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HelpNet
News, February 2003
The simple structure
laid out by Paul Schroeder in the initial edition of
this newsletter seems very serviceable so we continue with that structure
in
this edition as well. Suggestions to improve either structure or content
of
the newsletter are very welcome. Please post them to the list.
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CONTENTS
1. Upcoming
Events
2. HelpNet List Questions
3. The Real Reasons Why Computers Crash
4. A few self-help sites for computer woes
5. A few more things to ponder for citizens of cyberspace
6. Some suggested readings and clickings
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1.
Upcoming events
The big and
we mean really big upcoming event for March is the HIP-GT
(HelpNet In-Person Get-Together) on March 11 from 5-7 p.m. in the Board
Room
of the Bangor Public Library. There are three major reasons you should
be
there (or be square).
First, there will
be a presentation on a topic that is near the top of many
organizations¹ agendas these days how to enable non-technical
people in
the organization to keep a website updated regularly without running the
risk of turning the site to mush because of a misplaced comma or dash.
Brian Rahill of Rainstorm Consulting in Orono will offer a presentation
on
Macromedia's
new software product called "Contribute." Contribute makes it
possible for regular folks to update existing Web sites, and for web
developers to set up a site so that others can use Contribute to update
it
without causing unintentional problems by doing so.
Second, there will
be several informal demonstrations of software that helps
people keep track of snippets and tidbits of information, a recent topic
on
the list that a good number of people seemed interested in.
And third, and most
importantly, the HIP-GT will provide a chance for
HelpNet members to meet one another in person, munch a snack or two in
fellowship, and perhaps even think aloud about what HelpNet¹s priorities
should be for the coming year.
So be at the Bangor
Public Library on March 11 at 5 p.m. or so or, let¹s
face it, you just won¹t be HIP.
2.
HelpNet List Questions
The list has been
pretty quiet of late. Hopefully, that is because everyone
can find the answers to all their questions in the HelpNet archives at
www.ptfolkschool.org/helpnet/archives.htm,
or on the Answer Pages,
www.ptfolkschool.org/helpnet/answers.htm.
But just in case you can¹t find
the answers to your computer questions there, please make use of the
collective wisdom that the list makes available. Send those new questions
(or hot tips to share) to folkschool-list@topica.com.
3.
The Real Reasons Why Computers Crash
Since HelpNet is,
at its core, a mutual help organization dealing with
technology, it seems like a useful contribution to explain in everyday,
non-technical terms just why computers sometimes crash. This is a tricky
question to answer simply so it came as a refreshing surprise when an
explanation hit my mail box that was attributed to perhaps the greatest
explainer of quirky things of all time Theodore Seuss Geisel, more
commonly known as Dr. Seuss.
Now I can¹t
authenticate this explanation. After all, we lost Theodore
Geisel well before the Internet was anything like it is today and, in
fact,
before personal computers were like they are today. Still, the cadence
rings
true and even if he didn¹t offer this explanation himself, I like
to think
he might have if he¹d lived long enough.
So, in the spirit
of mutual help and with appreciation to Dr. Seuss -
Dr. Seuss Explains
Why Computers Sometimes Crash
If a packet hits
a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted at a very last resort,
And the access of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.
If your cursor
finds a menu item followed by a dash,
And the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
And your data is corrupted cause the index doesn't hash,
Then your situation's hopeless and your system's gonna crash!!
If the label on
the cable on the table at your house
Says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
But your packets want to tunnel to another protocol,
That's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall,
And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss,
So your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse;
Then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,
'cuz sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!
When the copy of
your floppy's getting sloppy in the disk,
And the macro code instructions cause unnecessary risk,
Then you'll have to flash the memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM.
Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your Mom!
Now personally, I
find this explanation about computer crashes as convincing
as anything else I¹ve ever come across, and so offer it to you for
your
consideration in the spirit of mutual aid.
4.
A few self-help sites for computer woes
While the little
ditty above may help explain crashes, it does little to
help solve whatever caused the problem. The web, however, is a great
resource for figuring out how to cure what ails your computer if, by chance,
the HelpNet list can't.
Start, of course,
at www.ptfolkschool.org/helpnet/archives.htm
to see if
someone else has already had the same problem. If that doesn't do the
trick,
try the answer pages and the links to other resources at the HelpNet site.
And if that doesn't work (or if you use a Macintosh computer), try some
of
these additional help sites.
If you use Windows,
especially Windows XP, or any version of Internet
Explorer, check frequently for patches at the Microsoft web site
(www.microsoft.com). Hardly a month
goes by without a new security hole
being discovered somewhere in the 300 million plus lines of computer code
that makes up Windows, and it seems holes popup in IE even more often.
So
make a monthly visit to the Microsoft website and update your system to
avoid bad surprises.
Another site that
you might find useful is www.pcworld.com.
This is the web
based version of the popular computer magazine, and there is a lot of
useful
information there. If you click on the""How To" tab on
the home page, you¹ll
find a selection of different columns to choose from. Click on "Bugs
and
Fixes" to find out about the latest software bugs and where to get
the
patches to fix them. You can download lots of shareware and freeware at
this
site as well.
