The computer lab in Richter Library is used almost constantly. Everytime I go to the library I try to walk through the area to see what students are doing. Years ago I hardly ever saw anyone on Blackboard. The proponderance of people seemed to be doing e-mail, eBay, and similar activities. Now I see Blackboard, PowerPoint, Word and web research as the primary activities.
It has been argued that public computer labs would be phased out as personal ownership of computers, especially portables, became more common with students. Or that the public labs would only be needed for specialized software such as CAD-CAM packages in architecture and engineering. The evidence doesn't seem to reflect that. Why?
An article in The Chronicle of Higher Education talks about the decision of students to study in various places. "Those who study in their rooms tend to blur their work and personal lives, while those who study in the library like to keep the two separate. Students who work in the student union generally prefer to be around other people, using the background noise to help them focus. Ubiquitous laptop computers, data connections, and wireless networks have encouraged such idiosyncratic work habits, enabling students to be more productive in whatever setting appeals to them." (http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i29/29b02901.htm - requires subscription)
So it may be that people choose public computers in order to organize their lives. I certainly blur my work and life. I have one computer that I use for everything. It is a TabletPC that goes almost everywhere with me. But with students the actual computer may be less relavent than it is with me. They may be using more web services, so they can sit down at any computer and be equally productive whereas I expect access to all the tools, utilities, and documents that are on my actualy computer.
The only relevance in this is that we are trying to provide services to students, so it would pay to know what their needs are, wouldn't it?
