Technology Barriers and Opportunities

Abstract

It is comforting to know that some things are timeless. The sound of the ocean surf. And now, the gulf between the highly trained networking and technology experts and the inexperienced technology users. Whether in business or education, there is at the very least a “tsk, tsk” uttered in private by the technology experts about the users. Stories abound about such user follies as using the CD-ROM drive bay as a cup holder. At its most extreme, there may be a desire to lock out, bolt down, shut off, and otherwise control the use of networks by the “damn users.” In a reflective, albeit impractical moment, a network engineer may be heard to mutter, “If it weren’t for the users, our network would never fail.”