Personal Computer Use Profile

Where to begin....   This may be a little all over the place, but I'm going to try to get most of the ideas down for now.

I use computers for work, school/learning and play, and so does my family: wife, 9yo daughter, 5yo daughter and, eventually, 1yo daughter.  Our home network has 3 devices wired to the router and 6 devices that connect wirelessly.  We use computers and other technology regularly for just about everything.

Focusing more on my computer use, I use the internet extensively but also have a high demand for desktop applications.  I use most of the MS Office suite applications on a daily basis - Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint - and use Access on a semi-regular basis.  I also use for work, school and personal entertainment and learning a variety of learning technologies and multimedia development tools: Adobe eLearning Suite, Camtasia, digital whiteboard software, smaller media development utilities.  I make a point to be aware of and try to use open source or freely available software and like to use a number of graphically rich tools and : Google Earth, GIMP, VLAN player, multiple browsers (Fireworks, IE, Opera, Chrome), Skype, Second Life, video editing and digital storytelling applications (i.e. Windows Moviemaker, Photostory 3) and others.   

My computer use, at the moment, is more dictated by work and school (I'm currently writing my dissertation for a PhD in Educational Psychology at Texas A&M).  Once I'm done with school, I hope to get into digital photography and videography to a much greater extent and start using home computers to record and produce family histories, and I want to involve my kids in that process: interviewing grandparents, uncles, great uncles, etc. 


At home... My wife does a lot of color printing, and we like to have a decent scanner we use to scan family pictures.  We also both use iPhones and like to have extremely mobile computing options.  We even prefer to have mobility even within the four walls of our house - being able to use our computer(s) in any location within the house (we'll *never* buy another desktop machine).  We use a number of devices connected to the network including our home phone (Vonage) and a game console with a NetFlix player.  We do enough with technology that our cable modem/router sites on top of the entertainment center in the living room.  On the home machines, my wife and I also have to monitor, control and support our daughters' computer use.  Their computer skills are as important to us as the rest of their academic skills.  Personally, I intend on sending my kids to middle school with a netbook; the question is, "Will the schools be ready?"


I know computers fairly well and can maintain the hardware and software on a machine and have a number of peripherals that we use at home on a regular basis.  That impacts which computers we buy and our long term needs and plans.