In Defense of Computers
Although not a direct redefinition of societal values, I am surprised by the number of "computer glitches" we've had in the Denver area lately. Last week a computer glitch (CG) might have exposed people's private info, opening them up to identity theft.
Yesterday, our local news reported two more. United Airlines had a CG which caused problems with their flight schedules. Colorado's DNA computer system got the blame for the worst CG. Sex criminal, Brent Brents, could have been caught and jailed last fall, preventing him from allegedly committing the latest string of assaults.
I confess a bias about the term "computer glitch" because of my years of work in the industry, but what does CG really mean? A computer glitch is technically a fault or defect in the machine or system. I'll also admit that there are problems associated with servers running Microsoft products, but they are mostly security issues and large systems don't usually run on MS products. My guess is that most of these CG's were not computer glitches at all, but human error.
If you're dialing a cell phone and "rear end" another car, is it the cell phone's fault? We have seen this blaming of objects before. In news stories, it has been implied that guns leapt off tables and into a criminal's hand, killing an innocent person. We don't want to ever blame people, do we? What if it hurts their self esteem? Companies can also save their reputations by hiding behind glitches. The implied message is, "Not our fault."
Seriously, I can name just a few reasons other than computer glitches that might have caused these problems: People overlooked inputting data, improper training, or systems were not connected properly to other systems. For the record, I suspect that for the most part, people were really the cause of most of these problems. This issue won't a part of my word crusade, but just wanted to make you aware.
Yesterday, our local news reported two more. United Airlines had a CG which caused problems with their flight schedules. Colorado's DNA computer system got the blame for the worst CG. Sex criminal, Brent Brents, could have been caught and jailed last fall, preventing him from allegedly committing the latest string of assaults.
I confess a bias about the term "computer glitch" because of my years of work in the industry, but what does CG really mean? A computer glitch is technically a fault or defect in the machine or system. I'll also admit that there are problems associated with servers running Microsoft products, but they are mostly security issues and large systems don't usually run on MS products. My guess is that most of these CG's were not computer glitches at all, but human error.
If you're dialing a cell phone and "rear end" another car, is it the cell phone's fault? We have seen this blaming of objects before. In news stories, it has been implied that guns leapt off tables and into a criminal's hand, killing an innocent person. We don't want to ever blame people, do we? What if it hurts their self esteem? Companies can also save their reputations by hiding behind glitches. The implied message is, "Not our fault."
Seriously, I can name just a few reasons other than computer glitches that might have caused these problems: People overlooked inputting data, improper training, or systems were not connected properly to other systems. For the record, I suspect that for the most part, people were really the cause of most of these problems. This issue won't a part of my word crusade, but just wanted to make you aware.
posted by Cynthia Duck at
8:48 AM
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