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INTERNET SLANG: A NEW ACRONYM

Honors Speaker: S. M. Smoller

Salem State College Graduate School Banquet, March 2002

            I’ve decided to start by commenting on one noticeable thing that I did not experience while a graduate student here at Salem State.  I didn’t get to know or interact with students in other departments.  Regrettably, I didn’t meet most of you, the go-getters in your field. 

That’s because I’d describe my experience at Salem State as “full immersion”.  I was always coming up for air.

For the past three years, I have breathed library media studies, education and information literacy – especially because I entered the Salem State program shortly after changing careers to become the only school library media specialist for the state’s largest middle school. 

As I tackled the demands of the new job, I scaled the Master of Education in Library Media Studies at Salem State. The closest image I can conjure up for you to explain this intense experience is to say it was almost like one of those one-week or five Saturday courses we’ve all probably taken – except, the projects never stopped.  It’s been invigorating, exhausting, hurried and ultimately, rewarding - especially since most of the required projects I produced for Salem State were more than theoretical, I could actually put them into practical use at work.  

But, I never knew I could do so many things at once. 

Family.  Full-time job in Education.  School work.  Like many of you, I rushed here from a busy classroom or workplace to surmount the first hurdle we all must master at Salem State: finding a parking space. Once we find a spot somewhere in the outer orbit of the student parking lot, we bundle ourselves against the fierce-Salem-wind-that-chills-to-the-bone, and, take a huge breath before ascending the killer, multi-level stairway leading to the library.  I came to view my courses here as my weekly work-out. 

Although, with time, I also came to view the walk to campus as an opportunity to shift roles from teacher to student – and I learned a lot here.

I think the essence of what I’ve learned is how to exist in the digital world, and, that’s a mighty lesson.   I’ve learned how to use lots of new tools that enhance a whole new life I now live online.     

The world wide web was not part of my world before I started Graduate School in 1999.  That’s astonishing to me now because it is so much a part of my culture today.  I can still remember the first time I registered for courses online.  I felt I’d really arrived – and I had, in comparison to my frantic experience with my undergraduate registrar’s office in the 1970’s.  Remember registration then?

It’s amazing how much and how fast the digital world has evolved in the past few years, and as part of my course of study here, I’ve enthusiastically gone along for the ride.  I actually experienced real joy when I learned how to access library databases from home! 

I guess  I’m now what you’d call a “netizen”.  I spend hours a day online or designing and posting web pages on my school library’s website.  

I even understand the new lingo. Not only have I mastered “emoticons” and understand what it means to be “flamed”,  I know that I am no longer a “Newbie”.  I know that because I now understand a lot of the cool acronyms – most of which I learned by watching the 14-year-old students using the computers in my school library. 

B-T-W means “by the way”,  A-T-M  stands for “at the moment”, I-S-T-M is “it seems to me”. And, then there’s the thoughtful H-T-H, which means  “hope this helps”.  A lot of people seem to know R-O-T-F-L, “rolling on the floor laughing”, and R-T-F-M, “Read the flippin manual”.

My favorite phrases in cyberspeak are S-O-H-F, which means “sense of humor failure”, S-I-T-D, “still in the dark” and I-A-N-A-L,  “I am not a lawyer”.

Reviewing the projects I’ve produced over my course of study at Salem State, I am struck with the transformation in my communication and computer skills.  When I entered Salem State, I basically used the computer as a word processor, with an occasional excursion into Publisher.  At first, I submitted typed papers. Then, I took Carol Kelly’s course that required I produce a power point presentation.  After that, my reports began to take on new forms as I progressed to “really fancy” power point presentations, to web pages and websites. 

            Educators in the audience will understand when I say that I almost feel guilty tonight because I am not “seamlessly” building visuals and technology into this presentation in order to appeal to all of your different learning styles.

            That’s another new world that opened to me at Salem State.  It had been nearly 30 years since I took a learning theory class.  Wow, have things changed since the 1970’s.  Pappert.  Nelson. Universal Design. Engelbart. Licklider.  They were all new to me, as was one of the gurus of my new digital world.  I first encountered futurian and infonaut Howard Rheingold as part of a course.  He epitomizes the anarchist attitude that I now embrace about technology.  He lives in a world of MUDs and MOOs – a virtual, social world where people learn in new ways.  My education here has fascinated me with how people learn on the world wide web. 

And, the best thing about having learned at Salem State how to exist in the digital world is that I also learned how to teach that transformation to others.

I think I actually understand why the school library is not an explicit part of the state curriculum frameworks and, that’s scary.

            So, now, I have an acronym of my own - and I think it might also be helpful to all of you,  it is M-F-U-T – move forward using technology. If that means thinking outside of the box or adopting guerrilla tactics, do it   If there is a way to accomplish your goal in cyberspace, just do it; don’t let traditional thinking keep you rooted.

            For example, when my school district’s technology infrastructure failed and prevented me for nearly a month from updating the library’s website, I convinced my principal to allow me to post the website to a non-school server.  Besides the fact that there was no specific policy that said we couldn’t, I suggested that it was my job to move forward using the technology.  As a result, our school’s website is the only one in the district that is stable, dynamic and current and therefore used.

Don’t let bureaucracy prevent you from seizing this opportunity in history to surmount the digital age.  Make it work. Find a way to use this incredible tool.  Even when the network breaks down or you can’t access your e-mail.  Even in the face of budget cuts that seem to increase weekly, keep moving forward using technology.  M – F – U – T.

            I’m grateful to the teachers I have encountered at Salem State because, let’s face it, we’re all at the forefront when it comes to using digital technology.  I was impressed with their openness to receiving new ideas and the value that was placed on those new ideas and how they helped to forge the philosophy of M-F-U-T.

            I never had a request turned down or a suggestion ill-received.  They were flexible and balanced and I think, ultimately, that is the key to success anywhere, virtual reality or not. 

            I am repeatedly impressed with the students in the graduate program.  Inevitably, when I attend conferences, I meet up with my classmates.   They are the movers and shakers in the field.  At the Classroom Connect conference in Boston last month, there were four students from the Salem State Library Media Studies Program and a professor in attendance.  I see them everywhere I go for professional development and I look forward to seeing them again.  In fact, I know I will be seeing them because they’ve begun to show up at my library to log observation hours towards certification and graduation. 

And so it goes.

I look forward to graduating, to being done with this goal.  But I also look forward to watching how Salem State evolves in the digital age. Maybe textbooks will be available in digitized form.  Perhaps we’ll all be able to re-connect with Salem State via distance learning.  Whatever form it takes, learning happens here and I plan to keep in touch.  I hope you do too. Who knows, maybe we’ll finally meet in a digital classroom.  I’ll be logged in as M-F-U-T.

Thank you and good luck.