Here are some submitted stories by former Central Missouri alumni and faculty/staff recalling their experiences with early computing at UCM.
Have a story you’d like to share? Please email me at garrett@garrettfuller.org.
Central Missouri gets Internet Access
Dr. Joe Moore, professor of digital media production and a UCM alum, recalled the time the internet came to Central Missouri State University in April 1994.
The Internet came to Martin 125 in April 1994.
I had just defended my master’s thesis. After steaming open about 1,000 envelopes so I could do a mailing of a survey (they had sealed shut under the bleachers in the Multi, thus rendering them useless, but I didn’t have the money to buy envelopes, so …), after multiple trips to the Mizzou journalism library for research, and after lots of long-distance phone calls, I finally completed the research to write my thesis. I wrote it and then defended it before my committee. After passing, I bounced down the hallway, elated I had completed this journey. Right outside Martin 125, which at the time was our computer lab, Smokey Briggs grabbed me and said, “Come here and check this out!!” I said, “What is it?” He said, “The Internet!” I responded, “What the heck is the Internet??”
Of course, at that time nobody was emailing. Websites were in their infancy. Social media had not even been conceptualized. But the idea of what was to come …
So, that is my Internet story!
-Dr. Joe Moore
Dr. Moore, also a former member of The Muleskinner staff, said the newspaper was designed using Aldus PageMaker on Macintosh computers.