|
Dear reader ,
Being able
to help both older adults and their children is the key reason for the Computers and Technology area on AARP's
website. If you're a regular, this is old news! But if you're new to the area, here's what you'll find: Great articles, reviews, tips , tricks and help from others
to make computing life easier. Now, get the latest news !
Author Sandy Berger , our host of AARP Computer and Technology web site , takes the mystery out of high
tech in the AARP Computer and Technology monthly newsletter. Her clear, simple advice helps readers
get the most out of personal computing.
 Dear Sandy:
I would like to take this opportunity to
express my open-hearted , deep gratitude for
your crystal clear explanations and brilliant lessons that teach with
power and conviction resolving any confusion once and for all.
On behalf of our group of seniors grandparents - 'former slide-rule users' and
AARP-members as well, I thank you once again for such an effective and intuitive Computer Technology site and your ever ready
assistance to our early needs. In fact, the Message Boards provide a major advance in the way of sharing ideas, experiences,
tools, knowledge
and information as well.
Why AARP
Computer& Technology site and CompuKISS
are so important for me ?
It was 1999. After graduating Pierce College, I begun with asking myself
: How can I ingrain into society , so that there will always be place and need
for me ? What can I do to the society
that gives me freedom and shares with me all live contributions, including education? The answer was within: Volunteering for golden age, computech. consulting, freelance writing and online publishing.
The area of creative activity
I practice now is volunteering for golden age, especially helping seniors from my neighborhood to join the wired generation.
For
them the hardest part is overcoming the initial fear. Some people meet difficulties on double clicking ; in this case
I go to accessibility and change double clicking with pointing and
pressing Enter. Preparing for them simple and special notes like "Why is word-processing so important"? was for me the most important and hard issue .
| FROM SLIDE RULE TO PC ... |
|
I used different sites to find
clear and appropriate answers to the questions I got from my new 'experts' in
this area : HELP to MS applications, articles to MS OFFICE ,Third age com, Senior net com et c. Meanwhile, I noticed that beginners don't like to read notes, on screen
messages , help instructions , online articles! They rejected different sites
and manuals I recommended them but CompuKiss and AARP Computer & Technology sites .
The use of the CompuKiss tools is both logical and
comprehensive. The integration of the practicing tips and your relevant lessons
I consider as the most suitable program to our needs; in addition, I would say, the stability of CompuKiss philosophy is superb, presenting an integrated approach for solving computech problems and improper situations.
I asked my neighbor Mr.
Sidney Saginor ( see the picture 'From slide rule -- to PC'), a lifelong professional engineer , reader , swimmer and past 'slide ruler' ( he is 94 !) ) , why he prefers to use tutorials , articles
and tips from AARP Computer & Technology web site?
Voila his answer : I consider AARP Computer
& Technology web site elegantly designed
and written , showing and understanding the major concerns of senior beginners.
I feel pleased and delighted going
to this site , because it serves us so well. The style and the tutoring system
are based on simple interpretation of clear do's and don'ts. Particularly
I was grateful for getting the lesson
about 'Copy- Cut- Paste' tools using 'Ctrl+C'
, 'Ctrl+ V' short keys and 12 copies in the clipboard.
In my view , you possess a naturally gifted writing style that is a pleasure
to read and easy to understand ; I would say , you just follow Goethe's advice trying , first to understand our
needs and then to be understood. Now, please take a look to the pictures above and guess what common
feeling express these happy faces at first glance? Well-being ? Agelessness ? You bet -- both ! In fact they consider age as nothing but a number, and the
life as what they make it. Are
they proud of themselves having reached the 'abc'- experience in the area of
computing? You bet -- they are .
In his wonderful book "Regaining the power of youth at any age ", Dr Kenneth H. Cooper (M.D .P.H.,- the world renowned physician
, the father of aerobics and worldwide acknowledged leader in the field of preventive medicine and physical fitness ) writes:
- "Keep exercising, both physically
and mentally
! The more you use your brain to memorize, the more you stimulate those neurotransmitters, synapses, and other chemicals and
connections that enhance the mental process. Also, experts in the aging brain suggest that vigorous exercise - especially
endurance activities like jogging - will stimulate mental as well as physical functioning."
-
"I highly recommend that, whenever
possible, you take advantage of expanding your knowledge -- especially your practical knowledge, which may launch a new avocation,
or make you more efficient in your choosen vocation. Here are a few cases in point-- music, computers, sports et.c"
For me Dr. Kennet H. Cooper is an inspiring example of age reversal searching for the fountain of youth;
Unequivocally , I believe that for golden age computers and
restoring some math knowledge online is for the mind the same as exercises for the body!
Moreover , if considering also active tutoring our grandchildren
or working with them together in this area ,it's more than personal creativity - it's well-being ! So, grandparents should practice the well known and effective strategy -- LEARNING
by DOING, LEARNING by TUTORING ! Voila-
the real quintessence of the old Latin saying -- 'DOCENDO --DISCIMUS'! ('Qui docet
discit! ')
So , bridging the intergenerational gap by means of wired age's features -- is the main purpose of active grandparenting . It is our past duty and future imperative
! We should
bridge the gap between us and our grandchildren, or give them wings to overfly
it for ever.The famous Goethe's saying goes -- 'old people must hurry' , so let us bridge the gap until It becomes wastly to be deplored .
With CompuKISS' help we'll enter in this great time of creative prosperity
, when disappears the edge between dreams and reality, when life creates dreams and it creates life.
"Everything should be made as simple as
possible , but no one bit simpler"
/A.Einstein /
And
you make it so !
"You cannot teach a man anything; You can only help him to find It within himself"
/Galileo/
And you make it
so !
"What one has , one ought to use;
And whatever he does , he should
do with
all his might "
/ Cicero /
And you make it so !
Thanks for your warmest wishes of happy
computing , happy 'Copy Pasting' and happy grandparenting as well !
Keep up happy braving the new world technology ! Keep up your noble job ! With best wishes of success and prosperity ,
Appreciatively
& sincerely,
|
