Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Computer user meetings and computer polls
The Mid-Shore PC Users Group’s meeting this month will be a field trip. The group is going to visit us here at The Star Democrat. The theme will be computers in the workplace with special emphasis on publishing.
The computer has ignited a revolution in the average workplace. The publishing business is no exception. There are computers in almost every room of our building save the restrooms.
Regular readers of this column are aware that I am the primary tour guide when we have special groups come to the paper for visits. The tour involves the production of the paper from the decisions on how large the paper should be, through the creation and placement of ads and editorial material on the pages to the burning of the plates that are mounted on the press.
The groups range from young Cub Scouts to retired businesspeople. I try to tailor each tour to the interests and level of the group. This tour will focus on the use of computers in the production cycle. Our head of computer operations, Dave Alltop, plans to participate to handle the detailed question we anticipate from this computer savvy group.
The meeting/tour will be on Thursday, May 17 at 7 p.m. Participants should come to the front door of the building.
It appears that a computer users group is in its gestation period up in Kent County at Washington College. We ran a story by Craig O’Connell of the Kent County News last Monday about a meeting at the college’s library on the Mac Operating System commonly referred to as “OS X.” It is the 10th version of the Macintosh operating system.
Dick Lance, described as a Mac enthusiast, and Jeff Chaffin, Washington College Assistant Librarian, hosted the informal meeting.
The MS PCUG is as the title implies, focused on PC the term often used to denote all computer that are not Macintosh. The PC User’s Group will field occasional questions on the Mac, but their overriding emphasis is on the PC.
The Mac group or MUGs will focus on everything Mac. If you are interested in the MUGer’s contact Dick Lance at dlance2@verizon.net. Tell him I sent you. It won’t help but it will help us determine where the referrals are coming from.
In the wake of Talbot County’s decision to leave student laptop computers out of the budget, I decided to quietly switch the main page poll question to one on the laptop issue.
As of this writing, the poll is running 70 percent to 30 percent in favor of funding for the laptop program.
This is understandable. The visitors to stardem.com already are disposed toward computers. It make sense that a majority—strong majority at that—would be in favor of providing the devices for our students. I remember when it was important to have a good typewriter at home for your student in high school Touch typing was one of the most important semesters I spent in high school. As long as our interface with computers in through a keyboard, this will remain true.
I will keep up the poll for the rest of the week. Please offer your opinion by casting a vote for or against funding the laptop program.
Followup: Last week I mentioned the emergency notification program being developed at the University of Maryland, College Park. The Diamondback reported this week that more than 3,000 people signed up for the program in its first week.
There is now talk of emergency notification beacons which amount to 8 x 10 inch yellow devices that can display a scrolling text message to alert people of hazardous situations whether it be a tornado or a gun-toting maniac. These message boards could be placed in strategic areas for maximum visibility. Someday they may be as common as traffic lights.
As always, you can reach me at rpolk@chespub.com.
