Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!sri-unix!hplabs!hplabsc!taylor From: taylor@hplabsc.UUCP Newsgroups: mod.comp-soc Subject: Re: Getting people to use communications systems Message-ID: <1476@hplabsc.HP.COM> Date: Mon, 23-Mar-87 22:05:11 EST Article-I.D.: hplabsc.1476 Posted: Mon Mar 23 22:05:11 1987 Date-Received: Wed, 25-Mar-87 05:57:04 EST References: <1393@hplabsc.HP.COM> Sender: taylor@hplabsc.HP.COM Distribution: world Organization: Boston Univ. CS Dept. Lines: 34 Approved: taylor@hplabs Katherine A Lato mentions "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" in a recent posting about how to get people to use communications systems... In my high school (Foxborough MA) the two "computer science" teachers lured teenagers into the computer classes by having them visit the computer room during their free study periods. They had single player and multiplayer computer games setup for them. Many students would willingly take the computer courses because they had been introduced to it as being fun. Some of them were rather disappointed later that computers can also mean frustrating work, but at least they can now form rational opinions about computers and what they represent. I have spent some years tutoring and advising people with technical and nontechnical backgrounds here at BU, at my high school, and at the various jobs I have held. It has never been my opinion that everyone should be a hacker, but I feel it is important that people should have some small exposure to the innards of computers in order to better appreciate the outtards (sic). The place to do this is in high school or even before, not in college. As a non medical major I have not been required to take Biology or any other lab science at BU. But I was required to take that sort of thing in high school so now I can read magazine articles about cancer, AIDS, and whatnot with a reasonable level of comprehension. The same philosophy should be applied to computer education. The average citizen does not need to know the specific differences between Emacs and XEDIT, but it would be nice if s/he at least knew the difference between an editor and a compiler. Just as I know the difference between a virus and a bacteria from 10th grade Biology. Computer education for children is making good progress. While it seems that computer illiteracy today is an insurmountable problem, the next 30 years will show a tremendous drop in "computer illiteracy", as the next generation of users (and software) matures.