For a more down-home
but quite complete troubleshooting site, try
www.toejumper.net. This site contains
a troubleshooting "book" for Windows
users with chapters ranging from "Rescuing the Drowning PC"
and "Maintaining
Your PC to "Warp Speed, Mr. Scott." In fact, the whole book
has a subtitle
of "How to Beat Your Computer into Submission," a spirit many
of us share
from time to time. It¹s free, entertaining, and pretty thorough.
Worth a
look.
While most HelpNet
users seem to use Windows based systems, there are also
some Macintosh users among us. A good place to start if you have a Macintosh
question is www.macintouch.com,
and check the list of issues on the right
side of the screen. There is quite a lot of collective wisdom here, and
there are lots of very useful links off this page as well.
These few sites are,
of course, a very tiny sample of the sites available to
those with ailing machines. If you have a favorite site for troubleshooting
or technical support, post it to the list so that others can take a look,
too.
5.
A few more things to ponder for citizens of cyberspace
It was supposedly
Bismarck who said something like "There are two things you
never want to see made: sausage and law." Probably true but there
are,
nevertheless, a whole slew of laws currently going through the mill in
Washington that could have profound effects on those of us who rely on
technology and access to information to do our work and live our lives.
One of the hottest
issues in Washington now is "Digital Rights Management."
Simply put, this hot potato deals with how copyright holders can protect
their materials in the digital age. This is a very big subject and most
people don¹t pay much attention to it but it will start becoming
much more
visible in our lives very soon. For example, some folks have already begin
to notice that some music CD¹s they buy will no longer play on their
computer CD units. People who buy a DVD when they are on vacation in Europe
or Australia, for example, will be dismayed to find that the DVD won¹t
play
in their machine at home, whether it is a computer DVD or a stand-alone
consumer machine. These inconveniences are still fairly infrequent now
but
will become an absolute horror show if a bill now in Congress passes.
The "Consumer
Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act" would require
any electronic equipment sold in this country to include hardware or
software that would decode copy protection code put on any media by
manufacturers. Notice that the proposed act applies to every type and
piece
of electronic equipment sold in this country television, VCR, DVD,
CD,
Palm Pilot, camcorder, digital camera, e-Book reader, and including any
computer you may buy in the future. Even though the law, despite its warm
and fuzzy reference to consumers in the title, is designed to protect
the
music and movie industries, it could also impact every piece of software
or
every file on your computer hard drive, Zip drive, CD, DVD, flash card,
or
anything that may be dreamed up in the future.
For example, if a
consumer bought a DVD, the copy protection scheme used by
the manufacturer might enable it to play on a stand-alone DVD player but
not
on your computer¹s DVD. Or if you wanted to copy an electronic book
that you
bought to your computer hard drive so you could view it there rather than
play it on a stand alone e-book reader, you might be out of luck if the
manufacturer¹s code won¹t allow it. Hah, you say, I¹ll
just break the code
I paid for the book, after all! No such luck. Even trying to break copy
protection code, no mater how paltry it may be, is already a crime under
the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act and would be under this proposed act
as
well.
But, you say, if
I buy a book or video now, I can loan it to a friend, read
it wherever I want, give it to the library when I¹m finished with
it, or
even sell it to someone else. Yup, all perfectly legal under traditional
copyright law in this country but not under the new laws governing
the
digital domain.
Sausage and law.
Not pretty to watch, but if we don¹t watch it being made
pretty carefully, we could wind up with some very unappetizing items on
our
electronic plates in the near future.
6.
Some suggested readings and clickings
Guest editors get
to suggest what they consider interesting reading or
clicking, so here goes.
If you¹d like
to know more about the issues underlying the digital rights
management issue as well as issues affecting whether, in fact, the Internet
will be free of "big brother control" in the future, it is worth
hustling
over to the library (while libraries are still able to loan out books)
and
get a copy of Lawrence Lessig¹s stunningly well-written "Code
and Other Laws
of Cyberspace." The issues he discusses affect every one of us who
uses a
computer or the Internet. And while you are at it, check out his second
book, "The Future of Ideas." Lessig is a lawyer who writes like
a poet, and
speaks like one, too.
If you prefer to
learn by listening, a number of Lessig¹s lectures are
available at his web site, www.lessig.org.
Another good starting place to
find sites that deal with the question of how to balance the rights of
creators to benefit from their work with the rights of the public (as
in the
public domain) is at www.centerforthepublicdomain.org, the web site of
the
Center for the Public Domain. Although this site is no longer adding
material, it has a lot of very good links assembled in one place to other
sites that are actively involved in trying to ensure that the digital
age
does not become the age of the death of fair use and of the public domain.
These questions, and the increasingly restrictive laws and computer code
we
are seeing today, will affect not only us but the common legacy, digital
or
otherwise, that we will leave to those who come after us.
-Jim Campbell
 
HelpNet
is a project of Pine Tree Folk School, and is co-sponsored by Bairnet
(the Bangor Area Information Resources Network) and by the Peace
and Justice Center of Eastern Maine.
Pine
Tree Folk School
RR 2, Box 7162
Carmel, ME 04419
207/848-2433
E-mail: info@ptfolkschool.org
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