Right now if you want to talk to a friend, you pick up the phone. If it's busy, you have to re-dial. And, if no one picks up, you leave a message on the answering machine.
By the time you finish unpacking, though, you'll have a new system of communication mastered: Blitzmail. This is Dartmouth's electronic mail system.
With this system you can easily send messages to anyone else on campus and many of your friends at other schools who are hooked up to the system as well. You can access your messages by punching in your password on any computer wired to Kiewit Computational Center, the College's computer headquarters.
There's never a busy signal when you try to send a message, and you can fix it so that your mailbox is notified when the recipient opens the letter you sent. Freshmen must be watched carefully for Blitzmail addiction, a serious disease which prohibits them from any vocal communication with others.
But Blitzmail isn't just a luxury, it's a necessity. In addition to mass mailings of top 10 lists and favorite jokes, professors blitz out homework assignments, organizations blitz announcements of scheduled events and the College blitzes important notices like bomb warnings.
Some professors ask their classes to send their papers in over the computer and others require students to do math problems or write programs using their computers.
From their computers students can log onto the Dartmouth College Information System, an almost all-encompassing system which allows access to encyclopedias, dictionaries, back issues of The Dartmouth and the complete works of William Shakespeare, among others. Course enrollment notification and an electronic bulletin board for College organizations are also computerized.
Although the College sells Macintoshes, a few students choose to bring other brands of computers which can be easily adapted to the main system. You'll even see students toting Powerbooks across the Green and taking them to class.
There are also public Macs available for students who would rather work in a quieter place (with less distractions) than their rooms. Kiewit and Baker and Kresge libraries house computer labs where students often congregate to write their papers and several Macs are located conveniently around campus so you can check your Blitzmail without going home.
Without overlooking the obvious, first-year students will undoubtedly discover the wonders of computer games before Freshman week comes to a close. Tetris is always among the favorites, as are SimCity, Poker and Solitaire.
Another amusing pastime (or procrastination method) is to create funky backdrops for the screen and play with mesmerizing screen savers. The color monitors allow for especially tantalizing graphics.
For those of you who get lost in the midst of the swarms of computer technology floating about the campus, Kiewit is the place to go. Computer consultants can get you out of almost any jam your computer happens to get you into. There are also resident computer aids in each dorm and most upperclass students are familiar with many aspects of the College's computer system.
