Apps Vs. Applications
June 2, 2011
As an Education Technologist, I am for anything that makes learning easier, except in the case where learning does not take place. Apps vs. Applications is a good staring point. I remember when the first iPhone came out way back in 2007 (lol) I was an early tester getting my hands on one a week before it hit the market place. I fell in love with the device immediately. It was a game changer. Nothing else like it existed in terms of design and functionality. Fast forward three short years, and now the market is flooded with similair devices running on Symbian, Android, and Windows. Each device and device maker wanting desparately to emulate the user experience of the iPhone, took two steps forward to take one giant step back. Now, first of all, I have to admit I am a techie so I am biased. Not all smartphone users are techies, and not all computer users are techies either. That’s why companies like Apple, and Google are brilliant. They recognize the need for devices and software that runs on those devices, need to be “USER FRIENDLY” and not “TECHIE FRIENDLY”. The “USER” wants to do things (quickly), the “TECHIE” wants to do things, take things apart, and figure out how to make it do something else (hacking) and tell you about it (blogs). At first, I was all over Android and the marketplace, seeing what “apps” I can download to my tablet/smartphone. At first I could not understand why so many people felt there was a need to have so many “apps” on one device, then it hit me like a snowball to my noggin while day dreaming on Venice Beach. Each App only has one function. What?! One function?! I am from the old school where you actually had to sit down in front of a computer for hours to learn a few functions of a Software “Application”. Think Photoshop, or After Effects. These Applications literally take years to learn, and probably very few people know how to do 90% of what either (don’t even try to think about it, you’ll get a headache) Application can do. I purposely avoided Photoshop for this very reason. I needed to use that time learning Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro, shooting and lightning techniques. I gladly pay for Photoshop services, by the way I don’t change my own oil either, but I am very handy with a hammer, nails, paintbrush, and lawnmower, i digress. My point is this, the very notion of apps taking the place of various functionalities of certain application seems like a great idea on the surface. I know a few developers who love cashing those micro and macro checks monthly, but what about the people. What about the children. So see, one thing I noticed while working at Duke University with instructors and students is that everyone was pressed for time. Everyone is overbooked with activities, classwork, and ambitions. I would often go into a class to teach an application, only to have to go back three weeks later and teach it again. Why? Not because the students weren’t paying attention, but not because they were not interested or apathic. Nope. They weren’t paying attention because they couldn’t afford to invest that much time learning something that they could not use right now to do something that is due a month from now. They were overbooked, and needed to learn something to help them with the work that was due yesterday. That’s why I would go back three weeks later, and do it all over again, in some cases. The learning needed to be taught closer to the time they were going to do their project if they were going to invest time learning something new. And even in those cases, they just wanted to know the basics to get their project done. I can empahtize. Back to Apps. No learning curve, it does what it does, right here, right now. No bells no whistles (maybe a few beeps) but what you see (app title) is what you get. Now this is great right? Nope. Where is the learning? I mean using an app is like using a microwave oven. But when you use an Application you are learning a skill. If we produce a generation of young people who are App heavy and Application light, their collective synapes will collasece into instant brain potatoes ( just add water for brain to raise). Yeah, everyone is happy, but ignorance isn’t bliss. And now computer compaines are actually calling for the demise of the PC, personal computer, because of the way people now use computer apps. That’s a little scary to me. I want my airplane pilot to know how to fly a plane, and not operate some apps to get me off the ground and back down again. What happens when the Apps fail? What happens when the apps fail? Will students, teachers, and the everyday user now how to correct the problem (creative problem solving is the heart and function of most application learning), or will they just call the help desk and ask for the App for that? That’s the problem. Apps are creeping into our everyday life. To put this into prespective. There once was a time in America when EVERYONE knew how to do something: build a house, sew clothes, make candles, grow food, shoe a horse, raise livestock, teach, etc, etc. Now if you know someone who has any of those latter skills, its called a hobby, and not what it used to be...a trade. Get my drift. Mass production, lead to mass retail, lead to mass consumption. We have the things we used to have...except the individual skills to make things. So are Apps the impending doom to our world? Of course not. I don’t know the future, but I’m sure someone will invent am app for that.
