As a university academic I taught and researched in the computer science discipline for over 40 years at several \universities in the UK and Australia. As well as computer programming and software engineering my passion was the internet and the world wide web. My motto became 'Linking the crowd with the cloud' to show the power of the cloud for assisting us in our daily lives.
Of course, I have learned a fair bit about the entire range of computing devices from mobile phones, tablets, and laptops to smart home hardware and wearables. Since retirement I have continued my love of gadgets and have seen how they play an increasingly key role in helping us manage our everyday living and communicating with friends and relatives across the globe.
In my various social groups, I have helped form informal coffee meetings where we bring our phones and other devices and solve problems and discuss apps and how to use them. Since moving to Tricare Cypress Gardens several of my fellow residents have mentioned they have difficulties with their phones and other devices. I suggest we start such meetings tentatively called 'Tech over Coffee' in the near future. If sufficient people attend, we can aim for weekly meetings.
To coordinate Tech over Coffee I suggest we use a WhatsApp group which has worked very well with similar groups in the past. Messages in the group are private and encrypted and are shared by everyone in the group. All group members can send and receive these messages. The WhatsApp demo and setup could be the topic of our first meeting.
