5.0784 Criteria for Computer Distribution (1/21)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Thu, 26 Mar 1992 14:58:26 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0784. Thursday, 26 Mar 1992.
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 92 15:02:56 CST
From: Eric Crump <C509379@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU>
Subject: computer distribution
Jouko Lindstedt has a good point: "It seldom happens that all the
staff is equally ready to become computer-users." And that's one
reason seniority and hierarchy are questionable means of deciding
who should get machines first and what kind of machine they should
get. I'm at a university that popped for Macs a few years ago, placing
them squarely on the desks of most faculty members. Many of those
computers are still collecting dust, serving as paper weights and
door stops (OK, perhaps I exaggerate). But graduate students,
some of whom are seriously interested in computer pedagogies and
who have introduced computers into their composition and tech
writing classes, have long been stuck with two ancient IBM PCs,
possibly the first ones off the assembly line. Recently, those
grad students managed to acquire two Mac Classics and a couple
of IBM 50s, but they had to do a lot of scrapping and arm-twisting
to get that accomplished.
Seems a waste to put computing resources in the hands of anyone
who is not really interested in making use of them.
Eric Crump
C509379@umcvmb.missouri.edu