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Mastering tech at any age at the library

By Stephanie Wiechmann | Published on in Arts and Culture, Community, Education, Local News

Local libraries have had to adapt quickly over the last decade as the use of technology has skyrocketed.  Since 2012, national surveys have seen more people ask that libraries use less room for books and stock more technology.  And in 2013, Muncie Public Library opened a branch dedicated solely to learning about tech.  Now the building has been helping people of all ages.  IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann has one of their stories.

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    Audio Transcript

    It’s a mid-week morning at Muncie’s Connection Corner technology library and James Whitley is getting ready to lay down the main vocal track for a new song he says is six months in the making.

    “The hook goes – living happy, living free. I’m living happy, living free, the way I live before the giants changed me. I’m back to who I was before the giants changed me. Before I learned the games that they play. Before I learn to hate.”

    Whitley is an almost-daily fixture here in the building, dreaming up songs and making music videos.

    “Every once in a while you’re sitting around and you’re just minding your own business, and all of a sudden you hear ‘BAH, No you didn’t. Oh yeah.’ You know, it’s just like he’s just having so much fun. And you know he just discovered something, you know? 

    That’s Stuart Cotton, a creative digital mentor at the library branch.  He’s been helping Whitley learn how to use new equipment and computer software for more than a year.

    The fact that Whitley is 68 years old hasn’t slowed down his drive to learn complicated new programs.  Before visiting Connection Corner, Whitley described himself as an audio engineer that only knew reel-to-reel editing.

    “I couldn’t make a CD and send it to a radio station, and they’d play it. You know, I just didn’t have the engineering skills. So now that was really a point of, frustration in my life. And video, I knew nothing about video. Absolutely nothing.”

    Now he’s recording master mixes in Logic Pro and Garage Band, creating visuals with Photoshop and Final Cut Pro, then uploading his creations to YouTube.

    James raps, “Devil is a gangster, gangbanger, living in the mind. What men gonna do about electro-chemical reactions of the brain to make people proud and make people slaves…”

    On screen, the song is accompanied by fireworks, faded with silhouettes of Whitley.  In another video, he uses a green screen to virtually travel the world – from Muncie to San Francisco, to Rio de Janiero.  All with technology he can use at the library.

    James raps, “Been there, done that, I died in fact. Now I’m back among the living, I’m back. I’m back. Been there, done that… ”

    “I’m watching it unfold every day, every week. You know I get better, I get faster, you know. And the ability is unleashing the creativity. See, I’m already creative person. I’ve been that person all my life. But now this technology, man, is releasing my creativity on a level I can’t even. I haven’t even begin to understand it yet.”

    As for tracking the computer skills of seniors, a Pew Research Center report says 58 percent of seniors were using the Internet in 2015.  That’s jumped significantly since the 14 percent who were when Pew began tracking in 2000.  But the study says that digital gaps still exist, especially in educating seniors on how to do more than just basic computing tasks.

    “You know, I’m doing things, man, that I could never dream that I would have the ability to do. And it wakes me up in the morning. It gets me up. I can’t wait to get to Connection Corner. Older people, man, if they come up in here and they start learning this, I mean, even from scratch. It keeps your mind sharp. So my brain is starting to be fast. Very quick.”

     While the building in the Whitely neighborhood is more quiet in the mornings, Whitley shares it with lots of local children in the afternoon and the summers.  He says he likes watching the kids collaborate.

    “And I say, man, look at these guys, man. I have to watch them. And I learn from them and I’m amazed.”

     Cotton says Whitley and the kids use the same library and sometimes learn the same things.  But he says Whitley can also teach the kids about focus and persistence.

    “The kids come in and they get – they’re really content with it, and you don’t really have to explain a lot to them. But then they lose interest in about three minutes. James has been focused for about a year and a half now. Where he’s just like, he’s here just about every day. He’s on task. He’s learning new things. He’s progressing. He’s stretching his imagination as to what he’s capable of.”

    James Whitley’s music videos can be found on Youtube.

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