I find it hard to believe how far computer imagery has advanced since my early days of bashing about on my Spectrum 48k keyboard, jumping up and down when I produced my first piece of 'art' which had all the
charisma of an etch a sketch drawing. It was the thrill of seeing an image appear on the television screen, I was able to use a totally new medium to create imagery that didn't involve paper and pencils.

A Personal Experience of, growing -up in 'this new age'.
The PROCESS is very pleased to welcome,
Carol Baker BA(hons) University of Wales.

I got my first computer in I think, 1982. We had just started computer lessons at school, I was eleven. Our maths teacher took us for our lessons, Mr Hopkins. At the time the personnel computer was fast starting to become popular. We were taught about two computers in particular, the Spectrum and the BBC Micro Computer. Unfortunately the classes went way over my head everything was in binary. The lessons consisted of books full of 001001 numbers and how the computer is able to work out complex mathematical things by putting lots of 000's and 1's together. I must admit it put me right off computers, so much so, I grew up believing I could never be able to work with them and it was only when I got to college about nine years later that I bit my lip and tried to get my head around the problem.

I was lucky enough to be bought a Spectrum as a combined birthday and Christmas present. Our school had told our parents how important it would be for us to learn this new wonder. They played on the old adage that it would be vital for our development and would help us no end doing our homework. The only bit of computer programming I was ever able to learn from all my lessons at school was that great piece of work which after lots of typing,specifying and line numbering you were able, if all the correct punctuation and spacing were added, to get your name hurtling across the screen at ninety miles an hour as the lines of text scrolled up into infinity, well until you hit the return key anyway.

I am ashamed to admit the main thing I used my Spectrum for was for playing games, and what a great toy it was too. I had endless fun playing scroll games with wonderful titles such as 'Hungry Horace' and 'Bounty Bob Strikes Back' One of the best games I owned was a 'shoot'em up space game that involved flying through the galaxy, finding and destroying enemy craft by maniacally pressing the joystick button and trying desperately to line the spaceship up against a cross on the screen. Looking back on it now, the endless times you had to rewind the tape, adjusting the volume controls so the game would eventually load. The imagery was so basic, but I just thought at the time how wonderful it was, I believed I was there. It was the excitement of taking part, everything you did affected the outcome of the game. I was totally sucked in. I loved the pixelated world and the jagged edges of circles and diagonals. There was something so visually pleasing about buildings and people that had angular steppy features. I believed visually, it couldn't get better. I thought technology was at it's peak.

Then the development of the personal computer accelerated. I found as I was growing up jobs started to disappear. When I went for career talks a lot of the jobs I went to find out about were rapidly disappearing. I kept getting told that the world was fast becoming computerised and that people were being replaced by modern technology. I started to become 'anti' computers. After my experience in 1982 with the confusing
world of binary, I believed that computers had become much too complex to understand and I would just show myself up if I tried to learn anymore. I went through school immersed in the world of art and design, ignorant to new advances in the IT camp. A levels came and went. The closest I got to a computer was an
electric typewriter, which I thought I could handle pretty well although my skills of touch typing were non existent! As my mum said 'people will always need secretaries' and if my artistic career never took off , it was always something to fall back on.

Blindly I went into the world of Graphic Design still believing I was shielded from the scary world
of computers. I went through foundation, vaguely aware of a room full of these machines somewhere down the corridor to the right. A room which I never visited, I am very sad to say.

The fact was, that I was just plain stubborn. A trait which I inherited from my Grandfather. Once I got an idea into my head I could not be persuaded to see any other side of the argument. It was only when I went to do my degree that I finally had to come face to face with my problem and was forced to sit through two weeks of computer training. I tried all sorts to try and escape from its evil clutches, declaring I was an illustrator and therefore had no use for one, but the tutors were adamant and I had to reluctantly turn up on a Monday morning for my first lesson. I think the worst part of my IT training was the fact that I was one of the only people on my course unable to operate a mouse without having to put my hand up for help. Oh the embarrassment. I could not...