AV Technology - June 2008 - (Page 34)

ECHNOPHOBESTECHNO DEALING WITH TECHNOPHOBES not to participate. The only way some technophobes can be “cured,” some managers say, is by showing them that technology can make a demonstrable difference. In the educational arena, where committed teachers are constantly searching for better ways to impart knowledge, showing technophobes the difference technology makes shouldn’t be hard, says Randy Jackson, assistant director of technology services for the University of Washington, in Seattle. With AV technology continuing to prove its value as an instructional tool, Jackson believes even the most technophobic instructors can be coaxed into letting down their defenses. A lot of it depends on how skilled implementers are in selecting technology and framing its introduction, he says. “You have to promote the benefits, bring it back to the idea that technology can make learning more exciting and teaching easier,” says Jackson. “Make that the goal, not the successful rollout of another piece of technology for technology’s sake.” If technophobes in the educational arena can’t be sold solely on AV’s ability to improve how instructors teach, they might be swayed by its impact on how students learn and what they expect. As new generations of ever more techsavvy students emerge, instructors will have to be able to use AV and IT tools to be taken seriously. For technophobes, the fear of being seen by students as incompetent or out-of-touch may trump fear of technology. “Students are now so comfortable with technology that they expect to see things like PowerPoint and smartboards used in class,” Nimtz says. “So I see a certain amount of instructors not wanting to be seen fumbling with technology. If they can see how technology relates to usability and enhancing their teaching capabilities, they’ll be more inclined to learn it.” DEFEATING ANTI-TECHNOLOGY THOUGHTS Some committed technophobes, though, insist that technology not only doesn’t add anything useful, but that it’s a net negative. Frederic Lederer, chancellor professor of law and director of the Center for Legal and Court Technology (CLCT) and the Courtroom 21 project at the College of William & Mary School of Law, Williamsburg, VA, says some technophobic legal professionals take the view that emerging AV presentation and distance conferencing technology in legal proceedings actually gets in the way. “I’ve found that mediators, for instance, by and large find the concept difficult,” Lederer says. “To them, mediation means having everyone in the same room and being able to have a conference at the water cooler. They have a general world view that technology is a barrier to those efforts.” In running CLCT and Courtroom 21, which are helping foster leading-edge courtroom technology adoption, Lederer says he’s learning the importance of justifying and clearly demonstrating technology’s utility. “There’s a deep-seated disbelief among some attorneys that it’s beneficial, so we have to educate as to why it should be used and how it can be helpful,” he says. “Our hope at CLCT is that, regardless of how apprehensive some may be, they know it’s a tool that at least sometimes is good.” While addressing “techno-skeptica” is part of the formula for dealing with technophobia, helping technophobes confront their fear of actually using AV technology still poses the biggest challenge. Whether the fear relates to “breaking” something, their ability to comprewww.avtechnologyonline.com RESEARCH SAYS A ccording to the American Psychiatric Association, there are seven diagnostic criteria for a phobia: 1. An excessive or unreasonable fear is cued by a specific object or situation 2. Exposure to the object invariably provokes an immediate anxiety response 3. The person recognizes that the fear is unreasonable 4. The phobic situation is avoided or endured while anxious 5. The avoidance or anxiety is distressing or interferes with the person’s (academic, occupational, social) life 6. The phobia is not better accounted for by another mental disorder 7. For children, the duration is at least 6 months According to Dr. Mark Brosnan, psychologist from the University of Bath, technophobia fits at least the first five of these criteria. He also states that it’s comparable in severity to more traditional phobias, like a fear of heights (acrophobia) or spiders (arachnophobia). Perhaps surprisingly, technophobia is a well-researched topic. Dr. Brosan, along with University of Surrey colleague Dr. Susan Thorpe, conducted a study in 1990 (well before AV/IT technology became prevalent in the workplace), where researchers concluded that age and ethnicity are not factors that affect technophobia. The APA reports that up to 90 percent of those experiencing specific phobias are female; a finding consistent with the computer anxiety research conducted by Brosnan and Davidson in 1994. Other research conducted at the University of Natal in South Africa found that technophobia was inversely correlated with computer experience, and weakly correlated with age, but not associated with gender. Brosnan developed a Technophobia Reduction Program (TRP), which assumes that technical skills can be acquired. The TRP is based upon systematic desensitization where participants develop an individual hierarchy of imagined scenes increasing from low anxiety through to high anxiety situations. Participants then learn to relax in the situation identified as the lowest level of the hierarchy. Participants progress up the hierarchy one step at a time, as perceptions of anxiety are replaced by percep—Mark Mayfield tions of relaxation at each level. 34 | AV TECHNOLOGY | june 2008 http://www.avtechnologyonline.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AV Technology - June 2008

AV Technology - June 2008 Contents Precedent Corporate: Global Standardization Government: Strategic Technology Planning Education: It’s All Just a Click Pre-Empting Projector Breakdown Dealing With Technophobes Keeping Ahead of Technology Obsolescence Understanding Video Codecs Rules of Engagement Network, See & Learn Sound From the Heart Sportsbook Makes an Impact Upgrading an AV Image Product Review: Polycom’s RealPresence Experience HD Tech Horizons: A True AV Networking Standard? Product Spotlight: Digital Media Servers; Flat Panel New Products Ad Index AV MO: Calculating Fiber Optic Transmission Distance

AV Technology - June 2008

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