Once Upon a Lowly Desktop

Sheila Newsom
11 March, 2009
DTC 375
Dr. Jason Farman
Word count: 902

I interviewed Josie Koelzer, a student majoring in Psychology at WSUTC and mother of three. Josie’s day consists of an hour commute each way to school and helping her husband run a ranch. Additionally she is in charge of accounts payable for her brothers business on a weekly basis.

Josie remembers the days in high school when she had a paper to write. She often had to rewrite a paper several times to get it correct. “Your thoughts were on a paper and you needed to incorporate all the pages together, with a computer your thoughts can be cut and pasted into the appropriate areas.” Since she started using a laptop for her school projects she spends less time writing and rewriting.

In regards to her husbands farming business, she explained that, “it was difficult when you had to make several copies (had to use carbon paper) and when you made mistakes if you had a manual machine you had to start over or be able to erase it very carefully. Later the farm was able to purchase an electric typewriter with a correction key. When we purchased our first computer, life became so much easier, and we have never gone back to an electric typewriter. We could have standard forms that were easily changeable, such as leases, employee information, etc.”

Sheila: What other methods of writing did you use before computers?

Josie: I used a manual typewriter for formal stuff or business, and usually it was pen and paper for casual correspondence.

Sheila: What programs have you incorporated into your farming business?

Josie: Our banker suggested it would be easier and better tracking to use a computer based accounting software. Twenty years ago we got a computer for our accounting system for the farm, prior to that I was doing it on a ledger sheet with different pages for different accounts, then adding everything up with a calculator. So I had to hand write checks, envelopes, then write in on the ledger sheets and add each page up and balance everything together.

We started off with a program that was very difficult, Peachtree, and when QuickBooks was introduced it was scary, but very user friendly.

Before QuickBooks we had to have an invoice book for sending out bills, and now it is intergraded into our software program.

Sheila: Before you got QuickBooks how long did it take you each day/week to do the accounting?

Josie: I would say about two days or one long day, depending on how many bills needed to be paid, because you had to hand write the checks, hand write envelopes, transfer information to accounting pages then total everything by hand, to cross balance.

Sheila: How much time does it take you today?

Josie: Time frame for today is about 2 – 3 hours if you are matching exactly to duties.

Sheila: Was the transition to QuickBooks difficult?

Josie: The transition just took some time because I had to remember numbers for accounts and what I set up the account name as, and remembering where is was on the software.

Sheila: What are some of the downfalls of doing the books by hand?

Josie: Addition is the biggest downfall or forgetting to transfer to the next ledger.

Sheila: What are some other forms of technology you have transitioned into?

Josie: Faxing. Since we live in a rural area this saves time in driving. Prior to a fax it could be a two hour job to take a paper somewhere. Now faxing is slowing becoming less used and scanning is becoming more popular, businesses are trying to become paperless so bills are coming via email.

Cellular phones are another thing that has changed the way we live. They have become such a vital importance to our business, when someone is in the field and needs to call for parts for equipment or for fixing equipment they just have to call us and the problem can be taken care of.

Sheila: What are some of the downfalls of using computers?

Josie: Hard drive crashing is the worst. Then there is taking the time to turn on computer to find information out, backing up data, and having to restore it if for some reason information is lost. One thing that I have found, sometimes if you inputting a lot of information just hitting a wrong key (date or number of check) can send your information into no man’s land and it can’t be found because of wrong date, but can throw your balance off. I think they call those glitches.

Sheila: What are some other ways you have incorporated computers into your lifestyle?

Josie: Accounting, keeping in touch with other people one on one, keeping in touch with a group, making flyers, invitations, excel, mailing lists, address book, PowerPoint, downloading pictures and sending, school homework, children learning with games, finding information, being able to connect to the web using your computer to watch TV.

Sheila: Which technology do you prefer now?

Josie: I don’t know what I would do without a computer, it is much faster, and your work can be easily edited and then sent to anyone. You can keep in touch with anyone through email, Facebook, and if needed you can use a webcam. Today more than ever we are using email for correspondence rather than the telephone or mail. The computer is an overall timesaver once in everyday life.