Preparing for Coronavirus?

[mahagonny]

I know many, some of whom I hired when I've been a department chair. And I've worked as one. Keep in mind that the universe doesn't revolve around whatever single lens you choose to see it through.

Doesn't sound like you know much about yours.

[Caracal]

When I was adjuncting I had to use loaners because my regular laptop had crumped and I couldn't afford a new one for a couple years.

M.

Yeah, but the price of a basic functional computer has come way down in the last few years. It just seems odd because most of the academics I know really couldn't function without a computer at home or a laptop. Perhaps this varies by discipline? I know there are science disciplines where you really can't work unless you are in the lab.

[mamselle]

When I was adjuncting I had to use loaners because my regular laptop had crumped and I couldn't afford a new one for a couple years.

M.

Yeah, but the price of a basic functional computer has come way down in the last few years. It just seems odd because most of the academics I know really couldn't function without a computer at home or a laptop. Perhaps this varies by discipline? I know there are science disciplines where you really can't work unless you are in the lab.

At that point I was dividing my rent into two pieces to be able to pay it at all, and the price of laptops still "wasn't all that much."

I really didn't have any margins, or savings, or opportunities for such. I also had to give up my home wifi at that point, and wasn't able to re-establish it for several years. I was staying in libraries, cafes, or bookstores, for hours at a time, just in order to get my work done. In one sense, it was fine, it was possible, and I was willing to do it because it mattered to me.

But it wasn't easy, and some of the basics people seem to take for granted weren't possible.

And some of the assumptions, like, "Oh, just get a cheap laptop!" or, "Oh, they don't cost that much anymore!" don't always work for everyone.

Our public library has a laptop loaner kiosk with plugged-in laptops that you can take out for two hours at a time, which also helped (you have to return one and take out another because they're only charged to go for 2 hours each). Finally, another job that I'd started supplied me with a laptop and so on (but they still wouldn't cover wifi). Two years ago, I was finally able to buy a 100.00 used loaner from my old department, because they were replacing their old ones. Last month, I was able to re-start my home wifi.

You'll never know who is dealing with more extreme constraints than you can imagine because they won't tell you, they won't want you to know how severely they're limited in balancing things. When one is really trying to get ones real, true work done, complaining is just an unproductive time-sink.

But they may really be that limited, and that constrained, and off-hand dismissals don't really answer the need.

Empathy might.

M.

[sinenomine]

I'm an department chair who doesn't have a laptop by choice, or wifi thanks to where I live. I usually get along fine with my desktop computer at home, my school's tablet, and my phone. Given the current situation, I've just borrowed a mobile hotspot form my school, and have downloaded all the files on my office desktop onto a thumb drive.

[Caracal]

When I was adjuncting I had to use loaners because my regular laptop had crumped and I couldn't afford a new one for a couple years.

M.

Yeah, but the price of a basic functional computer has come way down in the last few years. It just seems odd because most of the academics I know really couldn't function without a computer at home or a laptop. Perhaps this varies by discipline? I know there are science disciplines where you really can't work unless you are in the lab.

At that point I was dividing my rent into two pieces to be able to pay it at all, and the price of laptops still "wasn't all that much."

I really didn't have any margins, or savings, or opportunities for such. I also had to give up my home wifi at that point, and wasn't able to re-establish it for several years. I was staying in libraries, cafes, or bookstores, for hours at a time, just in order to get my work done. In one sense, it was fine, it was possible, and I was willing to do it because it mattered to me.

But it wasn't easy, and some of the basics people seem to take for granted weren't possible.

And some of the assumptions, like, "Oh, just get a cheap laptop!" or, "Oh, they don't cost that much anymore!" don't always work for everyone.

Our public library has a laptop loaner kiosk with plugged-in laptops that you can take out for two hours at a time, which also helped (you have to return one and take out another because they're only charged to go for 2 hours each). Finally, another job that I'd started supplied me with a laptop and so on (but they still wouldn't cover wifi). Two years ago, I was finally able to buy a 100.00 used loaner from my old department, because they were replacing their old ones. Last month, I was able to re-start my home wifi.

You'll never know who is dealing with more extreme constraints than you can imagine because they won't tell you, they won't want you to know how severely they're limited in balancing things. When one is really trying to get ones real, true work done, complaining is just an unproductive time-sink.

But they may really be that limited, and that constrained, and off-hand dismissals don't really answer the need.

Empathy might.

M.

Sorry, wasn't trying to be dismissive or unpleasant and I take your point.

[Cheerful]

Turns out that a lot of faculty here are asking for loaner laptops from our IT department because they don't have their own computers at home. And apparently they don't have a university-issued laptop either (I've been here for over a decade and was issued a laptop on Day 1).

I guess there are some faculty who still do everything via photocopies.

My university provides either a laptop or a desk top.  During tech replacement time, our IT person usually urges us to get the desk top.

The issue of using one's own home tech equipment for work raises many questions.  Some people may like to keep home and work tech separate, for example.  At the beginning of my academic career, my university paid for Internet access for faculty working from home.  Those days are long gone.

[apl68]

Our public library has a laptop loaner kiosk with plugged-in laptops that you can take out for two hours at a time, which also helped (you have to return one and take out another because they're only charged to go for 2 hours each).

