Note: This is not a column about the Healthcare.gov web site implementation.
Would you relate HTML with a sexual disease? Have you ever seen a Blu-Ray while sailing in the Chesapeake Bay? Would you say that a gigabyte is a large mouthful of food? It seems that at least hundreds of people would.
A survey conducted by Vouchercloud —a coupons web site— reveals that some Americans are not very well acquainted with concepts of technology.
The survey involved 2,392 men and women 18 years of age or older.
The participants were not told that the study was specifically looking into their knowledge of tech terms.
They were presented with both tech and non-tech terms and were asked to choose from three possible definitions.
Although the survey breakdown offers some hilarious choices, 61% of the respondents said that it is important to have a good knowledge of technology in this day and age.
Therefore, 38% think technology is not important!
Among the amusing results are the following:
•11% of respondents believe that “HTML” —the programming language used to make web sites— is a sexually transmitted disease. 10% identify HTML as “The main road structure throughout England.”
•27% identified “gigabyte” —a unit measure for digital information— as an insect that is commonly found in South America.
•23% believe that a “MP3” —encoding format for digital audio—is a robot from the movie series “Star Wars.” 15% called it “a cleaning product.”
•18 % identified “Blu-Ray” —an optical disc format for storage of HD video & audio— as a marine animal. 12% thought Blu-Ray was a soul singer famous in the 1930s.
•15% said they believed that the “Software” —programs used to operate computer— is comfortable clothing. 12% identified “Sofware” as “Furnishings and home accessories.”
•12% said “USB” — a standard connection for different technical devices— is the acronym for a European country.
•42% said they believed a “Motherboard” —The circuit board that contains many of the key components of a computer— was the deck of a cruise ship.
•77 % of respondents could not identify what SEO means. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation.
After reading about the technological confusions of the respondents, it is good that the survey did not ask for a definition of “microchips.”
I know the answer: Microchips are very tiny, little, bitty French fries.
