So, great job, Karl, Bryan, Ben and the rest managing slalomspot.com. I think you've demonstrated some thoughtful information design, and have added some real value to the slalom community.
Dang those kids are smart!
Go right ot Ben Chapman's article on learning to use ramp starts: <a href="http://www.slalomspot.com/learn/ramps.html" target="_blank">Using Starting Ramps</a>
I noticed a couple of articles, one by JG and another by Ben Chapman. JG's article is interesting and informative. But Ben's article is simply practical--that is, it can be put into practice. It's not just advice, but a practical approach to developing a real world skill.
I think that this is REALLY important; and it may be an approach that we "adults" may want to make note of.
The print-based advice most of us find is burried within message board threads. This is valuable too, but I think that we lose something that is intrinsically valuable which the young folks at slalomspot.com have held onto. We lose the value of the advice on its own merit. In a thread situation someone will post some advice. A day later, the thread is convulated with responses that either affirm or discourage the advice initially given. After reading all of the responses, a reader then leaves the thread with few practical and specific things to go out and try. I would argue that more time is spent thinking about what is said then practicing what is advised.
Slalomspot.com offers a "Learn" section where one can read articles, then a seperate forum for discussing experiences or what was in the articles WITHOUT diminishing the merit of the article itself. The advice given still stands on its own, as its own entity. It retains its initial value--always. Advice found in threads, especially those threads where arguments or vast digressions from the advice given are posted, is eventually reduced in value.
So, great job, Karl, Bryan, Ben and the rest managing slalomspot.com. I think you've demonstrated some thoughtful information design, and have added some real value to the slalom community.
Dang those kids are smart!
Go right ot Ben Chapman's article on learning to use ramp starts: <a href="http://www.slalomspot.com/learn/ramps.html" target="_blank">Using Starting Ramps</a>
slalom is good