[caption id="attachment_22543" align="alignleft" width="352" caption="QXP 6's user interface"]
[/caption]I rediscovered it when I was first introduced to QuarkXPress 6.0 around 6 months ago. The software is used to design newspaper pages and other printed entities where content positioning is of some importance, like business cards. Working with it is a cumbersome affair. For one, the interface is outdated and had to have been put together without any awareness of the GUI design philosophies that were around in the early 2000s. For another, there is no sense of structure: where different tools could have been grouped together under one tab for convenience, there are none. All its myriad capabilities are there simply because they can be there; there is no purpose - which lends itself to different users in different forms for different reasons.
All this is forgivable because they are visible problems, problems that we known are there but problems that don't exactly interfere with what the software seems useful for. The issue is that QXP - as it is taught in classrooms in journalism colleges (which is an assumption I freely make because ACJ, where I study, is one of the better places to study journalism in India, and ACJ uses QXP) - consumes valuable time that could have been spent learning either what succeeded it, such as Adobe InDesign, or learning entirely something else.
The reason I say this is because once I graduate and find myself employed (hopefully), QXP is only going to take me so far. After a point, once professional demands are stepped up - an inevitable scenario - I will have to abandon the knowledge I have and spend some more time learning may way around a successor technology.
This is a problem that my friend and I addressed in early 2008, albeit superficially, by understanding its repercussions in the context of a school-goer. The principle bone of contention is that there is a loss of time: where only X hours should be spent in learning how to tackle a problem, at least 2X hours are spent.
Before I proceed, let me introduce, with relevance to this discussion, three phases within which some technology will exist in its lifetime.
- Old
- Present/new
- Emerging
(The titles are self-explanatory.)
Suppose a typical industrialist in a developed nation has come up with a new idea which is yet to be implemented productively in the global scene. He will invest his money in hiring scientists, programmers, etc., and in research and development of the product. When he releases the product into the market, it will surface as an emerging technology. Subsequently, the cost of this technology will be very high. There will still be buyers because of the originality of the idea and changes this idea can bring in to their lives.
From the money earned through this venture (profits), the industrialist will begin another project, hiring the intellectual cream of the world and invest the rest (or part of it) in R&D. This cycle is almost perpetual and has many side-effects.
When an industrialist in a developing nation is in the same situation and wants to commence a new project, the path will take be markedly different. Even though he or she may have sufficient funds for the venture, the risks involved in undertaking such a task in a developing scenario are comparatively higher. Also, owing to the inefficient cash flow channels, the money involved in this task will have to be either consumed by the labor force alone, or R&D alone. In such a situation, the industrialist will go for an easier solution: purchasing the product directly from the industrialist in the developed nation.
Now, on acquiring a new piece technology, the user has to get acquainted with its pros and cons and must be able to manipulate it to yield productive results. This process can take quite some time. At the end of this learning session, the user is now able to stand on the concepts of this idea and think of newer ones that surpass the existing level (innovation). In the developing nation, by the time the user has acquired the skills of the product he or she has purchased, newer ideas would have cropped up. This pushes the skills of the user to the old phase. He now has to start all over again just to sustain himself.
[caption id="attachment_22542" align="aligncenter" width="533" caption="On the x-axis, time, and on the y, phases of technology from 'Outdated' at the bottom to 'Emerging' at the top. Moving forward in time, the lines indicate progress. In the section between 'New' and 'Emerging' technologies, the way students and professionals in developed countries function is represented. As for those from developing countries, the representation is between 'Old' and 'New' technologies. Now, the orange line indicates the way a developing country moves forward, the green line the way we ought to move, and the blue line the way developed countries move."]
[/caption]In any country, the academic curriculum and everything that we perceive is relative to the state of the technology that is in use. Our syllabi at school are framed on the basis of what is known and may be useful for the student. On the completion of education, when the student is emerging as a professional in some field, he will be exposed to the contemporary and practical scenario.
In a developed nation, the vicious circle is firmly established and running. The technological output out of this circle will be in the emerging phase when the individual is studying and will have evolved into the present or new phase when the individual becomes a professional. At this stage, the knowledge of the person will accommodate the concepts held by the present ideas. This way, he can use the present product and utilize it to bring in improvisations, as well as create new ones.
In a developing nation, owing to the vicious circle and economic risks, the students are masked from the news that a new product or idea has emerged elsewhere by their curriculum and syllabus. This way, when they emerge as professionals in their field of choice, they face a dilemma: owing to the emergence of a newer product, the knowledge they now have is shifted back into the old phase. To correct this, they undergo training and workshops before they can work and think productively.
This is a hidden problem and must be corrected as soon as possible.
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