Introducing the digital

I first met a computer when I began to learn computer programming as an undergraduate in 1967, and then worked as a programmer for several years after graduating from university. The change from the huge mainframe machine to my beautiful portable computer could not have been imagined in the 1960s. And I am convinced that using a computer has transformed what I can do, transformed my abilities. In the late 1980s, I bought my first portable computer and since then, all my academic work has been produced with a portable machine, working at the kitchen table, working as I travel. I love writing, but with shaky spelling and appalling handwriting, I very much doubt that I could have become an academic if constrained to writing with pen and paper. I struggle to organise physical paperwork, but in a digital environment, can always search for and find the necessary documents. I can work collaboratively with colleagues at a distance through electronic communication and work with students in faraway countries such as Botswana, Rwanda, Chile and Mexico. I can download an electronic book onto my iPad, and access journals immediately. I can play around with unknown quantities in a spreadsheet in order to plan a budget. The technology constantly changes and nowadays computers can be used as much for leisure as for work. For example, I use digital devices to watch replays of television programmes, to navigate on a boat and to find recipes that fit the ingredients at hand.

I was an Open University tutor in the 1970s, before electronic communication was available, and, at that time, I used the telephone for one-to-one tutorials and the postal system to give written feedback to students. As humans, we are adept at using whatever technology is at hand and as new technologies develop, we learn to exploit them in our day-to-day lives. For me, the advantages of hand-held technologies with instant connectivity outweigh the disadvantages. They enable me to look after my grandchildren while also keeping in touch with work. Digital technologies have become part of the fabric of our lives and we can choose what we appropriate and what we reject. I am resisting using Facebook and Twitter, although this may have changed by the time this book is published. I have only recently started to read ebooks and still very much prefer the physicality of a paper book.