The North Texan, Volume 38, Number 4, Fall 1988 Page: 5

Professor

sees college

as a place for caring

R.C. BRADLEY

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Dean of Students Office at North Texas
offers a mentor program in which faculty and staff lend friendship
to new students. However, this is the first time someone on
campus has "adopted" an entire high school.

By Robert Neil Jones
Adopt a child and give it a home-how noble. Adopt
a highway or a beach and keep it clean-what a concept.
But adopt a high school-Jimminey Cricket, why?
Dr. R.C. Bradley of the University of North Texas
College of Education faculty knows why. He knows
because he did just that. Everman High School in
Everman, Texas, is the school he adopted.
In celebration of the name change from North Texas
State University to the University of North Texas, Dr.
Bradley is offering his personal assistance to any Everman
High School student attending NT.
This personal service is not intended to be just academic
advice. According to Dr. Bradley, he doesn't want to
infringe upon the roles of regular academic advisers;
rather, he wants to offer the assistance that some students
don't find.
"I'm not taking away from any other area's advising
duties, but hopefully enhancing it. I am trying to offer a
personalized service that once students finish orientation,
once they are in the dorm, once they are on campus,
they've got someone to call anytime for help or infor-
mation," Dr. Bradley said.
College is more than books, it also is a place where
students mature socially. "I see college not only as an
academic place, but also a lifestyle where the students
meet people and make friends and I can help enhance

this lifestyle," Dr. Bradley said.
Donations do not always have-to be in a monetary
form, and Dr. Bradley is another example of one who
gives something to the university that may be intangible
but just as valuable-he is willing to offer advice and
help that goes beyond the degree plan.
"When I went to college I didn't have anyone to go
to other than an academic adviser, and a lot of the
questions I had were not necessarily academic.
"I advise a lot of kids, and I have seen their desire to
know somebody they can seek advice from-it seemed
as though the kids came in here lost," he said.
His reward, he says, is in knowing that he can help
someone. "I want to help people to become what it is
in themselves to become. Also, this is my creative attempt
to say that 'North Texas is looking out for you.' "
His sole reason for picking Everman is because of
Joe Bean, superintendent of Everman schools. "He has
made such a contribution to education, and I wanted to
do something for him. I just wanted to say 'North Texas
remembers what you have done.' "
In the future, Dr. Bradley would like to adopt one or
two more schools. Also, he would like to see other
educators "reach out to young persons as persons, not
just through booklets and letters."

Student's obsession leads to

booming

computer business

By Diana Madden
Kris Meier's obsession for video games led the Hurst
senior to turn his Atari game computer into a business
machine, and his hobby into a national telecommunications
service for personal computer owners.
Meier operates his Computalk Telecommunications
Systems out of his home in his spare time. If he's not at
school or work, he's in front of the computer updating
his system and adding new features to keep his customers
satisfied.
Computalk members pay $25 for six months' access
to more than 4,000 programs and information from other
members. Plenty of systems offer this service, Meier
said, but what makes Computalk different is the fact
that members can communicate with each other by
computer.
By linking six Atari computers, Meier was able to
outdo other systems that rely only on one computer. On
one-computer systems, he said, members can "talk"
only to the person who runs the system, or they can
leave messages.
Meier said he thinks the expanded communication
feature is a key to his company's success.
A journalism student with a minor in computer science,
Meier began his work on computers six years ago when
his parents gave hiin an Atari computer for Christmas,
"as something to fool around with," he said.
Meier said he "went crazy" playing all the Atari games
ind mastered the video games at the local arcade. Bored
with only games, he started using a telecommunications
service that allowed members to communicate with each
other for about $7 an hour. Because he was such an
avid user, he ran up some monthly bills as high as $300
University of North Texas The North Texan

to $500. When the bills got too steep, Meier decided to
come up with a system of his own.
He obtained a copy of an Atari bulletin board program
that allowed computer owners to post messages for other
computer owners to read.
"I added new features to the generic program," he
said. "If the writer of the original program were to call
my system he wouldn't recognize the program."
That was the beginning of Computalk, which started
as a free service for 800 people who had access to Meier's
system. The computer owners could connect to the
Computalk system through computer modems, which
operate over telephone lines. Only one person could use
the service at a time because Meier had only one telephone
line at that time.
He added a metro line and began charging members
in order to cover his expenses. Meier said he wasn't
making a dime off the business, but was doing it just
for fun. In fact, he said, some of the expenses came out
of his own pocket.
Computer owners could use the Computalk system
for up to 10 minutes free of charge to see if they would
be interested in joining. So many people showed an interest
that the line was frequently busy, making it difficult for
the 250 paying members to get through.
To appease the paying customers, he added another
phone line, bought more computer equipment and dup-
licated the original Computalk system. When one line
was busy, members could call the other number.
The only trouble was, Meier said, that the two systems
couldn't interact.
He then developed a way to link six Atari computers,

allowing as many as six Computalk members to com-
municate with each other on the same system at the
same time. That was an unusual accomplishment, Meier
said, because the Atari computer, originally designed
for games, was not made for that purpose.
He called the new feature Compu-Gab and described
it as a simulation of a citizens band radio. Forever
unsatisfied, Meier created a new feature called Private
Gab, which allowed two or more Computalk users to
communicate privately while other people used the system.
Other innovations included a squelch feature, which
lets members silence one person they don't want to talk
to, and a whisper command, which allows one member
to send a secret message to another member while still
communicating with the other users.
Computalk members have access to movie reviews,
reviews of hardware and software and other computer
systems, surveys on current topics and several games.
Meier said one of the most popular features is Compu-
Trek, an electronic "Star Trek" game in which as many
as six people play one another rather than playing against
a computer.
Meier and Computalk have been featured in Antic and
Analog, (two Atari magazines), The Dallas Morning News,
home computer newsletters and on WFAA-TV in Dallas.
All the publicity led to a call from an English entre-
preneur who, Meier said, offered to buy a franchise of
Computalk to run in England.
Despite all the attention, he still considers Computalk
a hobby.
"The minute it stops being fun is the minute I'll flip
the switch off," he said.