Electronic Technology Committee

Annual Report 2013-2014

Judy Craig, Co-Chair

The Electronic Technology Committee was established at the last regular meeting (April 2013) of 2012-13. The first program, offered in May 2013 by staff members from the Division of Information Technology (DoIT), was entitled, “What Can DoIT (Still) Do for You?”
The committee's charge is to assist UWRA members to stay abreast of changing electronic technology (which may include devices such as computers and tablets, telephones, cameras, and printers, and software applications like library software, social networking, and Skype.) ETC spent much of the fall semester identifying issues committee members hoped to address, considering the resources that could be available to help us, and establishing the necessary contacts.

For the most part committee members are far from expert in matters of technology; we miss the educational support we may have had in our previous working lives, and we want to learn how to improve our skills and take advantage of new technologies. We find that simply talking among ourselves about a problem and a possible way to approach it can be extremely useful, and we’d like to share that kind of approach with others in UWRA. Midway through the year the committee was bolstered by the addition to its roster of Kathy Christoph, whose technical expertise and working contacts with DoIT have proved most helpful.
ETC organized three programs during 2013-2014:

  • December 2013: Explore the Madison Public Library—in person and online (The thrust was to identify electronic resources and access.)
  • April 2014: 2014: What can DoIT still do for me?
  • May 2014: Saving Our Stories—Tips and Guidelines for Selecting, Organizing, and Sharing all those Photographs and Stuff

We also participated in the January UWRA program on "Shifting Gears in Retirement". At our December program we surveyed those in attendance about the types of programs they wished to see. That survey, along with evaluations from the large group in attendance at the April program, suggested the topics for April and May, and for the 2014-15 season.

Knowing that many UWRA members follow The Sifter but may not regularly attend UWRA events, ETC also undertook to contribute a short item in each month's Sifter under the title "ETC says...."These articles addressed issues we thought might interest members, such as one committee member's evaluation of free brown bag seminars and an online training video series available through DoIT; a handy online reservation service (OpenTable) available for arranging last-minute dinner reservations; and a Google program (Doodle) that helps schedule meetings. Members are also producing the occasionallonger article about items such as maintaining laptop computers. In addition, a "Tech Tips" section has been established on the UWRA web page, and ETC has been considering ways to best make use of this resource. It is likely that we'll include ETC articles from past Sifters (for ease of access, and perhaps in more depth), as well as some items that would be too long for inclusion in the monthly newsletter. We are also exploring the possibility of linking an ETC blog, using WordPress. Most of the committee members are at too elementary a learning level for this, as of now.

Committee members included Rose Barroilhet, Kathy Christoph, Rick Daluge, Terry Gibson, John Helgeson, Colleen McCabe, Don Miner, Louise Robbins, Bill Steffenhagen, and Hal Winsborough. Following the April 23 program Rueben Buse joined as well. Judy Craig and Sheila Spear were co-chairs. Ann Wallace attended as an ex officio member. Given especially that the committee’s approach is to identify problems or questions we or our friends are experiencing and to find ways to get the answers, we welcome others to join us. Contact any committee member.