“Holy mackerel my computer won’t start! It’s dead! All my work is on that computer and I have a paper due in a week… how… will I finish the paper? Finish the semester? OMG. HOW WILL I EVER FACEBOOK AGAIN!?!?!?”
Luke Wood, Service Center manager, has heard this almost every day for the 3 years he’s been at UW’s ResNet. Luke and ResNet’s primary job function is fixing the broken down computers of students, faculty and staff at UW. He supervises part-time student employees and has a passion for ‘interfacing’ with machine and people. Luke says, “people think of computers like cars. If there is a problem you just drop it off at the dealership and want it fixed. What I try and teach people is that they can fix their own machines and save time and money in the process.” Luke’s goal is to educate the end user and owners of computers how to better take care of their machines. Luke wants clients to gain the knowhow to fix the small bugs, before they evolve into major, computer-life ending problems.
One of the more interesting aspects of Luke’s position is dealing with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and students. The DMCA prohibits and criminalizes media downloading. If a student illegally downloads, often his or her portal will be flagged and he or she will be contacted by Luke and have to come in to have their computer’s illegal media wiped. This is Luke’s least favorite part of the job. Luke loves helping people and it’s sometimes frustrating to deal with unhappy students.
Luke’s passion for technological literacy and student outreach is another aspect of ResNet. ResNet, a student funded service, makes the University of Wyoming IT department student oriented and unique among universities.
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