Computer carnival entertains, educates

Despite any past feelings of hatred, violence or despair aroused by a computer’s decision to… Despite any past feelings of hatred, violence or despair aroused by a computer’s decision to willfully erase a midterm paper, Pitt’s Computing Services and Systems Development department encouraged students to forgive, forget and improve their computing practices at the Love Your Computer Week Carnival in the William Pitt Union.

Billed as “a no-holds-barred cornucopia of information technology goodness,” the carnival offered students a number of games with computer themes to educate them about good computing practices.

A popular attraction just inside the Ballroom doors was the “Quick Keys” contest, where students raced to put every key on a standard computer keyboard in its correct spot.

“For every key you have in the wrong place, you get 10 seconds added to your time,” the CSSD organizer said. “I think most times average around twelve minutes.”

High-tech prizes were on-hand for winners including raffle prizes like a 26-inch LCD TV, a Nintendo DS and an 80-gigabyte External Hard Drive

For those looking for competition with a little more instant gratification, a baby pool filled with numbered foam fish made sure no one left empty-handed.

“At our booth, we’re talking about phishing scams,” CSSD representative Kelley Smith said. “You pick a fish out of our ‘phish pond’ and then go get a prize that matches with the number on its tail. Everyone’s a winner.”

As a potential contestant approached, the two talked about phishing scams, Smith explaining that “they’re when someone sends you an e-mail pretending to be a big company like E-bay, telling you there’s something wrong with your account and request your personal information.”

Rather than legitimate account errors however, phishing scams are just that – ploys to get unsuspecting people to disclose sensitive information like their credit card or Social Security numbers.

“If you’re not expecting an e-mail, it’s best to delete it or contact the company so they can verify that they sent it,” Smith said.

Along with the usual carnival fare of free T-shirts, popcorn and cotton candy, the carnival hosted informational sessions throughout the day that each focused on a different technology-related topic.

“We have four info sessions 20 to 40 minutes in length. We thought that was a good length because it’s about a class period,” Supervisor of Student Computing Christy Spino said.

“This is the second annual Love Your Computer Week, and this year, I think we have a better idea of how to accommodate students,” Spino said.

“Last year we had sessions in the morning, but that was kind of silly, because if students are on campus in the morning, it’s because they have class.”

This year, students could choose info sessions to attend based on topic, like “Troubleshooting Skills: What to do before you call the help desk,” “21st Century Cyberthreats: Protecting yourself and your computer,” “Buying a Computer: Hardware and software from the inside out,” and “Backing up Your Data: Don’t lose your thesis!”

Additionally, the event offered vendor information sessions with representatives from Apple, Corel and Microsoft.

Corel representative Shawn Kardell said Corel products are “the inexpensive, easy-to-use software for students.”

“Corel Draw is one of the standards for professionals who work in graphic design along with Photoshop, and Word Perfect is a big program in legal software for students entering into those fields,” Kardell said.

Sporting one of the carnival’s ubiquitous lime-green “