Annabel van Baren

It happens more and more often that I encounter a deep reluctance to virtually any type of technologically mediated, computer-based communication- or teaching structure in academia. Let me just state that I am not speaking about academia as a monstrously generalised heavy-weight; I actually do have a certain department in mind. The details as to which one is quite irrelevant, as I have the impression this reluctance can be found across the board.

While this state of technophobia may seem harmless, or even quaintly old-fashioned, I actually find the implications somewhat worrying. I believe that certain departments or sections could hugely benefit from the use of, for instance, e-learning environments, personal websites (up-to-date ones, I mean), group spaces, and others. Generally, these suggestions are met with a disinterested glance, to be soon followed by “sure it’s a good idea, but I have no idea how to use that stuff. It’s different for you ’cause you’re a bit of a nerd, anyway”. Regardless of the question of whether I tick the ‘nerd box’ or not, I find it striking that some people find it acceptable and justifiable that they failed to check their email for more than two weeks, simply because they didn’t know they could access their inbox via the web, without even wondering if a solution to retrieve and read their email could be found. They don’t even take the time or the effort to ask. Actually, when they do ask they don’t want to hear the answer if it appears even vaguely technological. If it entails more than two mouse-clicks it’s too tricky.

I believe that the introduction of certain computer-mediated features may greatly aid the functioning of some departments. Just think of how many processes could be infinitely sped up if people were to actually update their personal websites: no more emailing back and forth about lists of publications, research proposals, telephone numbers, etcetera. But maybe people actually enjoy this slowness. Why make things easy when they can be hard?