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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend December 12, 2005 In one of his volunteer roles, Bob Cox teaches computers to senior citizens in Ashland. Here, he helps Dorothy Parsons. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli For seniors in Ashland unfamiliar with computers, volunteer Bob Cox is their ... Cyberspace pilot By JOHN DARLING for the Mail Tribune It’s not from some noble, selfless instinct that Bob Cox has, over the last seven years, taught some 200 older people to use computers, especially e-mail, so they can communicate daily and cheaply with their adult children. "It’s the fun. I get to meet people and teach them fun things," says Cox, a retired doctor, medical school teacher and, for the last 25 years before retirement in 1989, a researcher with IBM in Silicon Valley. Cox, 78, takes on students, one at a time, at Ashland Senior Center on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11, teaching them whatever they want to know about the cyber jungle. Mostly, it’s e-mail. Their children have given them their castoff computer, usually with its older operating system, so Cox keeps it simple, showing seniors how to create and send e-mail to their delighted kids and grandkids. Then come the basics of Windows, how to create a Word file, how to cut and paste, delete, insert and begin a dream that many hope to pursue: writing the story of their life, a document of incalculable value, telling tales of the 20th century for generations to come. Advertisement Many of the older generation are now moving into digital cameras and come in wanting to know how the images are transferred to hard drives, diskettes and e-mail — a simple task once you’ve done it a few times, he says. The Senior Center has a few outmoded computers with antiquated Windows 98 operating systems, with many commands and functions that don’t translate to the Windows XP systems of their children — and the center would welcome donations of more modern computers, with current software and the memory to hold it, he notes. The older generation is also oriented to paper rather than computer screens, so will print too many documents, rather than downloading to diskettes. Too many things desired for downloading now fit only on CD and the center’s computers are too old to burn CDs, he adds. The Internet, with Ashland Fiber Network as ISP, opens up vast, new worlds to center users, who learn to surf sites about finances, airline travel and vacations. They like to surf eBay, too, although merchandising items from the senior center is discouraged. "It’s been extremely helpful for me," says pupil Hans Schneider, 70, an author with a yen to travel — and four children spread from coast to coast. "I don’t have my own computer. I come in here and read my e-mail and research financial, medical and travel Web sites." Student Stan Jacobson learned how to e-mail relatives and get confirmations for airline tickets to his free e-mail account on hotmail.com. "Hotmail is universal and has links on computer screens all over the world," says Cox. "I went into a little village in Africa and there it was." Like many volunteering seniors, Cox puts in time at other places, including Food and Friends and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, where, using his medical skills, he helps identify contraband rhino ivory brought into the country as innocuous-looking carvings. John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected]. You can recommend a Hometown Hero Do you know someone who’s a Hometown Hero? The first to volunteer when a school or a local family needs help, or someone who has risked his personal safety or financial security to help someone else? Submit suggestions to Mail Tribune reporter Sanne Specht via e-mail at Cyberspace pilot ">[email protected] or by phone at 776-4497. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Online Casino Student Loans Online Pharmacy tcg student loan consolidation Online Casino Reviews Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Deep Muscle Stimulator Discount Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Casino Gambling Sites Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Salvia Divinorum Advertisement s