Computer History for Erin Swan

The year was 1989. I was in the 7th grade at a middle school in Milwaukee, WI. I don't remember ever hearing about or talking about any computers, much less a lab of computers, until the day one of my teachers took my class into the "Computer Lab". It was filled with Apple IIe computers, at least enough for us to partner up on. We went to the lab about once every couple of weeks. My brain only highlighted a few memories, including a small green screen and a mysterious woman named Carmen Sandiego. I also remember using the keyboard to pretend I was a secretary while I waited for the computer lab teacher to walk around with the Carmen Sandiego floppy disk, loading each computer with the game. This was always a confusing process for me. How did Carmen get into my computer and stay in it after the teacher took the floppy out?

My freshman year in high school, my English teacher informed us that we were required to take a keyboarding class, which meant that I would be using a computer much more regularly. I believe those computers were PC's. Although he encouraged us to complete our work using word processing, I preferred to use my mom's old type writer. I hung out in that comfort zone until my senior year. At that time, I had just heard of the Internet. When I graduated, I cashed in a technology bond that my grandmother had given to me some years prior. It was to be used to purchase a personal computer. After much toiling, due to my serious ignorance in this area, I finally bought a Mac and a color printer. That night, my friends helped me sign up for a dial up AOL account. The only thing I new how to do was check my email and play solitaire (offline).

It wasn't until 1996 ish that I discovered the wonders of the Internet in the computer lab at UW-Whitewater. I watched people do research, look at porn, and write papers. With the Internet becoming the primary research tool for every class, I quickly got acclimated to the technology. By the time I graduated from Alverno in 2001, I thought I was totally on top of what the World Wide Web had to offer.

In reality, I had no idea of the possibilities...