Been doin' a bit of cogitating, today. And I have a question for you all.But first, a bit of history. About computers and me.
(Note: if computer talk makes your eyes go out of focus, scroll down to the bottom for the question.)
It was back in the early 1980s that my Mom got me involved with the machines. I had vowed never to have anything to do with these "useless" glorified typewriters, but I went to visit my folks for a week, and here was Mom with this brand-new Kay-Pro II (photo from here). And a noisy, rackety OkiData 9-pin dot matrix printer on a specially-built cabinet beside it, with the continuous-form paper fed through a slot in back. Remember that paper? How tricky it was to feed in just right? How it went crooked as soon as you turned your back? And how you had to rip off the sides afterwards?
Anyhow, Mom had the beast up and running (using Perfect Writer) and had joined a computer club; the only woman, and the only member out of her 20s. She was 67. She was busily transferring all her articles and files to the big floppy disks.
And she wanted help. She gave me a list of commands and set me to work.
I guess pride had a part in what came next. I had to learn that program better than Mom had. Of course. And later, when my son was taking programming in school, I had to learn BASIC, too. Next thing I knew, I had my own second-hand computer, running DOS. I eventually got a modem (1200 baud) and went on-line. S-l-oooooooo-w-l-y!
Still mid-80s. I was writing material for work, and had started a book, using "Electric Desk" on a DOS platform. I bought a printer that used real paper, and ink instead of a ribbon. I joined a few BBSs (Bulletin Board Systems) and made a few friends, mostly young men. There were very few women on at that time; I only remember 3 others. In 1994, one of the sysops came over and set up Netscape for me on my new laptop (Windows 3.1, and a sticker reading "Intel Inside")
Anyone around from that time? Remember how you told the thing to dial, and it went do-di-di-do-di-do-di, then rang, then a long, agonized, noisy squawk/buzz while it went through the hand-shaking procedures? I had to put an upside-down egg carton silencer over the speaker, to avoid waking up the people upstairs.
A long time, and many upgrades ago. Years of dial-up, of Windows trouble-shooting, of blue screens. I built a website and had "fun" tweaking html. And then, Y2K: remember that scare? All that happened to me was that my daughter's Word for Windows went wonky and it took me an hour of January 1st to fix it for her.
And now, here I am, blogging, since last spring.
And that brings me to my question.
In what way, if any, has blogging changed your life? Or has it, at all?
I will answer that, for myself, tomorrow.
My own path to blogging was similar to yours, except my parents were late additions to the game. I discovered the online world when librarians began searching online databases. My first connection was with a 300 baud modem and Texas Instrument dumb terminal (any one else remember thermal paper?) The first computer I bought had a 5K hard drive.
ReplyDeleteThrough those online, dial up BBSes I met not only my husband, but a group of friends that continues to this day, more than 20 years later - albeit translated to the Internet.
I first wrote web pages with a text editor, more than ten years ago, and I started bloggin two years ago, dropped out, and just came back recently. So blogging per se hasn't yet changed my life, but the online world has.
It's brought me friends, support, connections, and conversation. It's given me an outlet for creativity (photography and writing) that I wouldn't have explored otherwise. It challenges my brain and provides new information and things to do, keeping me sane and mentally younger.
It's nice to meet another woman from the "good old days." Though I do know a small community of them, you're right that there weren't nearly enough in the early days and I'm glad to see that changing.
Good blogging, Weeta - I'm looking forward to the rest of your story tomorrow.
We got our first Mac in the early 1990s,spurred on by my father. I have been doing email with my scattered family since 1995. Our first computers were used a lot for games. I started blogging as a way to keep connected to my family in a somewhat general and anonymous way. I had no idea how interesting it would be to interact with others who blog. It so much more stimulating than gaming or watching TV.
ReplyDeleteRuth
Oh, too too funny. I had a similar inspiration and wrote about our first computers, prompted in part by learning that some children are no longer being taught cursive writing in school. That is one of the unintended by-products of our computer age.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question specifically, blogging has "changed" my life in that I now write more intentionally. I have always loved to write, both prose and poetry, but blogging gives me the inspiration, the push to do it. Instant publication=instant gratification.
And, I have met a new set of "friends" through blogging.
I think I got my first Mac around 1984. I was editing a couple of agricultural magazines and used it to do the layout work using PageMaker. It completely changed how I did the magazines. Before that, I was working with Letraset and a waxer.
ReplyDeleteI must have gotten hooked up to the net sometime around 1994. My ISP account came with some web hosting space, so I bought a book on websites and put up a site almost immediately. I put up hiking and canoe trip info and also some pages about my dairy goat herd. I still have a website for that. I remember that, for at least the first couple of years, if you searched for certain words (canoe, goat, etc..) my site was one of the only ones that came up. It felt like such a small circle at the beginning. It's amazing to see the change that has taken place. Like going from a biplane to a Jumbo jet in less than a decade.
Blogging has been a positive thing for me. I did communicate with quite a few other people over the net and formed close friendships years ago, so in that respect, it hasn't been a big change. However, writing about nature and finding others who do so, and others who like to read about nature, has been something of an inspiration.
Wrenaissance woman:
ReplyDelete300 baud? Wow! And yes, I remember thermal paper. On the old calculator I used for the local co-op. What a variety of technologies we've worked our way through!
Bev:
Dairy goats! Do you have a link? I had goats for a few years, up north. Great memories.