Remember The Big Chill? Right, that's the one—a bunch of yuppies attending the funeral of a buddy. When I watched it the other night, I was struck by the enormous impact technology has had on us in the 17 years since the movie was released.
One character in the movie promises to stay in touch with the others by—get this—writing a letter. Others are scribbling addresses in an old-fashioned DayRunner appointment book. And if you recall the great music in the film, take note that all of it came from long playing records.
The fact that we regularly use our PCs for both work and play means it's a sure bet we're taking the technology for granted. I wanted to see what tools I use in my home office, things not available in 1983 (maybe not even around two years ago). So I looked at the way POOCH, a group creating an off-leash dog park in Pasadena, uses technology.
Office Automation
I'm ready to send letters to a dozen members of POOCH. In 1983 I'd make copies of the letter and have to hand-write the envelopes. If I got sneaky, I'd use a typewriter, type the addresses on a template, and have the local copy store copy them to labels. Then I'd stick on stamps and labels.
The way I did it today took little time and less effort. I created the letter in Word and used Word's address book to mail merge the letters. Then I used e-stamps to print the envelopes with both an address and postage I didn't have to pay for postage, either. It was free because e-stamps wants my business to the tune of $50 in free postage if I'd just try their software. Cool, no?
The envelope contained 50 business cards to hand out to others while we walk our dogs. It's a handy way to promote POOCH. I designed the cards in 10 minutes using a Publisher template, printing them on the laser onto Avery perforated sheets. Want business cards but don't want to leave the house? Design them online at Easiest. It'll cost about $20 for 1000 cards delivered to your door.
Staying in Touch
In the old days, POOCH movers and shakers would probably use a phone tree in order to keep in contact. Today we use eGroups for private e-mail that also lets us share files and chat online. Another list— Pooch— is our public list, the one we use to make announcements to the public. Our Web site, while still incomplete, is at Pasadena Pooch.
When we need to have a quick chat, one call to I-link sets up an instant conference call. POOCH member phone numbers are already set so I-link can instantly link everyone into the call. The cost? About four cents a minute per person.
Technology doesn't seem to know when to stop. When I'm out of the office, POOCH people can get in touch by way of a Motorola PageWriter. Not only does it accept pages but it also lets me send and receive decent sized e-mails.
My Handspring Visor (which exceeds the capabilities of the Palm for lots less money) accepts modules for dozens of neat-o gadgets. There's a modem, of course, a digital camera, and a silly universal remote control. My favorite? ActiveLink, a wireless, always-on modem that automatically sends e-mail and checks for incoming messages 24 hours a day.
Learning and Gathering
As POOCH deals with growing pains, we can learn from— and commiserate with— other dog parks across the country. The Web has literally hundreds of links helping us see how others have dealt with the creation of dog parks (The Dog Park and Free Play).
And as POOCH develops, we can make use of Hotpaper.com, a site crammed with innumerable document templates. Just fill in the blanks to customize, print, and save well-designed documents, including business cards, stationery, letters, signs, and certificates.
Once registered (it's free), every form on Hotpaper is filled in with your vital stats. Then save the template to Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, or a universal format. Better, POOCH members can fax or e-mail the document— absolutely free.
Flash forward to 2017. Now imagine your kids looking back to the quaint years of 2000. Remarkable, eh?
Steve Bass is a Contributing Editor with PC World Magazine, frequently writes for Forbes ASAP, and is the president of the Pasadena IBM Users Group. He often writes with his tongue in his cheek.
This article is brought to you by the Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an International organization to which this user group belongs.
