Sorry but I cannot agree with your definition of "the average IT person". I think you need to define your audience, then go from there. IT is industries within industries thus way too big to define "the average IT person" as someone who thinks automation is about IFTTT and networked devices. Even just "networked devices" is an extremely broad category. But more importantly automation does NOT automatically imply anything is networked.
Look at all the automated devices on the modern car that have absolutely nothing to do with IFTTT or networked devices. Air bags, cruise control, adaptive cruise control, lane wandering warnings, auto stopping, auto parking, backup cameras and more.
Automation to "the average IT person" is the standard definition of automation though most controlled by computers - perhaps networked, though not necessarily over the Internet.
My DVR automatically records my favorite shows. My pharmacy automatically sends me refills of my prescriptions.
You mention robotics - those are all programmed and controlled by IT people. And they are huge industries.
Yes, automation has taken on new meanings, but the old meanings have not gone away.
So you are absolutely correct when you say everyone thinks about automation in different ways. But I don't agree when you say "the average IT person" thinks of automation as those very small slices of the automation pie.
That's perfect. :) Though it really does not apply to me because I have no interest in programming. My interests are in IT hardware support, and security.
As a side request - if you don't plan on going back to update and keep current any of your articles, then I would ask that you date them. This may seem like common sense but too often today, I see articles that are not dated. When it comes to "information technologies" I hate seeing clearly outdated blog articles about constantly evolving technologies that are not dated. I feel it only does a disservice to those the blogger is trying to educate. If you look at Corrine's blog, for example, the first thing you see above every article (in a different font color no less) is the date. :thumbsup2:
This is why I think you need to define your audience and be ready to accept it is going to be a very small one. You are right that lots of people don't have any ideal how it all works. But that's because the vast majority of people just don't care how it works. They just want it work, every time, without bad guys causing problems.
And I was not lecturing (sorry if I come across that way), nor did I say or imply it was poorly written. You asked for insight. I've been supporting IS/IT systems since 1971 for the DoD and other government agencies, the corporate world, SOHOs and individuals computing/networking needs so I gave you mine. Nothing says you have to use it.
:lol: Very interesting/ironic you say that. I saw a short film/documentary on agricultural automation years ago. It was about future farming where, guided by GPS, huge machines would plant in one pass, 2 rows of wheat, 1 row of sugar beets, 1/2 row of soy beans, 1 1/2 rows of peanuts and so on for all the ingredients (in the correct proportions) for peanut butter cookies. Watering and fertilizing and insect control was all automated and then at harvest time, another big machine would cultivate the field. This same machine would not just process the crops, but mix the ingredients, dispense the batter in cookies size portions, bake the cookies in on-board ovens fueled by burning some of the waste stalks, stems and shells, then package the cookies in boxes made on that same machine from fibers of the remaining plant waste and deposit the boxes of store ready cookies on pallets when this machine reached the end of the row. Pretty cool. I think the inability to control the weather has hampered development of this idea but advances in automated indoor farming are getting there (note there's no date on this article! :banghead: :mad7:).
