Is the term "toolkit" used in other disciplines as much as it is in nursing? It is now used all the time to mean a collection of resources, such as models, brochures, etc. It is so annoying to hear about yet another toolkit!

It's used in the porn industry a lot.

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
Is the term "toolkit" used in other disciplines as much as it is in nursing? It is now used all the time to mean a collection of resources, such as models, brochures, etc. It is so annoying to hear about yet another toolkit!

And even moreso in education.

You're probably not going to like this, but toolkit is used in the computer software industry. A kit (as in software developer kit, many of which I have documented). (It seems to go back to at least the '60s, where a kit (link) was a full distribution (or tape) of software (OS, apps, software tools). Software tools are basically programs that one uses to develop other programs: like compilers, linkers, debuggers, etc. At the company I am currently working, there are three separate kits (products) that we document.

[Edited for typos.]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,

I've heard many a Brit say, "a nice bit of kit," to mean almost any assemblage that's appealing, whether tools are involved or not.

I've heard things like "add this to your toolkit" when in trainings . . . but that's about it.

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You're probably not going to like this, but toolkit is used in the computer software industry.

I don't know why I wouldn't like that. Of course the word toolkit wasn't invented by the software industry because toolkits (with real tools) have been around for years and years...well before the '60s. However, I imagine the use I see today is from the software industry. I know the toolkit I am designing will be done with our IT department, using videoclips and other interactive modalities, as well as other handouts, checklists, etc.

The term is just used so frequently these days that it's kind of funny. I suppose it's sexier to develop a toolkit than "resources" or whatever.

My interpretation is this.

A tool is a device that helps an individual (usually a human being, although there are a few animals that use tools) to perform a task. As such tools can vary from the very simple - a stick for example (a stick is probably one of the simplest and oldest tools) to the hugely complex such as a computer.

A toolkit is a collection of tools, which collection will vary according to the needs of the user.

Thus any collection of devices that facilitate a task could correctly be referred to as a toolkit.

Of course the word toolkit wasn't invented by the software industry because toolkits (with real tools) have been around for years and years...well before the '60s.

I didn't mean to imply that the software use of toolkit predated the other uses or meanings. I mean that many around here don't seem to cotton to polysemy. That's all. Here comes the smiley.

And I didn't mean to imply that you didn't know think the word toolkit had been around before the software gurus, though I can see that it might have sounded that way. I am sorry.

As far as cottoning (nice word!) to polysemy, from my perspective, I don't care a bit about the use of the word toolkit. What I was complaining about is that the term, at least in my field, is used far too often for such mundane things as a collection of pdfs on a Website. If that's a toolkit, I'll eat my hat!

I see a toolkit as a diverse collection of resources, where some might be pdfs, but others are more interactive and visual.

Oh well. In the history of life, this is a minuscule complaint, I agree.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

Oh, great. The same committee now not only wants a toolkit, but they are renaming our timeline...the dashboard! That's another one!

the dashboard!

That's one that was new to me before I got to work at Sun. Dashboards, which showed the status of various projects, were all the rage. So much so, that the QA guy who did most of the programming for the dashboards became known as dashboy. A kind of superhero.

Although it is typically called a dashboard in cars, the area that contains the various guages is more accurately known as the instrument panel. The word dashboard comes originally from the name given to a protective panel used on horsedrawn vehicles to protect people from the splashing water or mud etc.(think of the Surrey with the fringe on top). Because of its similar position immediately in front of the driver, this name was transferred to the instrument panel.

Kalleh, erect a firewall between yourself and the jargonistic jerk!

It sounds to me as if we have a google/blogger fan here. Both analytics and dashboard are terms used by google in their blog service.

The "analytics" guy is not in our organization and probably is very connected to software technology. He's is California.

However, the people who are wanting the "toolkits" and the "dashboards" are less than computer savvy people who, I think, have heard those words and are enamored by them because they sound so "techy." Those words just sound hackneyed to me, and I don't think people will know what we mean. They might know what the toolkit means, but will they know that the dashboard is our timeline?

"The length of polysemous timeline dashboards is sometimes infinite, particularly when applied to nursing pdfs and interactive software website toolkits."

(Quoted with permission from First Fallopians 1-69)

Nice bit of BBB, Jerry.

The first time I saw the use of "toolkit" in a non-handyman way was the production of a spreadsheet for some area inspectors. They could enter some statistical data collected "on the road" and compare them to national data, and to data from similar areas. It seems quite a good figurative use.

I've never come across "dashboard", but the toolkits make use of "traffic lights" to show possible areas of good performance or concern.

The dashboards I was talking about were web applications that showed the the quantity and status of bugs owned by a particular engineer, the results of building an application, or of running automated tests on the same application (link). The use of the colors red, yellow, and green for statuses was common.

Oh Kalleh I feel exactly the same way about "toolkit." I'm seeing it WAY too often in education... where what's usually needed is commmon sense, skill, and experience (that "toolkit" will beat out "whiteboards", CD-Roms, podcasts et al every time!)

Maybe we need a thread with words of this type, past and present (or have you all done this a zillion times before?)... I'm just remembering how irritated I used to get in the 1970's, thinking if I heard the word "overview" once more I'd scream

Teratogenetic verbal drift= "toolkit," "dashboard," et al. I suggest a new word for them "Teratoverbiage."

Yes, hackneyed. I have heard it used in the same way as CW--as a skill or piece of knowledge that you can use to your advantage in the future--said in workshop sessions: "Here's another tip for your toolkit."

It's overused in the same way that "skill set" has come to be used. "That's not a part of my skill set." "His skill set is a perfect fit for this assignment." Whatever happened to "talents" or "abilities?"

More teratoverbiage for Asa's list!

Wordmatic

And here is one for my word toolkit (or maybe dashboard)...

Above I mentioned "eating my hat." I use it a fair amount and using it here made me wonder how that phrase evolved. I see that I am in good company. Apparently by my hat was used in Shakespeare's "Love's Labour Lost," and then in Dickens's "Pickwick Papers" there is this phrase: “If I knew as little of life as that, I’d eat my hat and swallow the buckle whole”.

[BTW, Quinion didn't place the s after the apostrophe in "Dickens," but after discussions here, I thought I should. ]