Research Paper on:
Turning PC Users Into Novice Systems Developers: Analysis of A Case Study

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
designers have created approaches to program computers that have succeed with novices ( Smith, Cypher & Tesler, 2000). Since that time, computer hardware and software have gotten more user friendly.  And while that is the case, and people have found the PC advantageous, as well as the Mac, programmers are scrambling to make a living. It used to be that  they had to tackle changing programs in large mainframes that required testing and re-testing. Users would be at the mercy of the much revered programmer. That does not seem to  be the case today. Although users do some programming themselves today, it is not as if the programmer is obsolete. He or she is still needed quite a bit.  Yet, there is a trend to transfer the job of creating programs and databases to the end users themselves. It is a rather intricate process that varies from case to  case. While there are many advantages to doing so, there are obvious disadvantages. A case study can help in evaluating this dilemma. II. Case Study In a  case study submitted by a student, there is a suggestion that staff can quickly rise from providing guidance on simple word processing to complex database development. The case suggests  that Open University (OU) has risen to the challenge, and that a team of only two systems analysts were able to transform more than 200 staff members at the OU  from being PC users to amateur systems developers. Even with their amateur status, they were able to win awards for their participation. Indeed, it seems as if the  OU had worked well. The case study goes on to say that the Universitys End User Development (EUD) Scheme is geared to adapting IT to meet local needs directly and