Technology and the liberal arts

Steve Jobs' resignation as CEO of Apple seems to have evoked a greater flow of media coverage than any other industry announcement this year. Yes, this is one more piece on the subject, but hopefully it isn't “just another” article bidding farewell to the rock-star technologist. There's far more to Jobs than that, and as the industry celebrates the career of one of its most prolific leaders, a point must be made about the nub of his contribution.

There are few modern brands as synonymous with their creators as Apple is with Jobs.

Simon Dingle, contributor, ITWeb

There's something about Steve that stretches beyond his involvement with the world's most valuable company. Exxon Mobil occupied the top spot on Wall Street until it was displaced by Apple two weeks ago, and I can't remember its CEO's name. There are few modern brands as synonymous with their creators as Apple is with Jobs. He lived the company in the truest sense. Apple is an expression of his preoccupation not with technology, but with how human beings engage with information.

When Jobs unveiled the iPad in San Francisco last year, he made the statement that Apple has “always tried to be at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts”.

This was largely overlooked, especially outside of the USA where the term 'liberal arts' is ambiguous to many. What Jobs was referring to was the knowledge movement stretching back to ancient civilisation, and one of the many preoccupations of American founding father Thomas Jefferson.

To quote Wikipedia: “In classical antiquity, the 'liberal arts' denoted the education worthy of a free person.”

When cars first entered the mainstream they were far from user-friendly. They were basically engines with precarious seating thrown in as an afterthought. The focus was on engineering first and passengers second. Car owners were treated as ancillary and needed to know a thing or two about mechanics, as they would probably have to tinker at some stage to get their vehicle from A to B.

Now things have changed. Most car owners hardly know how to open the bonnets of their vehicles. The engine block now resembles a chunk of plastic, and even if you did know how to take a spanner to it, you wouldn't be able to. The focus is clearly on drivers and passengers. The buying decision has become more emotional than practical.

Information technology is finally making the same shift. Until now, the enabling technologies were the focus and users were largely an afterthought.

Except with Jobs.

iOS is testament to his preoccupation with how human beings engage with information. Like your car, the iPad is not easily tinkered with. It has no screws. And even if you could open it up, you wouldn't know what to do with its innards.

And yet it is profoundly useful. My youngest child was proficient with the thing at the age of two, without being literate. I recently met an 86-year-old who says the iPad is the first computer he has been able to use without constantly needing help.

It represents a career-long focus of Jobs. In his own words: “To make extremely advanced products from a technology point of view, but also have them be intuitive, easy to use, fun to use, so that they really fit the users - the users don't have to come to them, they come to the user.”

That intersection between the liberal arts and technology, and the move to human-centric computing, will be Jobs' real legacy.

Yes, he also showed the world that convenient beats free in the content industry's preoccupation with digital piracy, and achieved other breakthroughs in media, such as founding Pixar and subsequently reinventing Disney. But when history looks back on the profound shift in computing now happening, Steve Jobs should be remembered as navigator.

Simon is an independent writer, broadcaster, consultant and speaker. Meet him at his Web site, SimonDingle.com.