Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1990 - 36

use in rheir organizarion and will acquire
an a\'erage of 1.3 brands in rhe furure.
Table 4 conrains rhe disrriburion of personal com purer use by brands.
Cleveland's survey showed rhar 52.75%
of his respondenrs used IBM or IBi\!
comparible machines. The currenr survey shows a higher percenrage of 74%
IBi\! or comparible use, wirh com paribles our numbering IBi\! machines by

10%.
However, rhe furure acquisirion figures show a decreasing rrend in IBi\! and
comparible use and an increasing rrend
in Macinrosh use. The high number of
IBM comparibles in use as opposed ro
acrual IBM machines is probably due ro
rhe lower cosr of rhese comparibles.
Considering rhe cosr of a Macinrosh relarive ro many IBM comparibles, rhe
large proporrion of currenr and furure
Macinrosh users arresrs ro irs adaprabili-

Table 4. Current and Future Personal
Computer Use by Brand

Brand
Current % (Future %)
Apple Macintosh
50 (55)
IBM-compatibles
42 (33)
IBM
32 (25)
Apple][
13 (9)
Other
11 (6)
Tandy
2 (0)
NeXT
0 (9)
Amiga
0 (2)

ry and ease of use. Ir is even possible ro
speculare rhar rhe availabiliry of a lowercosr Macinrosh comparible would furrher raise rhe significanr number of rhese
machines expecred ro be used in rhe
furure. \Vhen asked abour furure acquisirion, 55 Qo of currenr respondenrs
showed rhar rhev would buy rhe
Macinrosh. Also, rhe expecred use of
orher graphic inrerface machines such as
rhe NeXT com purer is considerable.
Use of compurer peripherals has
also expanded. Cleveland's survey
showed rhe dor-marrix prinrer as rhe
major ourpur device and rhe mouse as
rhe major inpur device. Less rhan half of
his surveyed users had a large-capaciry
srorage device, such as a hard disk. The
currenr survev shows rhar large-capaciry
disk use has doubled since 1986. Use of
rape srorage unirs and laser prinrers has
also increased, as has rhe use of plorrers,
high-end srorage devices SlIch as
erasable-oprical disks and inpur devices

1990 FAll

TD&T

like oprical scanners. i\!any users have
also enrered rhe informarion nerwork
arena wirh modems (Table 5). Expecred
purchase of peripherals showed a sreep

Table 5. Current and Future Computer
Peripheral Use

Peripheral ......Current %(Future %)
Dot-matrix printers
83 (3)
Hard disks
79 (14)
Laser printers
55 (40)
Modems
37 (29)
Plotters
25 (67)
Large monitors
17 (43)
Scanners
17 (58)
Tape storage units
8 (8)
Erasable optical disks
1 (17)

such applicarions is sizable, expecred
acriviry is much grearer. Correspondingly, rhe srrong appeal of formal
rraining in operarion and programming
shows a new emphasis placed on compurer acriviry supporr by organizarions.
Where Cleveland's survey showed selfinsrrucrion ro be rhe leading merhod of
rraining, rhe currenr survey revealed a
predominanr inreresr (average score of
3.5 on a scale from one ro five, wirh five
represenring much inreresr) in sending
sraff ro com purer rraining cenrers for
insrrucrion in borh rhe adaprarion of
commercial sofrware ro enrerrainmenr
applicarions and in rhe programming of
performing arrs specific sofrware for special needs (Table 7).

er retatlo

lr seems obvious rhar rhere is a fasr-rising
number of compurer-lirerare people in
drop in dor marrix prinrers and hard
disks. Respondenrs also expecred a large
increase in rhe use of ploners, large
monirors, scanners and erasable oprical
disks.
In personal compurer applicarions,
rhe mosr ofren reporred uses were
adminisrrarive, producrion managemenr,
lighring design, public relarions/markering and box office (Table 6). These
resu!rs are similar ro Cleveland's for
compurer use in design/producrion, box
office and general office. Anricipared
applicarions showed a rremendous
expansion inro producrion and designrelared use, parricularly in rhe scenic,
cosrume and sound areas.
The mosr imporranr change in rhe
use of personal compurers is rhe inreresr

Table 6. Current and Future Personal
Computer Applications

Peripheral ......Current %(Future %)
Administrative
78 (19)
Production management
55 (37)
Lighting design
52 (54)
Public relations/marketing
52 (16)
Box office
.48 (24)
Education
.41 (22)
Production technology
26 (39)
Scenic design
25 (55)
Sound design
16 (31)
Costume design
8 (36)

in enrerrainmenr-specific sofrware developmenr. Alrhough rhe currenr use of

Table 7.
Desired Personal Computer Services

Service
% 01 Respondents
CAD* training for lighting design 69
CAD training for scenic design
64
Software programming
56
CAD training for costume design .. .43
CAD training for sound design
.43
Software selection
36
Courseware development
32
Personal computer selection
20
Computer system consulting
20
('CAD: Computer-Assisted Design)

rhe performing arrs producrion indusrry.
Ir is also apparenr rhar rhey are far more
pracriced rhan rhey were four years ago
and rhar rhey seek ro use rheir compurers as arrisric rools as well as devices for
managemenr supporr. ln rhe four years
since Cleveland's survey, many new personal com purer markers have come inro
being. Clearly rhe performing am producrion indusrry is emerging as one of
rhem. Alrhough lack of funding and
equipmenr are srill major obsracles ro
widespread personal compurer use, rhese
facrors are changing in rhe face of modera rely exrensive use and prevailing inreresr. This finding alone should prompr
SITT ro find ways of increasing funding availabiliry for compurer research
from wirhin rhe Insrirure and from manufacrurers.

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