Less than 12 hours later, they'll be on the job again. Of course, the Somerville Community Computing Center doesn't ever have a single typical day. There are the days where the Community Schools program fills two labs with eager writers and artists and publishers. There are the ones when the afternoon is spent in a staff training session on the Internet or some other topic. There are those Thursdays when a crew of volunteers undertakes an inventory or attends an applications training.
Some mornings find eightyearolds finishing class and handing over their seats to eightyyearolds.
Or parents being led by their children to a new game. What's typical is the constant flow of new computer users, the diversity of ages, languages and cultures, the predominance of lowincome participants, and the abiding curiosity about these machines. What's typical is the beginner's fear of the mouse, the learners' need to explore, the excitement of discovering a new skill.