Computer reflections

Most organic systems have a developmental curve that is either linear or exponential which eventually flattens out near the end of the system. No, I don't have data to support this statement nor literature. It just feels like what happens in life. What is not well captured in my non-scientific observation-proposition is the time line or time limit to that development. Nor does it capture the "experience" of being on the steep slope of development.

What I can say is that since my first days with a Radio Shack TRS computer, the slope has been steep and the experience has been challenging. I have gone from watching the key punch cards sort my programming code to downloading mobile apps.  I have gone from using a mainframe requiring air conditioning, tape reels and large rooms to having  a phone with more capability than several of those old IBM mainframes. I have gone from needing to know a set of DOS commands to get the computer started to having a computer that can "find" my home wifi router.  I have gone from mimeographed handouts to asynchronous distance education courses (aka internet courses).

A week ago, some construction workers cut the fiber optic cables that carried telephone and internet information to our part of campus. We were forced to read email from our phones rather than from our desktop computers, and we could not use the office VOIP phones to call for help. After a couple of hours, staff gave up and went home to work.  Seeing this dependency effect productivity was scary and revealing. Dependency is rarely a good thing, even if it is necessary.

As the tech support people worked with faculty this week to do a major upgrade, all these "then and now" thoughts come to the forefront for me.  My philosophy as a faculty has always been that I must stay current with the computer and information technology in order to be able to interface with my students, both technologically and culturally. In the years since those first Radio Shack computers, I'm not sure whether the developmental curves for technological or cultural changes have been steeper. I am sure that neither curve will flatten soon and that I will continue to be challenged to stay current with my students.