Cohousing-L Mailing List: Network use by non-nerds?

[Pablo Halpern (phalpern]

Hi cohousers,

One of the discussions that was going on just before the list server went 
down was about the usefullness of setting up on-line systems for use by a 
cohousing group. One of the problems of such a system would be the 
possibility that it would only be used by the "nerds" in the group and, 
that being the case, its usefullness would be reduced such that even the 
nerds wouldn't use it.

This brings up a question in my mind. With all of the press about the 
"information superhighway" and such, is computer use by people who are not 
computer-professionals increasing to the point where we can soon hope to 
have community networks that are used by other than just the nerds?

Since this list consists of a set of people who are using computer 
connectivity as a way of accomplishing something worthwhile, I thought I'd 
try to get a quicky overview of what people's computer background is to see 
if this group really is composed mostly of "nerds."  To this end, I am 
conducting a survey. Please respond by private EMAIL to 
phalpern [at] world.std.com in order to avoid cluttering up the list. Also, 
please keep responses short. Here are is my basic question:

A. Does your job or hobby involve technical-level involvement with
   computers (e.g. programming, tech writing)?

B. If not, does your job or hobby involve heavy non-techinical use of a 
   computer (e.g. word processing, desk-top publishing, spreadsheets)?

C. If not, is there some reason you are connected to the internet 
   other than that you just find it useful?

I'd like to hear from as many people as possible, but I'm particularly 
interested in hearing from those who would answer "no" to all three parts 
of the question.  I will sumerize the results.  Thanks.

- Pablo

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Pablo Halpern                          phalpern [at] world.std.com
(508) 435-5274
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