Computer Illiteracy

My first encounter with the modern computer age happened in the mid 70's when I was Media Director for a good sized Houston agency. The owner was ahead of his time in computerized media buying. Whenever Arbitron completed a measurement of the audience we would receive huge tapes ... bigger than an LP album which I took to the Rice University main-frame (about a football field sized basement full of huge computing devices). I would hand it through to a Rice fellow who then installed it on the Rice computer and head back to my office on the West Loop. Some time later my little computer would access it and do miraculous computating to determine the most efficient radio and television schedules for our clients. I was ahead of the computer curve.

At radio stations where I managed sales staffs, at the dealership where not only the dealer but his bright sons as well, knew everything about computers, my education expanded. I can remember envelope printing when not only did you have to feed them in a very specific way, but also stand just so and breathe quietly. I learned Symphony, Lotus, Word Perfect, Mediatron, and a zillion other brands of software. I still learn new software.

But, here's where our computer curve differs from our previous office experiences. When we ladies learned typing, whether at Wauwatosa Senior High School, Lamar High School, or Buddy's Business Academy, we all learned to type the very same way, with the very same "asdfjkl;" system. We learned where to put our fingers on the identical keyboards, how to capitalize and how to advance the page.

Computers? We all learned differently. Maybe you started at home with a Commodore, or at school with an Apple, or at a cash register that was a computer. Maybe you took a class, or a lot of classes. I took a Leisure Learning class to learn "Spreadsheets" or some such.

Point being, no two of us learned to use a computer exactly the same way. All of our experiences are different and so are most of our shortcuts, most of what comes automatically when we sit down to a keyboard.

And then, you go to work for or with someone whose entire computing experiences are based on another planet entirely. They want you to do it their way. Never mind that your itinerary takes you to an identical result. They want you to do it their way. Talk about "old dogs and new tricks" ... one person's "literacy" is another's foreign language.