stevenpiziks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stevenpiziks) wrote2018-09-05 07:51 pm
stevenpiziks) wrote2018-09-05 07:51 pm
Entry tags:
The Fourth Utility
We know the utilities as gas, electricity, and water. They're heavily regulated by the government and you have to be =way= behind before they can cut you off. They also have to hook you up, no matter how bad your credit rating might be. This is because these days, gas, electricity, and water are necessary for the basics of life.
But a fourth utility is emerging. The Internet.
These days, you can't apply for a job without Internet access. ("Apply at our web site!") You can't communicate with your doctor. ("Check the patient portal for your test results.") The machines in your house use the Internet. (CPAP machines, refrigerators, medication timers, Siri, Alexa, the television.) Most communication takes place over the Internet. (Who uses a cell phone to actually CALL anyone?) It's extremely difficult to live without Internet.
Case in point: the Wherever School district.
Yesterday, I arrived at work and learned that the school's Internet was down. I sighed. This happens at least twice a month. Everything in a school system was built by the lowest bidder, which means we have cheap-ass everything, including Internet equipment. At least twice a month it goes on strike, and we're stranded for hours.
Without Internet, I can't take attendance. I have no grade book--the district requires all grades to be recorded in their on-line program. I can't access my network drive, which means I can't get to my lesson plans or anything that goes with them. I can't even make copies, because the copy machines have login codes for every teacher, and they're checked through the Internet. No Internet, no login codes, no copies. Our phones are Internet-based, so the phones are dead. Our email server was down. I couldn't even read email, let alone send it.
Worst of all, the heating and cooling system is Internet-based. The thermostats for each building are actually located in Oklahoma, and you change the heating and cooling settings through the Internet. When the Internet goes down, we have no heat or AC.
As Tuesday progressed, the building grew hotter and hotter. By sixth hour, we were roasting in my classroom--and my windows face north! It was a hot day out, you see, and when you pack 35 teens in a room, the temperature goes way up.
Additionally, it was awful trying to teach. I'm heavily computerized in a district that itself encourages computer use. Through some technical wizardry of my own, I managed to access an old, cached version of some of my lesson plans, which helped. But later, my seniors are writing essays, and for that they need to get on Google docs. (If you think I'm going to read 70 hand-written essays scribbled by teenagers who were never taught proper penmanship in elementary school, you can think again.) No Internet means no Google docs.
I later learned that the Internet outage wasn't confined to Nameless High School. It affected the entire school district. Last night's storm had damaged a critical piece of equipment, and a replacement wasn't expected to arrive until tomorrow afternoon. Eep.
At the end of the day, the announcement came. School was canceled for Wednesday. The reason wasn't the lack of computers, but the lack of AC. Wednesday was expected to be in the 90s, and it would be simply too hot in classrooms built for AC. (My windows, for example, open only a little.)
No Internet means no school. Internet has become our fourth utility.
But a fourth utility is emerging. The Internet.
These days, you can't apply for a job without Internet access. ("Apply at our web site!") You can't communicate with your doctor. ("Check the patient portal for your test results.") The machines in your house use the Internet. (CPAP machines, refrigerators, medication timers, Siri, Alexa, the television.) Most communication takes place over the Internet. (Who uses a cell phone to actually CALL anyone?) It's extremely difficult to live without Internet.
Case in point: the Wherever School district.
Yesterday, I arrived at work and learned that the school's Internet was down. I sighed. This happens at least twice a month. Everything in a school system was built by the lowest bidder, which means we have cheap-ass everything, including Internet equipment. At least twice a month it goes on strike, and we're stranded for hours.
Without Internet, I can't take attendance. I have no grade book--the district requires all grades to be recorded in their on-line program. I can't access my network drive, which means I can't get to my lesson plans or anything that goes with them. I can't even make copies, because the copy machines have login codes for every teacher, and they're checked through the Internet. No Internet, no login codes, no copies. Our phones are Internet-based, so the phones are dead. Our email server was down. I couldn't even read email, let alone send it.
Worst of all, the heating and cooling system is Internet-based. The thermostats for each building are actually located in Oklahoma, and you change the heating and cooling settings through the Internet. When the Internet goes down, we have no heat or AC.
As Tuesday progressed, the building grew hotter and hotter. By sixth hour, we were roasting in my classroom--and my windows face north! It was a hot day out, you see, and when you pack 35 teens in a room, the temperature goes way up.
Additionally, it was awful trying to teach. I'm heavily computerized in a district that itself encourages computer use. Through some technical wizardry of my own, I managed to access an old, cached version of some of my lesson plans, which helped. But later, my seniors are writing essays, and for that they need to get on Google docs. (If you think I'm going to read 70 hand-written essays scribbled by teenagers who were never taught proper penmanship in elementary school, you can think again.) No Internet means no Google docs.
I later learned that the Internet outage wasn't confined to Nameless High School. It affected the entire school district. Last night's storm had damaged a critical piece of equipment, and a replacement wasn't expected to arrive until tomorrow afternoon. Eep.
At the end of the day, the announcement came. School was canceled for Wednesday. The reason wasn't the lack of computers, but the lack of AC. Wednesday was expected to be in the 90s, and it would be simply too hot in classrooms built for AC. (My windows, for example, open only a little.)
No Internet means no school. Internet has become our fourth utility.
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and the pong of so many ... plus their personal products that they use... I do feel a lot of sympathy for you...
hope the internet got fixed quickly the next day.
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