Bigbro's foray into the scary world of blogging
(What I was trying to post yesterday from my Nokia 9500 Communicator was actually the following observation.)
My mobile phone rudely pointed out to me the gaping chasm between non-engineer's writing and their meaning. I'm sure you've all seen the notices requesting you to turn your phone off when entering a cinema, or a similar location where quiet is required. But, turning my phone off doesn't make it stay quiet at all: it cleverly turns itself back on again to make loud alarm noises for calendar appointments, todo items and a host of other things.
There is, of course, a way to ensure it stays silent: selecting the 'silent' profile. Perhaps we need to update all those signs to tell mobile phone users to 'put your phone on "silent"' rather than suggesting they turn them off? Is this a case where organisations with a policy on mobile devices should actually state their desired outcome, rather than some 'interpreted' method of supposedly achieving their end? There are some interesting parallels between this technique of putting interpreted desires on notices, rather than the actual desire, and the dreyfus learning model. Perhaps I'll meander through this another day :-)
Of course, in places such as hospitals where there are EMI issues, the notice to power your phone off is correct and should be respected.
posted at: 12:52 | path: /technical | permanent link to this entry