M.

That's part of why we're trying to keep open at work, even as schools close and City Hall is considering closing its doors.  People need our information services.  We can't move all of our services online, and we can't work from home, any more than the people who stock the grocery store shelves or work with sick people can.  We've got to be available.

[Anselm]

We just had an emergency meeting this morning to discuss options for the current emergency.   No classes for two days until further notice.   One colleague openly said that he has no electronics at home aside from an alarm clock but for him it is not poverty but a lifestyle choice.   He was concerned about not accessing school computers in case of a total campus shutdown and lockout.    I did not get a computer at home until 2012, mostly due to money issues.   I also refuse to walk around with a phone on my person.   I know that there are many people out there who are worse off than my situation a decade ago, especially due to student loan burdens.

It is quite clear that some things can't be taught in an online format such as ceramics, voice lessons and the hands on practical medical skills.   The best I can do right now is turn my classes (science) into some sort of correspondence course.  I dread the thought of recording myself lecturing to an empty room.  I need to see faces.

Sports teams have had their games postponed but they are still practicing which seems pretty silly since sports involves sweat, spit, blood, hair, etc.     

[mamselle]

When I was adjuncting I had to use loaners because my regular laptop had crumped and I couldn't afford a new one for a couple years.

M.

Yeah, but the price of a basic functional computer has come way down in the last few years. It just seems odd because most of the academics I know really couldn't function without a computer at home or a laptop. Perhaps this varies by discipline? I know there are science disciplines where you really can't work unless you are in the lab.

At that point I was dividing my rent into two pieces to be able to pay it at all, and the price of laptops still "wasn't all that much."

I really didn't have any margins, or savings, or opportunities for such. I also had to give up my home wifi at that point, and wasn't able to re-establish it for several years. I was staying in libraries, cafes, or bookstores, for hours at a time, just in order to get my work done. In one sense, it was fine, it was possible, and I was willing to do it because it mattered to me.

But it wasn't easy, and some of the basics people seem to take for granted weren't possible.

And some of the assumptions, like, "Oh, just get a cheap laptop!" or, "Oh, they don't cost that much anymore!" don't always work for everyone.

Our public library has a laptop loaner kiosk with plugged-in laptops that you can take out for two hours at a time, which also helped (you have to return one and take out another because they're only charged to go for 2 hours each). Finally, another job that I'd started supplied me with a laptop and so on (but they still wouldn't cover wifi). Two years ago, I was finally able to buy a 100.00 used loaner from my old department, because they were replacing their old ones. Last month, I was able to re-start my home wifi.

You'll never know who is dealing with more extreme constraints than you can imagine because they won't tell you, they won't want you to know how severely they're limited in balancing things. When one is really trying to get ones real, true work done, complaining is just an unproductive time-sink.

But they may really be that limited, and that constrained, and off-hand dismissals don't really answer the need.

Empathy might.

M.

Sorry, wasn't trying to be dismissive or unpleasant and I take your point.

Forgiven. Accepted.

M.

[secundem_artem]

Artem U's technology is the stuff we get left over from the Bulgarian Ministry of Ox Carts when they are finished with it.  It rarely works, but it's cheap.  I'm doing as much as possible from my personal laptop. 

In other news, is anybody re-reading The Plague by Camus?  Or re-watching Contagion or The Hot Zone?

Contagion is one of my favorite movies.  It depicts much of public health reasonably accurately and I get to watch Gwyneth Paltrow die a gruesome and horrible death.  Compared to Gwyneth, Ivanka Trump comes across like a tribune of the people.  Gwynie can go steam her head instead of her nether regions as far as I'm concerned.  And shove her jade egg into an orifice other than what she is promoting. [/rant]

[mamselle]

This rendering of the outcome of the Spanish flu in the UK is what comes to mind for me:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le0fDMVDp3g

M.

[nebo113]

I'm an department chair who doesn't have a laptop by choice, or wifi thanks to where I live. I usually get along fine with my desktop computer at home, my school's tablet, and my phone. Given the current situation, I've just borrowed a mobile hotspot form my school, and have downloaded all the files on my office desktop onto a thumb drive.

How does one borrow a mobile hotspot?

[mamselle]

In very clunky terms (someone can correct this!) it's a little box that acts like an antenna and lets you connect to the internet wherever you are.

You plug it in with (I think) a USB plug, or one of the other kinds of plugs, and it acts sort of like a wifi router.

You are charged by the amount of data you pull.

   -   -   -   -  ( (((((   ((((   (((((       ....  ....   ... /      /

OK, have at it, those who know IT much better than I do....!

;--}

M.

[hmaria1609]

Yesterday was our last day open to the public. We had patrons up to closing.  So I'm home for 2 weeks.

Went with my mom to Costco earlier today.  Besides limiting the number of people entering the warehouse, there were limits on how much people could buy of popular food items. In the food court area, only pizza was available as carry out.
At the local organic grocery, there were pockets of empty shelves. A lot of bread was gone.  One of the employees who bagged our food thanked us for keeping the place going.  :)

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

We found out, via an online meeting tonight, that classes will be taught online for the remainder of the semester starting on the 30th.