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From: wex@ittvax.UUCP (Alan Wexelblat)
Newsgroups: net.cog-eng
Subject: A possible topic
Message-ID: <936@ittvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 16-Aug-83 16:55:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: ittvax.936
Posted: Tue Aug 16 16:55:44 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 17-Aug-83 03:41:24 EDT
References: utcsstat.882
Lines: 31

Something which I have observed might be of interest here:

I am an undergrad at the University of Pennsylvania.  I make money in my
spare time (10-20 hrs per week) working in the terminal room, assisting
the new computer students.  I have seen that a significant percentage of
these students suffer from "computer phobia."

C.F. is a collection of phenomena characterized by abject terror of the
computer, which is seen as some sort of fearsome "god-machine," which
hates each and every one of them personally.  The most extreme cases are
fearful of doing any editing of their programs, for fear of "destroying"
something (the what-you-see-on-the-screen-is-what-you-get mentality), and
are fearful of submitting programs for compilation (we use PASCAL, mostly)
out of a fear of something terrible happening to them or their programs.

Some of these people outgrow this syndrome, others never do.  All are
hampered in their learning by it.  

So, my question is: can (or should) we design systems to help this sort of
novice?  To what extent do we let these people impact the system as used
by highly experienced "hackers"?  Do we design entirely separate systems
to handle these people, despite the load that it might place on the
computer (not to mention the programming staff)?  

Yes, for those who are wondering, I AM serious.  These people DO exist; I
have spent many hours helping them, and wishing that the computer would
help me to help them.  In addition to discussion, are there any projects
(completed or ongoing) that look into this area which y'all are aware of?

--Alan Wexelblat
decvax!ittvax!wex