--- Forwarded Message from "Meechan, Philomena" <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Subject: RE: #7176.4 IALLT Tech Museum (!)
>Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 14:54:04 -0400
>Thread-Topic: #7176.4 IALLT Tech Museum (!)
>Thread-Index: AcMuxVcZITaBP0kNSaGmgkohqud/zAAu//Nw
>From: "Meechan, Philomena" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: "Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum"    <[log in to unmask]>

------------------
I hope all these stories and experiences with technology will be posted
into a guestbook (one for each piece of 'machinery'?) on the virtual
museum site ... 

Philomena Meechan
UM Language Resource Ctr

-----Original Message-----
From: LLTI-Editor [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, June 09, 2003 4:00 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: #7176.4 IALLT Tech Museum (!)


--- Forwarded Message from Robert <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2003 14:42:13 -0400 (GMT)
>From: Robert <[log in to unmask]>
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information =
Forum                         <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #7176.1 IALLT Tech Museum

------------------
Hello, i could not pass up the op. to bring this up.
There is an old Cuban columnist in the El Nuevo Herald--the The =
Miami Herald clone in Spanish--whose column is titled
"You are really old if..." (you remember what I am about to write =
about...)
Well, Fausto Miranda, this old codger from Havana who I think was =
born around the time the American flag came down El Morro Castle =
(in 1902), remembers--with a bit of help from many of his friends.
So, the IALLT Tech Museum is not a bad idea, and a Virtual tech =
museum is a great idea.
I remember the Brothers cutting into the mimeos back when--early =
1950s in Cuba. I was fascinated by the smells, the inks--the =
messier it got the funner it was, the mimeograph machine.
I remember one year helping produce a tricolor mimeograph sheet for =
Christmas (Navidad). Do you youngsters have any idea how hard one =
had to hit those keys on the Underwood behemoths? And I think I was =
about 11 or 12 years old way back then.
My love of streamlined portable typewriters was fierce after =
experiencing the technological impact of grown-up equipment on my =
poor little chubby fingers. I owned (shanghaided (?) a portable =
Underwood which probably sells for about $500-600 now. I wrote even =
love poems on that beauty... Problem was I tried to type as fast as =
I am typing now, and the keys would cause to entwine and sometimes =
refused to budge from their tight embrace... Oh, technofun! The IBM =
Selectric was a wondrous invention. I wrote short stories on it =
which had no meaning, no logic, but the sheer pleasure of listening =
to that ball strike paper and roller was better than eating =
chocolote bars! To this day I am in awe of such a great invention.
We lost it all to the Cuban Revolution. (That's another book)
I was introduced to the concept of computers--when you could buy =
parts at Radio Shack, and put all of those components together. I =
was at Purdue University, studying Spanish Literature. I am a =
humanist... but all my friends were studying engineering, and I =
could see what the future would bring. The Apple computer was not =
too far off. I trained on RadioShack's Tandy computers. I worked on =
Wang wordprocessors--same wondrous feelings as with those felt for =
the IBM Selectric! I wrote a grant for five Vic computers for my =
multigrade elementary classes, and made them print text in a =
foreign language on a dot matrix printer. (All the experts said =
that it could not be done... but they did not read manuals.)
My first real professional computer was a KAYPRO, which I still =
have at home, somewhere in the garage, and after twenty years it =
still works (remember WordStar?)
hasta pronto; Usted es viejo, pero viejo de verdad...
robert
mcfatter tech high school
-------Original Message-------
From: LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 06/06/03 03:57 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: #7176.1 IALLT Tech Museum

>=20
> --- Forwarded Message from "Read Gilgen" <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Thu, 05 Jun 2003 15:50:55 -0500
>From: "Read Gilgen" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: IALLT Tech Museum

Great idea.  Anyone who has old equipment (the older the better) =
and can
take a digital picture of it, please send the same to me with
information about what it is, your name and institution, and any =
other
info you can think of that might be of interest.  I'll be happy to
promote this at IALLT and to gather the pix and create a "museum" =
on the
IALLT website.  Do you think we need board approval?  Nah...  let's =
just
do it.

OK, all you IALLTers and friends... take the pictures and send them =
to
me at [log in to unmask]



>>> [log in to unmask] 6/5/2003 2:40:20 PM >>>
--- Forwarded Message from "Dente, Ed" <[log in to unmask]> ---

>From: "Dente, Ed" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: "'Language Learning and Technology International Information
Forum'"     <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: RE: #7142.9 Tracking software (!)
>Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2003 16:30:53 -0400

------------------

> ------------------
> Read, no wonder you have such a good memory. People who don't
> have (grey) hair always stay young. As for the mimeo-ditto
> controversy, I liked the mimeo better, because you could get
> better reproduction, although the ditto was a lot more
> convenient and you could write by hand or draw. I still have
> some illustrations I made for songs I used when I was
> teaching elementary school English. Oy vey! The main problem
> with the mimeo (other than if the black stuff got on you, or
> worse yet, on your clothes) was correcting mistakes.  You
> really had to be patient and let the correcting fluid dry
> before you retyped, if you wanted a neat correction. But then
> again, wasn't there some advantage to not being able to
> correct so easily? Maybe we had to think a little more before
> committing our words (or "output", as we would call it now) to =
paper?

> David Ben-Nahum
> The Hebrew University

Hey, Read, Bruno, Nina, David, et al., I've got an idea for the =
IALLT
web
site.
Why don't we set up a virtual museum on one page, w/ pictures of =
some
of the
technology that we came of age with that were real tools for
supporting
learning. I'll start - I've still got two working Wollensak 1500SS
units -
now who remembers those guys? These were workhorse open reel player
recorders, otherwise known as "Silver Bullets" among colleagues. =
They
really
made field recording and playing feasible, as long as you had a =
good
length
of extension cord.
Anyone still have some open-reel editing tools around? Bruce? I may
have
some too.
I've also got my old Dukane slide-tape projector that the synch =
never
worked
correctly on, and I THINK I still have our old ditto machine =
kicking
around.
Throw in the 1966 IBM Selectric typewriter in our next room and =
we've
got a
good start. We could have our own virtual Smithsonian.

If not, well, there's always e-bay.
Let's discuss it over a pint on the IALLT 03 pub crawl.(subtle PSA =
for
both
the conf and the crawl.)
Cheers,
Ed
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edmund N. Dente
Director, Language Media Center    Ph: 617-627-3036
Tufts University                   [log in to unmask]
Medford, MA 02155            http://ase.tufts.edu/lmc
"Hanno ammazzato compare Turiddu!"
>=20

Robert G. Brito, M.A.
McFatter Technical Center
Magnet High School
Davie, FL 33317

"Winning is not everything, but the effort to win is."
              --Zig Ziglar