Published: Smashing Magazine
November 4, 2019
2150 words
With the single exception of my 94-year-old mother, I don’t know a single person over the age of 65 who doesn’t have a smartphone, computer, or tablet, and usually all three.
I’m well past sixty, and have worked my way through punch cards, a C-64, many versions of Windows, Apple and Linux. I know at least a few people over seventy who have a programming background or who have spent a lot of time doing graphic design and computer music composition on various machines.
That’s why I’m always amazed to read comments like these:
“Amazon Echo has been particularly popular with the older generations, as it allows them to interact with technology and the Internet in a natural, personal way, rather than via a computer.”
Postscript: an edited version of this article was re-published at Considerable.com.
CFMU Radio is the campus/community radio station located at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. In 2003 Barry handled the design and layout for their first ever Volunteer Handbook. It marked Barry’s first use of Adobe Pagemaker, at the end of the days when such work was done by sticking printed text and images onto “flats” using an electric waxer.
From 1999 to 2002 Barry was editor, designer, and contributing writer of Wavelength, a newsletter published by the Canadian Society for Independent Radio Production (CSIRP). During that time he worked closely with radio producers and writers in Canada and the US. Links to PDF copies of all nine issues are posted below.