Science Fiction and Society

Soc. 49, Fall 2016

1. Master computers or they will master you.

Computers will be part of your life from here on out. So you'd be wise to take advantage of the opportunity your college education provides you to become fluent with computer use. This is especially true if you (like me) find computers annoying and difficult and you'd just as soon avoid using them; the best way to protect yourself from computers is to learn how to make them do your bidding.

2. Don't wait to the last minute to figure out how to do something you need to do with computers

As a general rule it always takes longer than you expect to figure out computer stuff, and if you're tense and in a hurry it will take longer still. So give yourself time to master things well in advance; this is especially true for an online course. (Malfunctioning computers are not a legitimate reason for late assignments anymore.) Don't wait until the night before a paper is due to figure out how to upload it to the instructor. Don't wait until the moment you plan to do an electronic reading to figure out how to print it out. Don't try to learn how to make footnotes in Word as you're typing up the final draft of your paper that's due in two hours.

3. Learn computers in general, not just one computer and one set of programs.

It's tempting, once you've figured out how to get email working on the computer in your dorm, to just stick with what works and not learn other ways to get your email. That's fine until your computer breaks or the network on your floor goes down and you desperately need to get at your course email. So learn several ways to get your email or print out a paper. Experiment, try different computers and programs, learn pine, or learn linux (the customized dune buggy of operating systems). It's like learning how to change a tire on your car or how the furnace works; some day on a lonely road or a cold night, that knowledge might come in very handy.

4. Make backing up your files as automatic as looking both ways before you cross the street.

You should always back up your files, of course, because computers break and because people screw up; the first time you lose a night's (or a month's) work because you didn't back something up you will want to kill yourself. So, always back up, and make it a habit. Always make sure you always have at least two digital copies of your work; if you save your file on a thumb drive, always make sure you have another place like a disc and regularly save your papers to both places. If you don't know how to back up on a particular system, learn how before you start working on it. A computer that doesn't have a way to back up files is broken; don't use it.