Age of Computers Has Its Bytes

AGE OF COMPUTERS HAS ITS BYTES  
March 29 & March 31

Thank goodness, the clouds have gone away!
Perhaps I should explain. Less than a year ago, I received from a friend, an e-mail containing several absolutely awesome photos of storm clouds. The e-mail stated that they had been sent to her from a friend who claimed the photos were taken in Alberta. A week later, another person forwarded me the same set of photos, only this time, they were storm clouds from Kansas. Still a week later, in comes another email, images attached, saying the photos were from a heavy Toronto rainstorm. And guess what? It was followed by another e-mail, claiming that the photos were taken in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. We were to believe that this person had been casually snapping photos of clouds in 150 mph winds while residents were perched on rooftops hanging on for their lives as water rose around them!
E-mail is great. I receive about 25 to 30 e-mails a day from people reporting this, that, and the other thing, some with photos of wildlife to identify, and others just wanting to report something really cool. These e-mails are gratefully received and I devote considerable time each day to answering them, because Nature appreciation, and encouraging others in its pursuit, is what I do.
Thankfully, the gross e-mails, commonly referred to as “spam”, most so graphic as to make a longshoreman blush, are filtered out and seldom find their way anymore to my inbox. Rampant now, however, is other junk e-mail claiming to be from Pay-Pal requesting that I verify new accounts. But in among them are the well meaning e-mails, with large attachments that do tend to become humorously monotonous after awhile. According to my files, I received eight duplicate e-mails containing photos of an albino fawn in Texas, and an incredible 18 of the amazing hummingbird-at-a-nest series. And then, there are the virus hoaxes, forwarded to virtually everyone on the e-mail lists of well meaning senders, warning of doom and gloom about a virus running rampant across the continent threatening to destroy every hard drive in existence. Most are hoaxes, often more annoying and bothersome than an actual computer virus itself. A simple 30-second “Google” search of a reported virus will always verify if the purported virus is genuine or just a hoax. For reasons best known to themselves, few people, if any, bother to do this before forwarding these hoaxes to hundreds of contacts in their e-mail list. So, we just keep deleting.
Computer owners, however, have learned to accept these little idiosyncrasies of the cyber age with the same grace as they do advertisements under car windshield wipers, telemarketers (which I simply don’t answer if call display shows unknown name and unknown number), and TV commercials barking at us at double the volume of regular programming. It’s a way of life and computer users must continue to accept related annoyances, if we are to reap the benefits of the electronic age. And there are many. Two of the computers we own were both ordered online with nary a word spoken except by the courier who said, “Sign here.” Our bills are all paid on line and I am able to flip money back and forth between accounts at the touch of a button. I am waiting for the day when I can actually open the CD drive of my computer and gingerly retrieve my money! Accumulated data from all monitoring programs in which I participate are all entered online. Contracts, files and photos all fly back and forth, sometimes world wide, at the speed of light.
For naturalists, the computer has been an important tool in furthering the enjoyment of their hobby. No longer do we have to wonder about things, or spend endless hours researching material. A quick electronic search of the Internet delivers results in a matter of seconds. In the 1960s, a complete set of Cleveland Bent’s Life Histories of North American Birds cost about $150, a 26-volume package that takes up one entire shelf in my library. This same set today, if it’s even available, would likely cost about $800, quite possibly more. However, this entire set is now available online and information on any species of bird, even if it’s as detailed as the colour of its eggs or the food it eats, can be located and downloaded in seconds. The revised Breeding Bird Atlas surveys and data, just completed last year were all entered on line by volunteers, the same project when it was completed 20 years ago entailing an enormous volume of forms, papers, survey cards and mailings. Likewise the annual Christmas Bird Count, and a host of other nature related projects. The outdated Rare Bird Hotline has been replaced by the Internet OntBirds listserv which circulates reports of bird sightings to over 1,800 subscribers across Ontario in less than a minute.
The world is moving along at an incredible speed, and one has to wonder what lies ahead. For the most part I have embraced these technological advancements, and managed to swing with the rest of them. I perform my own computer maintenance and have not had a computer in for repairs in more than a decade. But, there are days when it becomes too overwhelming. Fortunately, as outdoor enthusiasts we have learned to limit our time spent in the electronic world, and reserve some quality time outside, enjoying wildlife and nature at the grassroots level. It is important that we do not become so dependant on the electronic world, that we forget the natural world, for that is where it all began for us.