Generation gap causes computer complications

Published Originally in the Utah Statesman on Mar. 26, 2008; Online at Utah Statesman.

By JP Parrish
Staff Writer

 

“Hello, IT Service Desk, how can I help you?” The image on a computer screen had accidentally been digitally rotated 90 degrees. This unsuspecting IT technician faced a naïve woman on the phone, who had physically turned her monitor on its side to fix the problem. There is a gap in computer literacy between our generation and that of our parents and grandparents.

 

Nathan Hills, sophomore in management information systems, and Brittany Furniss, junior in computer science, both work at the IT Service Desk in the Janet Quinney Lawson building, right next to the Veterinary Science building. Hills and Furniss both said working with people is generally a good experience. A few interesting situations arise occasionally, like the woman with the sideways monitor.

 

Furniss said younger students are usually more impatient, and the older age group are more understanding. She also said the older generation seem to expect problems to arise with technology, whether they cause it themselves or simply because of recurring computer errors.

 

“There are some people who come in every day for assistance,” said Steve Funk, speaking about the older generation that didn’t grow up with such advanced technology.

 

Funk is the IT Service Desk manager on campus. When the desk opened in 1995, Funk began with two student employees and himself taking phone calls and walk-ins. Now the program has expanded to meet demand. With 18 full-time employees and 25 student employees, the IT Service Desk offers technical support as well as a top-notch repair center, Funk said. It offers full hardware service and data recovery with technicians certified by Dell, Apple and Sony.

 

With growth in fields of technology, students and even professors may get lost in the torrent of new gadgets and functions.

 

Cathy Ferrand Bullock, assistant professor in the journalism and communication department, said she hasn’t done as much as other professors with technology. Part of it scares her a bit, and she said she is not convinced it always improves instruction in the classroom. 

 

While in graduate school, Bullock worked with key punch cards to compute statistics on early computers. The current technology USU works with is all new to her, she said. Although she calls herself a technology laggard, Bullock has since learned and incorporated e-mail, printouts and PowerPoints into her teaching style.

 

It was back in the day of Windows® 3.1 and MS-DOS® that junior in speech communication, Joe Phippen, first began to use a computer. The Microsoft® Web site states Windows® 3.0 was released in 1990, and for Phippen, it was simple to use.

 

The most challenging computer function that Michael Tatton, senior in history, has faced is changing his USU password, he said. Tatton said any work in the campus labs have been no problem. He still needs to take the required CIL tests and said, “I’m not worried.”

– j.p@aggiemail.usu.edu

Positioning Paper - Final

American’s today are increasingly less concerned with matters of nutritional foods unless it is made easy for them. According to the World Health Organization, about 1.7 billion adults are considered overweight, with at least 312 million being clinically obese. We at Burger Planet care about our customers and desire to offer a wide variety of choices that will please them. We realize that your father created this business wanting to sell burgers and fries. However, in a changing America it is necessary to consider offering a diverse menu including healthy choices.

We are going to expand our current image with nutritional options, not altering the image your father created. We will offer healthy alternatives to our classics. Wheat buns, fruit juices, fruit salads, hamburger wraps, baked potatoes, mixed veggies, and even turkey burgers. We are the Burger Planet. We offer all the best. Other restaurants offer diversity and in order to compete with them, we see it necessary to offer better. You have the choice.

We are not forcing fat foods upon the public. Each individual has the ability to substitute unique combinations to satisfy their hunger and their health. We want to build this company and bring in a wider demographic of customers.

Targeted mediums will convey our new and modernized objectives. With this position, we, Burger Planet, will give you the power to choose.

 

Output

• Gear our advertising campaign towards a wider demographic and emphasize our healthier choices.
• Corny the Clown appearances to target youth
• Jayne Petersen appearances to target middle aged women

Impact

• Sales in our healthy choices will increase and our middle-age women demographic will increase drawing more families.
• Sales of children's meals will increase and parents will bring them to our restaurants
• Healthy Choice menu items will increase in sales particularly by middle-aged women targeted group

 

Talking Points

1. Healthy Classics
• You choose the healthy options
• Same great classics with healthy alternatives
2. Jayne Petersen
• Fitness guru of a multi-million dollar health and fitness company.
• Encourages a healthy lifestyle that lead to a 75 pound weight loss in Opal Whitcomb that has stayed off
3. Corny the Clown
• Children friendly and the face for Burger Planet
• Community conscious and child friendly; appears at children's and community events include service oriented projects

‘Messiah’ being performed in English, Spanish and ASL

Published Originally in the Utah Statesman on Mar. 24, 2008; Online at Utah Statesman.

By JP Parrish
Staff Writer

“Hallelujah; Hallelujah!” Familiar and popular sounds of joy enduring back from the 1742 performance of George Frederic Handel’s “Messiah.”

The 7th annual production of Handel’s “Messiah” will be presented at Logan’s Ellen Eccles Theatre on March 28 and 29 at 7 p.m. A special family matinee will be held at 1 p.m. on March 29.  Tickets are available online and at the Ellen Eccles Theatre box office. The performance is open to all faiths.

Sponsored by Utah State Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education and Cache Community Connections, the performances will be presented in English, Spanish, and American Sign Language.

John E. Ribera, director of audiology, said, “We will have over 100 singers, 50 instrumentalist and 20 theatrical interpreters for the deaf.”

This year is the first year that the family matinee will be added, he said. The matinee is educational and will give insight into Handel’s life, address concert etiquette, deaf culture, Baroque music and more.

He said proceeds from this concert series will go toward the Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education Department’s annual international humanitarian hearing health care mission. Students and faculty in audiology provide services to underprivileged men, women and children.  Ribera said last year more than 300 patients were seen and 40 hearing aids were fit in Mexico.

Baroque music, according to www.dictionary.com, has, “heavy use of counterpoint and polyphony and conveyed drama and elaborate ornamentation.” Composers from this era include Bach, Handel and Vivaldi. The USU chapter of The National Association of Future Doctors of Audiology (NAFDA) Web site gives a history on the famous composer Handel. Handel was born in Germany and was composing music by age nine. Handel ran into debt and began producing Biblical pieces. The Web site says Handel’s valet often found Handel weeping as he wrote the “Messiah.” The most famous portion of the “Messiah” is the Hallelujah Chorus. The “Messiah” has been played every year somewhere in the world since its debut, ranking it among a small few.

Ribera was inspired by the motion picture, Mr. Holland’s Opus, a story about a music teacher trying to communicate with his deaf son through music. Ribera worked to develop the current three languages production. The production’s information Web site says Utah’s Theatrical Interpreters for the Deaf perform the entire presentation.

“The message, the music, and the man who composed it has always intrigued me,” Ribera said. “Because it was the darkest time in Handel’s life, when everything seemed to be against him, that he came up with a masterpiece now played all over the world. It is very inspiring and I never tire of it.”

–j.p@aggiemail.usu.edu