

No New Tools - skmurphy
http://frankchimero.com/blog/no-new-tools

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skmurphy
Key conclusions

    
    
       What’s interesting about digital tools for information work is how 
       frequently they are born from a specific ideology: someone thought 
       work should be done in a certain manner, they found no tools to support 
       that method, so they set off to build their own tool that presumes 
       their ideology is true and best. Thus, we get another to-do app, 
       Twitter client, or project management app.
    
       Everything that’s made has a bias, but simple implements—a hammer, 
       a lever, a text editor—assume little and ask less. The tool doesn’t force 
       the hand. But digital tools for information work are spookier. The tools 
       can force the mind, since they have an ideological perspective baked 
       into them. To best use the tool, you must think like the people who made 
       it. This situation, at its best, is called learning. But more often than 
       not, with my tools, it feels like the tail wagging the dog.

