Kincora1014’s Weblog

I am headed back to Michigan, not necessarily for the reasons I would like, but for a week I will be home with my family. 

The community college in my area of the state is trying to up their efforts to help the unemployed as the automotive industry takes a turn for the worst and more people find themselves jobless.  The college has already given effort to assist the general public, not just students, find employment.  Unfortunatly, as they have found, many of these individuals are not familar with computers, much less are they able to perform job searches (as many companies turn to online jobsites for their postings) and they have not the manpower or tools available to be effective.

 My work with a local business college in Michigan has linked me up with the community college to assist in training these individuals.  This weekend we aim to begin our lessons, and I can only hope I can be of some use.  I will admit, I feel a little intimidated, I am not by any means a computer ‘guru’, and it seems as though I am being left in charge of this effort though I have no doubt I will be recieving plenty of assistance. 

I have always been the odd sort of person who enjoys strolling through old libraries, examining ancient texts and admiring dusty artifacts.  I have worked in three libraries, two museums and specifically decided on a thesis subject that would take me physically to Ireland to sort through heavily guarded collections and personal archives.  While wandering through Trinity College’s library, I looked longingly at the dusty shelves with their age worn books and actually wished I could remain there, living among a wealth of information and wisdom, remnants of a time long since passed.  Without intending to make this sound indecent, I am a physical sort of person when it comes to research and the Book of Kells left me breathless. I have two degrees, one in History and another in Anthropology (I dropped my minors: Literature, Sociology, Philosophy and Theology because I could ill afford to remain any longer).  Digital technology is not a commonly considered tool for any of these disciplines, much less for my original passion: Studio Art.  I have been wondering for the past month if I made a dramatic error in selecting Library Science.  I slid out of St Vincent College in the wake of Blackboard’s arrival, narrowly missing online-centric courses and research, only to make my way to Pitt two years later where traditional classes have made way for the virtual classroom-seriously, I havent a class that does not require hours upon hours online.  I thought coming here would permit me the ability to pursue higher education without having to rely on computer use as I would have had I stayed in Michigan and pursued distance learning.  Oh how naive I can be.  After all, should I expect to attend classes that foster my desire to remain in physical library collections when the future seems to rely so heavily on technology? I attend Latin rite mass, believe poetry should have a rigid rhyming scheme, I want to raise children and spoil them with my delicious cooking and even better baking, I believe in communities and helping your fellow man, and politicians should emulate everything we hold value in.  I am a dinosaur!  Perhaps this is why, when I wandered into the wrong classroom on my first day at Grad school (everyone’s worst nightmare, second only to showing up naked) Digital Citizenship as a course caught my attention and kept me anchored. I may be a dinosaur, but I know the basics of computer use-which is more than many can claim.  I have experience helping the underprivileged use computers, though only in a limited setting, and my social science background makes me hungry for more interaction.  I am excited, though a little intimidated by the idea of service learning for my class, but I know I have something to offer and this is a prime opportunity to do so.With how much is being transferred to the virtual world, it is a huge handicap to be computer illiterate, and honestly, I can see that most clearly in this road to the 2008 elections.  One of the greatest abilities we as Americans have is the ability to vote, and chose our leaders-leaders who represent our nation and its place in the world, leaders who aim to protect our rights and who will really have our best interest in mind-or are supposed to.  Poverty stricken individuals have, or are supposed to have the same amount of say in our country’s future as the wealthiest.  Yet as the internet becomes a key tool in controlling information, and also the free flow of information-those left only exposed to TV, Radio and printed media are vulnerable and more often than not will only be aware of those candidates who spend the most money on campaigning.  I personally feel that sometimes the brightest and best in our country are left behind in politics because they have not the money or influence to get people’s attention.  I see the internet as a way to level the playing field a bit, and those who are isolated from this larger, virtual community (the computer illiterate, the underprivileged)…well perhaps they are falling victim to ‘lesser of two evils’ far more than they should have to.  As we all are.  

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