Small computers: what is user services role?

ABSTRACT

For the past few years, we have been hearing that "small computers are the wave of the future". Today, that statement is already outdated. Small computers are here!The revolution in availability and cost-effectiveness of small computers requires a reevaluation of the requirements of a User Services organization. User services organizations have usually concentrated on supporting users of one central computer that was operated by the computer center. The percentage of computing on a campus that is done on small computers relative to the central site is growing. The machines involved include stand-alone microcomputers and shared departmental minicomputers. Some are connected to the central mainframe and others are not. Some are owned and operated by the computing center, and others by individuals and/or departments. Users of small machines are representing a larger and continuously increasing proportion of our user base. If we in User Services hope to continue to provide useful support to the campus computing community, then we must become able to provide service to this new and growing constituency of small computer users.This paper consists of two parts. The first is an examination of what our role is and how we can adapt ourselves to the changing state of the art. It is a discussion centering on the issues involved in adapting to our new role. The second part is a description of the efforts one university is making toward supporting single user microcomputers and departmentally supported minicomputers and microcomputers.The following questions are meant to provide a focus on some of the issues that must be addressed for an institution to successfully define, implement and carry out a policy on small computers.

• Social and professional topics

  • Professional topics

    • Computing education

      • Computing education programs