Monday, May 05, 2008

On content and process

I read a very interesting post just recently regarding the difference of content versus process. Process is basically determining action based on the context and is very much done in the here and now. Content has to do with analysis of concepts and the relationships between them and could be taken as learning experiences. Process can also be learning, but the enhancement of action (reflex) on the perception of content identified in a way. Content itself is deep-rooted knowledge of how a concept might have gotten somewhere or how it might relate to other concepts (in various different possible ways).

Maybe if you don't appreciate the arts, you're a person that highly prefers process (objectives), getting things done or moving from A to B without caring much about the how and where. People that really dig art and content may not be as efficient in getting their things done, but they understand the relations between concepts better and "enjoy the journey" :).

This is an interesting differentation of course. If not achieving your objective causes frustration, than this might also explain why some people feel depressed, frustrated or stressed more than other people. Some are just there for the journey and the pleasure, others always want to be somewhere else just as they got somewhere.

The argument of the person writing the article was that long, continuous exposure to video games and films for example didn't train the content-analyzing capabilities sufficiently. Therefore, training people to only get things done without training them on the pleasure/enjoyment of analyzing the interrelationships and contents of things.

Historically, humans have mostly lived together and generally spent a lot of time interacting with one another, developing and improving interpersonal relationships. The virtual environments are however loaded with objectives "just to make it interesting", so the argument that social environments improve relationships isn't a natural argument. It might just provide an excuse for achieving your objectives.

The article also articulated that the development of the individual (the recognition of who you are yourself, your "self-idea" ) isn't as developed. Or stated in another way, you're not sufficiently self-aware or "individualawared" enough. This puts pressure on the need to make more effort to be recognized as a specific type of person, or projected self-image.

This lack of individuality could then be compensated by collecting status symbols, generally projected symbols of what is considered success by oneself. Those symbols of success are basically material trophies like cars, houses and other things, material things that are thought to add up to one's identity. Sadly to say though, one can never gather enough items for individualization, there's always place for more "self-articulation", which explains the unexhaustive search for new items to conquer.

1 comment:

Miles Cabrera said...

Thaank you for writing this