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Hooked on BlackBerries: Local officials like being linked up
Nov 18, 2008 (La Crosse Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Communications technology has us endlessly connected ? and for some of us, addicted. If you had to, could you go unplugged?
UW-L's Joe Gow says technology is his ?lifeline' to campus
Like President-elect Barack Obama, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow holds his technology close to his heart.
Literally.
He keeps the device on vibrate in his shirt pocket at all times.
A Treo device is the chancellor's "lifeline back to campus," he said.
Gow said he gets about 100 e-mail messages each day.
"I need a way to make sure I am checking those," he said.
Gow not only e-mails, but makes calls, checks his calendar for upcoming appointments, and uses the Web a lot when traveling to get directions, check flight schedules and gate information, he said.
The chancellor said the one thing he doesn't do much of is texting.
"I have big thumbs," he said.
Losing the device would be "very difficult" and a lifestyle change, Gow said.
However, there would be some benefits to living without it, he said.
"I would probably have better quality time with my wife on weekends and evenings."
Shilling says her car is a mobile office
State Rep. Jennifer Shilling's purse is stuffed with technology. She has two cell phones, a Bluetooth headset, chargers and a PalmPilot.
When Shilling was first elected in 2000, she'd use her two-hour drive to Madison to listen to books on tape and relax. With today's technology, it's a working commute, she said.
"Now, I see my car as a mobile office," she said.
When she gets in her car, putting her Bluetooth in her ear is as natural as buckling up, she said.
Her PalmPilot is great for looking at her daily calendar and phone directory, she said.
"I would be lost without it," she said.
For La Crosse police captain, his PDA is a must
On a professional level, La Crosse police Capt. Rob Abraham would be lost without his PDA. As for his personal life? Not so much.
As head of the department's Com-munity Services Bureau, Abraham relies on the device to receive and respond to e-mail quickly while he is away from his desk.
"When I'm off duty, I could easily give it up because when I have it with me I'm working with it all the time," Abraham said.
Superintendent Kember keeps his iPhone handy
It isn't often that La Crosse School District superintendent Jerry Kember is seen without his iPhone.
He relies on the hand-held device to keep his daily schedule and contacts as well as a "to-do list" at his fingertips, while allowing him to remain in almost constant contact with his office at the Hogan Administrative Center.
"I don't know what I would do without it," he said.
Kember has text messaging but said if the note he's sending requires more than three words, he finds another method.
He also keeps two e-mail accounts ? one for business purposes, the other for personal contacts.
Rep. Kind ?uses it because he has to'
Rep. Ron Kind relies on his BlackBerry when traveling around the district and at the Capitol, where the handheld devices are more ubiquitous than lobbyists.
Staffers find it indispensable for keeping in touch while he's in committee meetings, said spokeswoman Anne Lupardus.
These days, it's unusual for a Congressman not to have one, Lupardus said.
"He's not as plugged in as some," Lupardus said. "He uses it because he has to."
Mayor Johnsrud can't go back
Before Mark Johnsrud was mayor, he'd never used a PDA. Now that he has, he said he couldn't go back.
"We rely on these basically as our secretarial manager," he said. "It really makes a big difference in scheduling. I can't imagine going back to a calendar that's paper. I'm constantly using mine to know where to go and how to get there and who to talk to."
Johnsrud carries his smart phone all the time and said being attached to e-mail is invaluable.
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