As our Founder, Liza Loop, said, people “need to know enough not to be intimidated” by computers; and “The computer is not the gatekeeper, there’s a person that’s responsible. Don’t hide behind the machine.” Computer literacy has been a public issue since computers became personal, and even a bit before that. Whether it is dealing with a Help Desk worker who is bound to following an algorithmic script, or whether it is any of us trying to filter out news stories, computer literacy has become a vital skill in today’s world. Liza describes computer literacy then and now in this excerpt from her presentation at:
Geekfest Berlin 2016 – Liza Loop – Computer Literacy
Thanks to GeekFest Berlin’s 2016 event, we’ve created a series of videos from Liza Loop’s presentation that touch on various aspects of the topic and our organization’s history within it. We pass this information along as possible aids to include in your communications and as an introduction to our mission and current activities.
The complete presentation is available at: GeekFest’s Youtube channel.
2016 was the year we at HCLE saw an increased interest in the history of computing in learning and education (hence our acronym, HCLE). We are building a virtual museum to collect and catalog born-digital artifacts and digitized versions of physical artifacts to researchers, scholars, educators, and the general public. Incredible amounts of money are being spent on how to improve education and learning, and how best to integrate technology into the process. Very little is being spent studying the decades of similar attempts, which may be why society continues to ask the same questions and make the same mistakes.
Our museum’s story stretches back to 1975 and the founding of LO*OP Center, (Learning Options * Open Portal), a 501(c)(3) California nonprofit corporation chartered:
“To improve the quality of people’s lives by integrating cultural diversity and appropriate technology into local communities through educational projects and events.”
The ways that computing changed learning and education have fundamentally shifted our society and civilization. We have found no other institution with a specific focus on formal and nonformal education that is working to preserve that history. If you are aware of any, please pass along the appropriate contact information.