Submitted by:
Carl Briggs
Director of Public Relations
Development Department
Alderson-Broaddus College
Box 1338
Philippi, WV 26416 USA
v: (304) 457-6323
f: (304) 457-1700
e: BRIGGS@AB.WVNET.EDU
Categories:
Education, higher; Research, academic
Keywords:
Innovative or improved ways of doing things; More equitable access to technology or electronic information
Supporting Documentation (contact author for more information):
Slides/photographs
The Story:
ELECTRONIC CONVERSATIONS: COMPUTER NETWORKS AT A-B
Carl Briggs, Director of Public Relations at Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, W.Va., has come to know a large number of colleagues and professionals around the country. He even counts several of them among his friends. What makes this unusual is the fact that Briggs has never met any of these colleagues face-to-face. He knows them solely through his computer and the networks that link it with millions of other computers around the nation and world.
“People sometimes make the mistake of thinking that Alderson- Broaddus is in the middle of nowhere, cut off from the `mainstream’ of America,” he stated. “The communications revolution has shown how misguided that idea is. I can communicate via computer with people as easily as if I were sitting in midtown Manhattan.”
Tom Williams, Alderson-Broaddus’ Computer Center Manager, set up Internet at Alderson-Broaddus and has been instrumental in “selling” it to the college community. Williams, a performing musician for almost two decades, uses Internet to read up on the latest advances in electronic keyboards, and corresponds with musicians in Finland and Australia.
Dr. Ron Nutter, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Literature, has “joined three networks but am active in only one. The first net is RELIGICOM, which is for discussion of religious topics. The second net is NERDNOSH, a sort of national coffee house for literary discussion and expression over the net. The third is the DEAD RUNNERS SOCIETY, a national group of runners of varying abilities. It is a very good and supportive group for those who share the enjoyment of running.”
Dr. Sheikh Ahmed, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, has used Internet to conduct joint research with a professor at another college. From this work emerged their recent paper on the mechanism for the formation of the molecule known as “Buckminsterfullerene,” or C60. The article appeared in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Other networkers include Dr. Sally Digman, Registrar, who uses the network to communicate with far-flung family members and to access various family databases, and Ben Guido, Assistant Professor of Education, who communicates via Internet with a Jewish Rabbi in Israel. Guido and Rabbi Harris Guedalia of Karyat Malachi, Israel, are carrying out a joint study of at-risk children in Philippi and Israel, and are using Internet as their primary means of communication. Internet also has improved communications between alumni and the College.
Harold L. Caldwell, a 1959 graduate who lives in Muncie, IN, used Internet to send electronic mail directly to President Sizemore to ask about setting up a scholarship to honor the late Dr. Walter C. Johnson, who was Vice President Emeritus of Academic and Related Affairs and Professor Emeritus of Music and Education.
Deepesh Randeri, a 1992 graduate, communicates with Alderson- Broaddus while pursuing a graduate degree at Marshall University in Huntington, WV. Other computer networks linked to Internet allow friends of the College to send greetings. Larry Dobson, a 1962 graduate, communicates with Alderson-Broaddus from the Clearfield Community Church in Clearfield, UT, where he is minister.