He thought he was doing me a favor …
Or, there’s an upside to the institutional name change after all
A couple of months back, the powers-that-be at TVI announced a series of “town hall” meetings with faculty and staff, ostensibly to get input on whether to change the name of the place, but really, as far as anybody I know can tell, to get a rubber stamp on what appears to have already been a done deal, since an advertising agency had already been hired to promote the new name and design a new logo, and new stationery and other materials with the new logo had already been ordered.
I, and many other members of the staff, really liked the existing name and logo, and it seems to me to be a huge waste of valuable tax and tuition dollars to go to the trouble of changing the name. However, TPTB did have some valid arguments for changing the name from Albuquerque Technical-Vocational Institute to Central New Mexico Community College. We may have started as a vocational school, but we’ve also had the community college component for many years now. And we do serve more than just Albuquerque – we cover all of Bernalillo County and parts of several others, as well as the nearby Indian reservations. But still, TVI had big name-brand recognition, at least locally, and I thought the existing logo was cool.
However, I do have one really big reason for favoring the name change.
This past spring term, I had a student who was, um, let’s say, a relative newcomer to computers and the Internet. I had the class in the computer lab, working with something on the Net (I don’t remember exactly what), when he got a popup ad telling him he’d won a contest. Before I was aware of what was happening to him, he’d responded to the ad and given his own email address, and then the ad asked him if he had any friends who might also like to get in on the contest, and he’d given my TVI email address. He really thought he was doing me a favor – he honestly didn’t know about the evils of popup ads. By the time I could warn him, it was too late.
Since then, I’ve been bombarded with a deluge of spam. I have my spam filter on, but I’m still getting 60 spams a day that get through the filter. I can’t change my address, since I have colleagues who need to keep in touch.
However, the institutional name change is going to come to my rescue. All of my colleagues within CNM won’t have to change a thing in their address books. But for email coming from outside, what used to be username@tvi.edu will now become username@cnm.edu, so all of that spam will be blocked. Oh, frabjous joy! Yes, there will be a 6-month period when email will automatically be forwarded, but once that time is up, I will be free. (Before you make a suggestion that I contact the computer techie types to see about getting an exemption from the forwarding, I already asked, and they say they can’t do it.)
And in the future, I’m going to be keeping a much closer eye on students in the computer lab to keep them from responding to popup ads. I’m also adding a warning to my introduction-to-the-computer-lab lesson, especially about those ads that look like error messages.
A couple of months back, the powers-that-be at TVI announced a series of “town hall” meetings with faculty and staff, ostensibly to get input on whether to change the name of the place, but really, as far as anybody I know can tell, to get a rubber stamp on what appears to have already been a done deal, since an advertising agency had already been hired to promote the new name and design a new logo, and new stationery and other materials with the new logo had already been ordered.
I, and many other members of the staff, really liked the existing name and logo, and it seems to me to be a huge waste of valuable tax and tuition dollars to go to the trouble of changing the name. However, TPTB did have some valid arguments for changing the name from Albuquerque Technical-Vocational Institute to Central New Mexico Community College. We may have started as a vocational school, but we’ve also had the community college component for many years now. And we do serve more than just Albuquerque – we cover all of Bernalillo County and parts of several others, as well as the nearby Indian reservations. But still, TVI had big name-brand recognition, at least locally, and I thought the existing logo was cool.
However, I do have one really big reason for favoring the name change.
This past spring term, I had a student who was, um, let’s say, a relative newcomer to computers and the Internet. I had the class in the computer lab, working with something on the Net (I don’t remember exactly what), when he got a popup ad telling him he’d won a contest. Before I was aware of what was happening to him, he’d responded to the ad and given his own email address, and then the ad asked him if he had any friends who might also like to get in on the contest, and he’d given my TVI email address. He really thought he was doing me a favor – he honestly didn’t know about the evils of popup ads. By the time I could warn him, it was too late.
Since then, I’ve been bombarded with a deluge of spam. I have my spam filter on, but I’m still getting 60 spams a day that get through the filter. I can’t change my address, since I have colleagues who need to keep in touch.
However, the institutional name change is going to come to my rescue. All of my colleagues within CNM won’t have to change a thing in their address books. But for email coming from outside, what used to be username@tvi.edu will now become username@cnm.edu, so all of that spam will be blocked. Oh, frabjous joy! Yes, there will be a 6-month period when email will automatically be forwarded, but once that time is up, I will be free. (Before you make a suggestion that I contact the computer techie types to see about getting an exemption from the forwarding, I already asked, and they say they can’t do it.)
And in the future, I’m going to be keeping a much closer eye on students in the computer lab to keep them from responding to popup ads. I’m also adding a warning to my introduction-to-the-computer-lab lesson, especially about those ads that look like error messages.
posted by Carol Anne | 2:52 AM
3 Comments:
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay
Frabjous is a frabjous word. So long since I've seen or heard it.
You really should encourage your students not to fill out your e-mail address anywhere... :D I guess in all things there can be some good... getting less SPAM is a good thing. Hopefully, the e-mail administrators don't do something dumb when they migrate the mail system over... I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya Carol Anne.
Oh, and one other thing about the name change: We're becoming CNM, and not CNMCC, because the Central New Mexico Corrections Center has its own brand-name recognition, as a place that's really easy to get out of. Inmates have left on foot, walking, jogging, and once running, when an inmate joined a passing marathon. They have left on bicycle and moped and motorscooter. They have left by car, either hitchhiking or by prearranging a ride. They have slipped into a garbage truck, a laundry van, and an ambulance. They have left by golf cart and airplane (the place is next to a fancy development with a golf course and airstrip). One left by limo (I have no idea what story he told the limo company). Another's wife and daughter took him on a sightseeing helicopter ride for his birthday (the pilot said they held him at gunpoint).
Well, at least these guys are creative!
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