Bernie Goldbach in Clonmel | Photo of the windowsill
I AM SPENDING TIME inside a concrete bunker, often outside the range of cell phone coverage. To maintain sanity, I pull some peripherals (at left) out of my pocket.
The bunker is actually a hospital room with no line of sight to a telephone mast. The experience provides me a cautionary tale about the years ahead when I'm confined to a bed with no connection to the cloud. I wonder how many of my virtual friends would manage in such an environment.
Years ago, I made a decision to buy electronic gear with ample on-board storage because I've rented places in Ireland that had no internet access. The strategy has paid off several times and now I've always a terabyte in my bag.
Looking back on my blog, I read strategies that involved "using a scanner to digitise three banker's boxes of stuff ... (and) an external hard drive to catalogue my images, videos and sound clips." I scan most of my stuff nowadays with a steady hand holding a Sony Xperia phone and I record audio snippets of stuff that I need to recycle. Then I find a high speed data connection and save the results onto a Crashplan server.
I've been working with clever peripherals longer than I've trusted cloud computing. I spent 1983-2004 with a desktop computer as my primary working device but since 2005, I've lived on laptops, smartphones, and peripherals. Knowing this, I know it's really important to ensure creative third level students understand the critical nature of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). If a graduate needs a year after leaving campus to find the gear needed for professional development, they risk falling into the bottom quarter of CVs. This is an important fact of life for anyone who hopes to survive in the smart economy.
I'm asking students who return to campus following their summertime work placement what kinds of peripherals and personal technology they're carrying into the next semester. Without the requisite gear, there's no realistic job prospect on the horizon.
Previously: "With Peripherals" on Inside View, July 29, 2005.
Bernie Goldbach curates a wishlist.
