Notes:
This is paraphrased from a book by Donald A. Norman entitled "The Psychology of Everyday Things" (POETS) pp. 54 & 55.
While it merely makes explicit a relatively simple set of facts, it was a revelation to me when I first read it a couple decades ago and it remains inspirational to me today. In particular, it helps me understand the vital need for knowledge to be recorded, i.e., to be made explicit in records and in the technology that exist in the world, outside of our cluttered and fallible minds.
Accessibility of records and IT systems to disabled persons is a big issue right now, particularly to Federal agencies, since a new law (commonly known as Section 508) imposes upon them the risk of being sued. However, disability is a relative term. We are all disabled to one degree or another. Technology is how we overcome human frailties and empower ourselves to achieve greater heights of physical performance and of knowledge.
Technology is knowledge that has been rendered "in the world", i.e., in tools enabling higher levels of excellence.
