Did Black Colleges Kill Dial Access

In the early 1950s, after people such as Gabe Ofiesh, Des Wedberg, Harry Johnson, etc., had returned to civilian life from World War II, finished advanced degrees and either set up the first university programs in Educational Technology or gone into industrial design and sales of the equipment then needed, it was widely predicted that by the 1970s the field of education would be revolutionized by this highly technical, sophisticated hard and software. So far this has not taken place. Many of the companies which manufactured the materials have changed their directions, have been absorbed by other companies, gone out of business or gone bankrupt. There probably are many reasons for this, such as rapid obsolescence, incompatibility, high maintenance costs, debugging problems, size, and ad nauseam. At least these were the kinds of problems I had considered to be paramount in the demise of the materials as well as entire companies. My nice clean little thoughts were rather rudely challenged when I began to meet exsalesmen of educational materials who were displaced because companies were folding. These companies normally manufactured and/or sold educational equipment, and as a result, I got to know many of these salesmen and enjoyed many pleasant and informaal discussions with them. Recently, I met a group of six of these ex-salesmen in the lobby of one of Washington, D.C.'s large hotels during a conference. We went into our usual mini conference on the pluses and minuses of certain equipment, where certain salesmen are located now, what companies have gone out of business and why. I stated my usual beliefs and noticed a coolness in my colleagues I had not noticed before. I commented on this change in attitude and laughingly asked, Well, you don't think I ran you out of business do you? One of the gentlemen replied rather emphatically, No! you personally didn't run us out of business and I personally cannot speak for all educational materials or salespersons, but I can state unequivocally that Black Colleges Killed Dial Access. The other five gentlemen agreed with him al

Dial · Electrical engineering · Diverse Research and Applications · Engineering