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Assignment 11

Randell Rivadeneira

1. choose MS-Word (or another HFA) as an example:

MS-Word

1.1. how much (in percent) of the functionality of the HFA do you know?

I would believe that I know somewhat in the 30-40% range.

1.2. how do you learn new functionality?

Two ways: when I need to do some specific activity and I do not know how to do it, I search for it through the menus and as last resort the help tool. And the second way is by accident, when messing around or searching for another tool I find by accident a tool that I think is useful and might use it some other time.

1.3. for MS-Word users: is there a command in MS-Word which "transposes two characters" (e.g., "leanr" becomes "learn" by positioning the cursor between n and r and executing the command)?

I have not come across this command in Word. I know that VI has it, but I rarely have this problem when writing in Word. Usually word will autocorrect this type of commonly known errors (i.e. teh becomes the automatically). If I ever have this scenario I just delete the last letter and type it in the correct place. Alternatively I can do (Ctrl-Z) Undo and retype the letters.

2. what have YOU learnt "on demand" in YOUR life? Briefly describe the most prominent examples.

I learned Python on demand. This is a programming language that is heavily used in AI. So I had to learn it by myself since at class the professor assumed that we already knew how to use this program. I also learned Portuguese on demand when my family moved to Brazil for a year.

3. what do people have to know to be able to learn on demand?

They need to know where to find the information or where to get started. Sometimes there is a lot of information and one should know what type of information is directed for an expert or advance student and not for a beginner. Depending on what type of situation you are in, some information might be not good for you. And remember, "Google" is very useful for searching information.

4. why should one "learn on demand" instead of relying on "use on demand"?

When you use on demand your main concern is the current goal that you have. The tools and information that you learn at the moment are only for this goal and you are not concern on the long run. By learning on demand you are acquiring information for the long run. The knowledge you learn will be something that can be applied in future goals that you might have and you will not need to revise every time you have a goal that requires such piece of knowledge.

5. which computer systems have you encountered which

5.1. have a User Modeling Component?

Linux (Redhat, Debian, Sussy) allow for a great amount of User Modeling. They come in packages and the user is able to decide which packages to install and configure the packages the way he wants it. I would say that the Office suit is at some level has also User Modeling Components, specially in the sense that one can rearrange the GUI (toolbars) which I like a lot and constantly change it to fit my needs.

5.2. supported learning on demand?

Most of Windows based applications come with the Help tool where one can rely to learn about the application. Microsoft's applications come with wizards where one can look for specific information. I tend to find them a little uninformative and use Internet search engines to find what I want. Linux and Unix systems have man pages that are very helpful when dealing with shell commands.

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