By the time I entered college in 1990, my experience with using computers was very limited. I remember my 7th grade computer class in which we used an operating system that required us to write specific commands. I have forgotten exactly how information had to be written, but it was similar to the following:
10 My name is Lori.
20 I am a teacher.
30 Run
The final product: My name is Lori. I am a teacher.
After spending one too many nightmarish nights in the basement of my college dorm typing and retyping papers on my Brother word processor, I decided to give the computer lab a try. I not only discovered how I could put my excellent typing skills to much better use; I found a world of computer-loving geniuses who were willing and able to help me conquer my computer-related fears. Being able to do research, importing graphics into a document, saving my papers on floppy disks, and making new friends around the world through IRC, Internet Relay Chat, was well worth coming out of the literal and figurative typewriter dungeon.
I realize that I did not like computers because I did not understand those massive machines. In Chapter 4 of his Library Technology Companion, John Burke examines the computer, inside and out. He provides us with a wealth of information about a technology that people, young and old, around the world use on a daily basis.
Having the correct vocabulary for what I've been using every day on my computer means a lot to me. Knowing that the "box" or "tower" that houses all of the main parts of my computer is the central processing unit, or CPU, that monitors, keyboards or printers are called peripherals--external "hardware" that have particular functions-- or what an operating system is and how OSes have changed over the decades makes me appreciate the intelligence that has gone into making our lives simultaneously easier and complicated. Now, when my computer malfunctions, I chat w/friends from England via Skype or hole up in my bedroom watching full length episodes of my favorite crime drama, I can use the language to describe the technology that I am using.
I too remember the codes needed to make your computer "do something." Amazing how far things have come in such a short period of time, and also makes me reflect on how your students have no idea how limited computers/technology used to be. They probably think you could always just tap on a screen to watch a video! Of course, I have no idea what it is like to wring my clothes through a washer.
ReplyDeleteMy little cousins are the prince and princesses of the iPad. The 10 year old takes hers everywhere like it's her Linus blanket. And she really knows how to use it--for video games, story time and for recording us when we least expect it!
ReplyDeleteI went down to NASA about 5 years ago, and I couldn't believe the size of the computers that they used to communicate with the astronauts. I even think about how I've lived through how we listen to music-- from 8 tracks, records/albums, cassettes and cassette singles to CDs and now listening to my favorite records on iTunes, Pandora or Slacker radio.
Times, they still are a changin'!