Kristin Sanders
March 11, 2009
DTC 375
Dr. Jason Farman
Word count: 1,216

New age correction tape

I interviewed my mom, Kathryn Elsen, for this essay. Kathryn is a 47-year-old mother of two who works for the federal government. She started as a pseudo secretary at her office, and 15 years later she’s acting as her co-workers’ on-site tech support. Just yesterday she was troubleshooting a wireless router connection at a teammate’s home office. She’s always struck me as particularly tech-savvy –- she was the first in my family to get an iPod way-back-when, had a cell phone just after the bulky trend had passed and has just recently gone to “cell phone only, no landline” at the home and office -- but I really had no idea until I went about talking with her for this paper.

Among typewriters and computers, we talked about first cell phones and how while now it seems we have wide areas of reception with small pockets of dead space, it used to be quite the opposite. “ ‘Let me just make a call – oops, nevermind,’ ” she said with a laugh, channeling one of our family friends in the early ’90s who owned the “brick model” cell phone. “ ‘It works back at home, but I guess it just doesn’t get service in town.’ And we just accepted that, because that’s just the way it was!”

Seeing her light up as she described her first dial-up modem at the office and when she remembered learning basic programming for her first computer (“You had to be very specific – 0010, enter, 0020, enter, 0030, etcetera – or else you had to go through each line again to see where you goofed. … And if you were really clever, you could punch a slot on the OTHER side of a floppy, doubling your storage space!”) reminded me that, yes, I am indeed my mother’s daughter.

Kristin: I remember you telling me about one of your graduation gifts: A typewriter. What was it like before you had your own typewriter and what it was like afterward?

Kathryn: The typewriter I got was the exact same as the one I had used for a few years: an electric Smith Corona cartridge typewriter with slide out cartridge and optional correction tape cartridge. It was the latest thing to have the correction ribbon. It came in a hard-sided carrying case. The main difference between before and after was the supply purchase. Before I used mom’s typewriter and she bought the replacement ink cartridges and correction tape. Often the paper was from household stock. Afterward I had to buy the supplies. Probably like today’s college kids making that first ink jet cartridge and paper purchase – the supplies don’t come cheap and other people’s work best.

Kristin: How did having a typewriter make things like school work easier? What were any downsides of having a typewriter compared to writing by hand?

Kathryn: Having a typewriter I could do my typing at anytime and often did in the wee hours of the morning or early hours before class. I also was guaranteed the same font size on the typewriter I owned rather than risking the use of the library’s so I could start and stop a project whenever.

Most instructors gave you the option to type or write it out at that time. The typewriter helped to create neater presentations. But two things: once an instructor knew you had your own equipment, you pretty much sealed your fate and couldn’t submit anything by hand. The typewriter also wasn’t as mobile as a pen and paper.

Kristin: What was your first experience with a computer-based piece of equipment, professionally and personally? How old were you?

Kathryn: My first experience with a computer was when I was fall of my senior year in high school (1979) and I was 17. There was a computer in the library for college research and planning. I remember simple questions on the monitor, keying the answer and submitting the response… and waiting and waiting for the machine to process. Sometime the next day, I could go back to the library and get my dot matrix print out of colleges and degree programs. I don’t think it took that long to process, but I do remember the interface was between offices in Olympia and the high school in Kennewick. My first experience of owning a computer was Compaq 128. This was financed in 1985 in Wisconsin and was something like $2,000 with the monitor or $1,500 without the monitor. We bought without the monitor and hooked it to the color television. I learned a little basic programming and helped write a couple of basic programs. Professionally, I used a computer to update dental records for members of the United States Navy at the Post Graduate School in Monterey, Calif. The computer was stand alone with a dial-up connection we used to transmit information to the regional and then national databases. The dial-up was in a box that was 36 inches tall, about 6 inches wide and 12 inches long. We had to put the phone headset on the top of this machine after dialing in and getting the connection noise. That was 1990.

Kristin: How do you use computers today, both at work and outside of the office?

Kathryn: E-mail, instant messaging, surf net, correspondence, presentations, information management, photo gallery, storage system, authorization of work repairs and financial integrity and obligation of funds, planning travel and coordinating flight arrangements, manage training history, training online, webinars, e-mail on my phone…

Kristin: What are some issues you’ve come across using computers that you wouldn’t normally encounter with typewriters? With writing by hand?

Kathryn: Viruses and system upgrades are major issues with computers. Typewriters were pretty simple. I have a Blackberry for work and while I’m learning all the time, there are so many new things to do with it I don’t have time to learn them all and feel I’m missing out on stuff. I also would think that computers would help us reduce using paper, however I wonder at that effort. It seems I have to print something out to read it if it is really important to be sure I haven’t missed anything. When you put pen to paper, you don’t have all the choices for change and go with the best effort first time.

Kristin: Which do you prefer: Hand-writing, typewriters or computers? Why?

Kathryn: Computers are preferred, but a hand-written note at Christmas beats a form family letter over and over. It really depends on the audience and message.

Kristin: OK, then of these following, which do you prefer: Online interaction, phone interaction or face-to-face interaction? Do you have different preferences from those for work and personal life? Why?

Kathryn: Probably, for almost all, face-to-face interaction. You give and get so much more out of that face to face interaction that can’t be touched over the phone or the silence by writing and reading.

Kristin: Any gadgets or online goodies you’re looking forward to? How about anything in the offline realm?

Kathryn: Setting up a Facebook account; a better Bluetooth connection for my cell phones and hearing aids to work together; learning more about my Blackberry. Offline: more kitchen goodies and working new recipes into the mix; spring; farmer’s produce; watching the kitties in my home play together; and more time with my family.