Wabash Men,
Hello again. I hope all is going well as we finish homecoming week and head into fall break. If you’re like most students I know, this has been one of the busiest weeks of the year so far. Well, keep pushing through and the weekend will be here before you know it.
I have read a couple of articles recently on the resurgence of internet entrepreneurship and the popularity of the sites that are established. Computers and their applications are an integral part of our lives as students. We depend on them to do our class-work as well as to connect us with other people across the world. Sometimes, we take for granted the usefulness of the machine we so often sit in front of. Even more, we may take for granted its abilities and what we can do with computers in our world
Web 2.0 sites like Digg.com, facebook.com, and myspace.com are all wildly popular and innovative ideas from young individuals who took their everyday use of computers and transformed it into multi-million dollar businesses. Most of the sites are similar in the way that they allow users to make profiles of themselves, and from there share information with each other. Digg.com, for example, allows users to link and rate news articles so that others on the site can see what is popular among their peers. As of August 2006, Kevin Rose, founder of the site, has a stake worth $60 million, which is likely growing as you read this since his site has made amazing leaps in membership enrollment.
Facebook and MySpace are other popular sites, especially among college students. They are social gathering places, and information flows abundantly among users. Finding old friends, current class mates, and even preparing for a fun weekend are common place tasks of the users. Facebook is the creative idea of Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, and is heralded as the classier alternative to MySpace. As of August 2006, it was valued at $500 million. Even more, Mark is in charge of the site for as long as he sees fit, due to his own negotiating skills. Pretty decent for a website created in a dorm room.
Computers and their abilities, like I said before, are often overlooked. Although most students have an interest in computer technology, only a few follow that path or try to be the next innovator to emerge in the computer world. For this reason, I have chosen to dedicate this issue to computer science. Like all of the courses of study offered at Wabash, the computer science minor is very respected and great preparation for entry into the work-force. You will not only learn about the "ins and outs" of programming, but you will also learn of the capabilities that computers have that affect our everyday lives. Computers will be around for a long time, and the experience gained through the computer science minor will no doubt be an invaluable asset to students, whether they become business professionals, software engineers, or the next Kevin Rose and Mark Zuckerberg.
Enjoy Homecoming and have a safe weekend.
In Wabash,
Stephen Iles
Editor, Career Advisor
Information from this article can be found in BusinessWeek magazine, located in the Career Center.