Finally getting a small window of time to post this week, and I figured I would take the opportunity to synthesize some thoughts that lately have been drifting in and out of my itty-bitty reptilian brain. So you may be wondering about the title of the post: the Calvin Sticker? Read on and it may make sense (I hope).
It wasn’t too long ago that I saw a jacked-up 4×4 Ford pickup truck race past me on the highway. As the truck made its way past me, I didn’t think much about the name brand of the truck although I did notice the somewhat-now-defunct sticker of Calvin peeing on a Chevy sign. (I also did wince thinking about the horrendously bad mileage the truck gets as well as my personal safety being in a much smaller car, but that’s a post for another day). Wow. Ford and Chevy have done an unbelievably good job of building brand loyalty if someone is willing to put up a sticker like that. Then I think about how a farmer in Nicaragua doesn’t care what kind of truck he/she is driving, as long as the truck can haul goods from Point A to Point B.
It wasn’t too long ago that I overheard a conversation between two self-professed geeks talking about how they couldn’t believe that anyone still uses Windows instead of Mac OS X. It seemed a bit foolish to me. People use computers for a variety of tasks, communication, and in some cases, entertainment. Some people may prefer one operating system over another, but who’s to say which one is best. Perhaps someone is using an older computer that was donated which just happens to have Windows, or Linux, or Mac OS 7.x, or whatever loaded on it…are they getting utility out of it? Then I think about a small co-op in central Mexico where a computer running Windows 98 helps members keep track of their inventory.
The same could be said about the merits of ASP.NET vs PHP vs Ruby on Rails. Well, you get where I’m going…
It wasn’t too long ago that I started feeling this factional vibe in some geospatial blog posts, comments, and other web media, trying to draw a line between the “neo” and “paleo,” between the “die-hard GIS expert” and the “recreational geo-noob masses.” Perhaps it’s just me, but I find it a bit tiring and ultimately counterproductive for people to draw these lines (or to try to draw them). And yes, I believe that it is valuable to identify and describe different/varying techno-philosophical perspectives and knowledge…but I don’t think it’s valuable to draw lines that ultimately create this factional vibe.
I’ve read (and heard) comments from folks referring to “the ‘idiots’ that use Google Earth to find airplanes” to discussions about how “the old school GIS folks are a dying breed.” I would say what about the environmental activists using Google Earth to track humans rights abuses in Burma? Do we propose that they shell out the time, money, and effort to implement an in-house solution? Or what about the GIS analysts conducting high-end watershed modeling to mitigate non-point source pollution? Do we propose that they rely solely on open-source, web-based geospatial tools or a web mapping API?
At the end of the day, the tools, data formats, and end users may be changing, but the underlying needs for geospatial technology are not. I think it’s time to move past all of this and to focus on using geospatial technology in whatever context proves valuable for you and your community/end users. Otherwise, I fear we may end up with little stickers on our laptops, desktops, and servers with a little Calvin peeing on either a “neo” or a “geo.” Who knows, maybe that’s what some people want out of it.
Think I’m full of it? Chime in as you wish.
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Sean Gillies says 15th April @ 8:41
I’d like a sticker of Calvin peeing on people who use “at the end of the day”. So cliché.
There’s really not much you can do about our tribal nature, and some technologies really are better than others, but yes, it would be nice if people let the trivial stuff go.