The Personal Computer was
Invented for Me

Right from my early days teaching in the United States, when all undergraduate writing courses at Illinois State were switched to computers, to today, when I find the Internet an invaluable link to online resources, I have used my personal computers to store and write up the information into teaching materials. It remains my prime reason for using computers but we do have interests outside the classroom.

The personal computer was invented for me.

With handwriting that would shame a doctor and typing skills that a one-armed seal would be proud of, the word processor allows me to produce pristine text and no one knows the hours I took cursing my sausage-shaped fingers as they hit two or three keys together.

Nor will you see the errors I have already typed in the three paragraphs thus far written. I am additionally assisted by the ability to increase the size of the text on the monitor: I lost my glasses a week or so ago. I could hardly see a typewriter, let alone read what I had typed. With text at 150% of normal I can at least see the words.

The personal computer was invented for me.

When I arrived in the south of Thailand some 14 years ago, all materials for students had to be typed on Roneo sheets, which were fearsomely expensive.

Mine would end up glowing orange with the amount of correcting fluid I had to use. But once I acquired a computer, it was simple, if laborious, to get the text right then print the sheet out error-free. The delightful Epson LX800 would go over the sheet three times for the necessary bold setting so each sheet might take 20 minutes to print, but the alternative was a mess.

The personal computer was invented for me.

As a teacher you inwardly groan when you are handed sheets for the students which begin, "Oil reserves in the year 2000" when it is already mid-2001. Unlike many teachers I admit that my students do notice these things and have made it my life's work to keep one jump ahead of the rest.

Whereas ten years ago we would have had to Xerox old copies of Time magazine, or retype Bangkok Post articles, now I can use the power of the Internet, access a few sites and have several texts (and images) of a subject I want to introduce, and have it in the classroom within hours of the event.

The personal computer was invented for me.

Forget sheets of paper. Sometimes, if I have a text that I want all my students to read, I put it on my website and tell the students where it is. The students either read online or print out the text themselves, and I am saved the need to have 200 or more copies printed.

The personal computer was invented for me.

Owning a couple of motorcycles in Thailand means that when the inevitable repairs become necessary, the dealer will keep the bike for months, try all manner of useless fixes and each time present the bike to me with a bill and a smile, only to have me stuck on the road within ten kilometers.

With the Internet I can ask advice of other owners worldwide - experts on fiddling with our beloved machines - and fix the bike myself with that advice. I had one man from the United States write me a series of analytical tests which I carried out on the driveway, finding the fault in 25 minutes when the dealer had been unable to accomplish this in 6 months.

The personal computer was invented for me.

When parts fail on the motorcycle, as they inevitably will, and the dealer shrugs his shoulders again and says, "Maybe two months," I can contact any one of a score of dealers around the world, with an online presence, order the parts and have them in my office within a week, with the assistance of the Post Office and the credit card company.

All it needs is a proper telephone company or a proper cable link to make the Internet the service we deserve.

The personal computer was invented for me.

If I want a part for the motorcycle, it is bound to be one of those fiddly things that has a special name yet defies description and, AND, changed from type A to type B somewhere around the time that my bike was hatched. Ordering a part from 10,000 kms away means that it is a good idea to know exactly what I am talking about with the parts man. To overcome this, I scan a page of the workshop manual, circling the relevant parts, then upload the image to my website and let the parts man know where it is. Perfect: not one wrong part in all my online dealings.

The Toys

I bought my first computer in a back street in Hat Yai a year after I arrived in Thailand -- a twin-floppy disk setup: no hard disk -- at a cost of 25,000 baht, which was fairly cheap in those days. Also back then, the Post Database was a fortnightly supplement, eagerly awaited every other Wednesday by Songkhla residents. I began submitting articles around 1990 and last had something in the pages around 1999. I was particularly pleased with what I wrote concerning the attempt to introduce laws controlling Internet use, and those laws about foreign government surveillance, with the Echelon computers. These day I have computers everywhere, including the repair shop. My current machines are a couple of PowerMacs at home and some older Macs at work, which still do sterling service. At work I also run a Pentium thing (work-provided) with a multi-gigabyte hard drive: a fairly vanilla machine for my office. We have several macs on order. My favourite computer these days is the one beneath the seat of my motorcycle: a far cry from the leaky carburetors of yore.

The personal computer was invented for me.

I am pretty choosy when it comes to games and most enjoy those like Sim City and some of the spin-offs. My all-time favourite was a DOS-based game called Transport Tycoon and I am running a later development of this idea on my current Mac called Railroad Tycoon - a far cry from the character-based games of early DOS machines and the later wonders of the Hercules graphics card (a Thai invention).

The computer and its extensions - printer, scanner, monitor and the Internet - is no universal panacea. It is never going to solve all the problems of the rural poor in one fell swoop. Its nature is in its name, it is a personal tool, that each of us can adapt and use for our own requirements.

You will note how the number of high street computer shops - not schools - has expanded in the last year or so; and you may also have noticed how these shops seem to be full of kids. Good. Run properly, these shops will make sure that these young experts will not come to any online grief.

Leave the youngsters alone to develop familiarity with the technology and the keyboard skills necessary for their respective futures. For these are our futures too.