Andrew Schwartz – Information Adept
(My Manifesto)

 

 

We inhabit a world that we perceive through our five senses. We learn by experience, by practice and by making mistakes. We are human.

Imparting intelligence (learning) should involve as many of our senses as possible. Within the limits of our electronic and physical universe that usually means sight, sound and touch. Smell and taste are beyond our capabilities to use as tools to facilitate learning, at the present time.

Visual and aural "lessons" ideally are augmented and driven home by sight, sound and touch. What a learner sees and hears as they learn, and the motions they practice and the other physical actions they rehearse and the sensations they experience as they learn, all work together to make the act of learning successful.

I have designed lessons and electronic learning modules that people have used to master varied subjects. I have delivered trainings to groups of students and to individuals; in classrooms and homes in person, and remotely via the Internet. I have created print and online documentation and other resources to help people learn what they want and need to learn and also to help them find the information they need as quickly and completely as possible. I use the tools I am given, or those that I could convince my clients to obtain for me, in pursuit of the best methods and modalities to assist my audiences in their quest for knowledge. I don't believe there is any single solution to the tasks I have been asked to do, but I do believe that some solutions are superior to others.

I am here to assist you in your quest to show others—your workers, your customers, your people—what you want them to know, whatever it may be, using any or all of my extensive experience and talent. I can help you gauge and assess their successes and assist in remediation when needed.

So, I now style myself an Information Adept. This encompasses Instructional Design, Information Architecture, Content Strategy, Technical Writing, Copywriting and everything else I do, and supersedes them.

If you'd like to see some samples of my past efforts, please click the links on the main page.