Coming of Age with Computers
The Belin-Blank Center staff takes great pride in the work they do and are always investigating ways to
improve the services they provide. One of those changes involved combining our elementary and junior high
talent searches into one program (while maintaining separate tests). Part of this change came in the form
of a single registration form. We felt that a single form would reduce confusion for parents. It is exciting
to report that the single form was a great success and we look forward to future improvements.
Fiscally speaking, this has been a difficult year for The University of Iowa and the Belin-Blank Center. We
have challenged ourselves to think of new ways to provide the same number and quality of programs, while
keeping costs down. One way of reducing such costs is by reducing the amount of paper used in our operations.
Paper products involve not just the cost of the paper itself, but printing, collating, and shipping costs as
well. In conjunction with our commitment to exploring innovative uses of existing and emerging technologies,
we are examining ways in which the World Wide Web can reduce our consumption of paper. One of the new items
on this year’s registration form was a question asking registrants if they owned a home computer. This will
help us decide the right time for moving to more electronic forms of products and communication, specifically
for Talent Search registrations.
Of the 3,304 families who responded to the question "Do you have a computer in your home that is for family
use," 3,044 (92%) said they owned a home computer. This is obviously a very large percentage, but we want to
be sure our services are always as inclusive as possible. Roughly 10% of our registrants qualify for
Free/Reduced Lunch and, although computers continue to become less costly and more powerful, they still are a
major purchase. It is encouraging, then, that 76% of those qualifying for Free/Reduced Lunch indicated they
owned a home computer.
Overall, this is encouraging as we consider a move to more electronic publications. We will be cautious,
however, when considering such changes. The data only tell us who owns a home computer, not how many are
connected in some way to the Internet and World Wide Web. We also know that not everyone feels comfortable
utilizing the Web for transfer of personal information. We will work to reduce costs, but will always balance
those efforts with access to our services.
By Damien Ihrig