DIR Name Proliferation and its Meaning

[scjoe]

Any time DIR comes up on conversation it eventually gets back to the choice of name. This always struck me as odd ... since it's clearly a marketing term.

A few years ago this little car hit the market ... it's called a "Smart Car". Does that name imply that everyone else is driving a Stupid Car?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

It does if your marketing campaign slams other cars.

[boulderjohn]

John, it seems to me that you could do the gear counseling on an individual basis. Set the minimum requirements you want to allow a student in the class, and have a list of "recommended" items. (Fundies, for example, can be done in a single tank with no can light and no backup lights (I think) but you can't get a tech pass that way.) Require students to talk to you before being enrolled, so that you know which group they fall into, and can counsel them appropriately on their gear.

That's what I am thinking. In fact, I suspect the class may in practice break turn out to be one or the other. I would bet that in my neck of the woods the classes would be fairly small, and I can tailor the instruction to the needs of the individual student. I have sent a draft off to the shop with which I work for their perusal and response.

[boulderjohn]

My original comments about making a class and asking what I call it, etc. was really meant to serve as an example of what I perceive the situation to be with DIR today and not so much a request for help. I do thank those who offered the help, though--I am paying attention.

What surprised me in this thread is what I perceive to be a passive acceptance of the concept that DIR is no longer a term controlled by any individual or group but is rather an overall idea that anyone can teach and call DIR, even if it does not really conform to what most people know as true DIR. In the thread from which this thread sprung the opposite idea seems to dominate, that being that only GUE can dictate what DIR means (even though, as Lynne pointed out, GUE no longer uses the term) and anyone else using the term is a phony. This mood in this thread seems to shrug that idea off.

[Peter Guy]

John, as you know I like "An Introduction to Techreational Diving" which is the title of the Workshop I did (I think you have that outline which is, to some extent, an outline for a PADI Distinctive Specialty). In writing the plans for my Workshop, I kept coming back to my "Two Ps of Diving" -- Planning and Precision -- which are at the heart of the difference between "Recreational Dives" and "Technical Dives."

How about calling the specialty -- Introduction to Precision Diving or The Basics of Precision Diving or.....Just let me know when you are done with it -- I'd like to take a look.

[boulderjohn]

John, as you know I like "An Introduction to Techreational Diving" which is the title of the Workshop I did (I think you have that outline which is, to some extent, an outline for a PADI Distinctive Specialty). In writing the plans for my Workshop, I kept coming back to my "Two Ps of Diving" -- Planning and Precision -- which are at the heart of the difference between "Recreational Dives" and "Technical Dives."

How about calling the specialty -- Introduction to Precision Diving or The Basics of Precision Diving or.....Just let me know when you are done with it -- I'd like to take a look.

It's on its way.