Introduction

 There is an apparent trend in how individuals first respond to learning in an environment that is novel and in how sentiments change as time progresses. New technology can be intimidating; especially when learning how to use it involves sacrifice and failure. We tend to avoid painful or stressful situations because they are unpleasant, but these feelings are part of facing new challenges. This report entails the journey of acquiring new knowledge and an appreciation for new technology.

I begin with a look back at the trends in learning the Internet from four Generation 7 students (1997). Their experiences were almost parallel to my own. I discuss my own process of acquiring cyberspace citizenship in this curriculum community and then offer some advise to those who will be initiated into the large community of cyber-culture.

The last section is devoted to web search engines. What are they? What is it like to be an inexperienced web browser? What do others have to say about search engines? What are some common search engines and what types of results do you get? Who am I in cyberspace and what have I learned about searching the World Wide Web?

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There are many Phases that the students progressed through as they attempted the class assignments. If you can picture a bell curve, then imagine it upside down where joy is at the two top peaks and anger is at the lowest bottom point--this is the trend. Although factors like prior experience, computer access, and general attitude toward learning have some affect on the individual's evolution into netizenship, these four students still shared common sentiments and responses. (To explore the exercises discussed below click here)

Phase I. Excitement: This is Easy!

The first four parts of the online literacy exercises are practice with e-mail and directories. The tasks are fairly easy and do not require extensive time or work in order to complete. Since most university students have used e-mail, the exercises did not intimidate or overwhelm. The negative responses, if any, were of apprehension or feelings of wasted time. What are we doing this for?

Angie Inouye G7 writes: "During the first four parts of the internet lab exercises, I was thinking to myself, "hey this is quite easy", with a lot of enthusiasm and a positive attitude that this course may be easier this semester."

I remember feeling the same way when I successfully completed parts 1-4 of the exercises. I had never used Pine commands, but I caught on quick. I was relaxed and felt confident too.

Phase II. Confusion: How am I Supposed to Feel?

Chie Ginama G7 writes: "I didn't just want to finish the MINIMUM, so what I finished for the due date was not all that satisfying. But I did do what was expected, so these two weeks were neither discouraging or hopeful. " 

Some of the students felt unsatisfied with their accomplishments because they were just meeting requirements. The confusion started to build, as the exercises became more involved and foreign to the students. Feelings of doubt and uncertainty start to creep in at this point. The instructions for the reports start to look too complicated. The confusion and complacency grows into anger. This is the point where I started wishing I never signed up for this course.

Phase III. The Rage and Stress Makes You Want to Quit

Ayada Azeez G7 writes: " After an hour of reading and re-reading the instructions I basically lost my patience. I became irrational and from that point all hope of completing this assignment was lost." 

The anger starts to build and hopelessness and stress start to take hold of our thinking and actions. This is when we want to use the fright/flight response. We want to give up. This is right around parts 5-8 or 10, when new aspects of technology are introduced like FTP and search engines.

Angie Inouye G7 writes: " I kept on asking myself, 'what am I doing wrong?...I do not know'. I was feeling it...the fear of technophobe. I was afraid of moving on when I was not surely clear that I did the problem correct. So, my solution was to quit. "

The frustration that is felt clouds the mind. Rational choices are no longer even on the menu. I remember I gave up for a while and neglected this course because I didn't want to deal with the negative emotions. I let my feelings stop me from acting in a way that could of relieved the fear much sooner. I could have just asked for help instead of wallowing in my own pity.

Phase IV. Relief: On the Long Stretch to Joy

Moya Kaohi G7 writes:  "Report 2, (this report), was quite easy for me to do because I knew the direction I was going, my time was not wasted, I was satisfied with my results, and I was hopeful that this report would help educate future generational curiculum students. "

Here is where the satisfaction starts to increase and the confidence returns. After pain stacking hours of looking technology straight in the face, we can sit back and reap the benefits of the work. At this point downloading, uploading, saving, bookmarking, linking, and web searching are as easy as using a word processor to do a paper.

The lesson that all of the students learned, myself included, were that the sentiments are only reactions to something that seems threatening and novel. Trying to approach the Internet without taking the time to grasp things as they come and forgetting to remain calm throughout the experience are the pitfalls that bring us to the bottom of the curve where anger and doubt reside. Once you open up and have no regrets, the journey is painless.

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Digging through the reports of Generation 7 was like revisiting my own experiences. I hope that I have expressed the emotional and mental process I went through while on my journey toward Internet literacy in the section above. I wish I had taken the time to read through previous reports when I took this course last semester. I would have seen the process differently and realized that I didn't have to react the way I did. I remember feeling like I had no direction, and it was this lack of direction that eventually led to my comprehension and acceptance of this cyber-community.

I view learning the Internet through a cyber-community as a process that comes in layers and can lead to different directions. I had to learn how to act in the community and interact with other members via links, e-mail, bulletin boards, and on-line publications. It was a starting point in which to see how the Internet is interwoven and how it functions as a means of communication and enlightenment.

The exercises for this course incorporate all of the basic skills that are necessary for becoming an active member of the larger community of web users. I think I had to learn how it felt to be part of the generational curriculum community in order to want to continue to expand my use of this technology. I wouldn't feel so strongly about continuing my use of the computer if I had not felt the joy in publishing or the empowerment in knowing that someone else will be touched by my work. Once I made order out of the chaos I was able to move ahead.

*The advice I have to share is this: let the instructor know if you are in over your head. Those of us that are part of a generation that didn't grow up with computers in our elementary schools or a PC at home are the ones who will experience the most anxiety, and that is o.k. because now is our time to catch up.

*Dr. James, my advice to you is to have students read through the "Acquiring cyberspace citizenship" reports along with the "Web architecture" reports the first three weeks of class because I think these two topics are the best sources for the novice. The reports could point them in the right direction.

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A web search engine is system for organizing and retrieving information. It also allows an individual to locate people, pages, and sites of interest for leisure, academic, or professional purposes. It is like the yellow/white pages of a worldwide community except it not only displays what your looking for (hopefully), but it can take you there too. A search engine can provide a means for individuals who can not physically venture out into the world, even for a newspaper, to access information or reach out to others. It is so appealing because it is useful, convenient, and faster than traditional modes of searching databases.

My first few experiences with WEB browsing were a combination of excitement and frustration. I was amazed when I received several sites under the topics I was searching for, but I soon realized the tedious task of visiting all of those sites just to find relevant information. Sometimes the sites don't show up because the wrong keywords are used. I had to do a lot of experimenting before I figured out that there is a reason why advance searches are available. I didn't know about multiple search engines or that certain search engines use categories until I did this report. I discovered that using search engines took a considerable amount of time. I think that using the search engines was my first step of understanding what "The Age of Information" meant and how I was slowly becoming immersed into it.

Prior Generation reports describe web search engines as similar to a library with updated/current information. Kathy Morifugi of G4 says that web search engines are tools and that it is easy to get lost in all of the information coming to you on just one screen. Carol Ohta of G4 writes "I found it helpful to do a search using the Alta Vista Advanced Query Interface because you can control your search by putting the information that you want it to search; including the dates. "  She discovered that researching on-line requires a bit of brainstorming so that the searches are effective. If you can't find what your looking for, then pick other key words, phrases, or related topics. Shawna Honeycutt writes "What I have found is that you can get side tracked very easily. Be perpared to make sure that you stick to the topic at hand."  This is an important point. There is a great deal of concern for people who spend too much time on the Internet, but rarely is anything said about this phenomenon of sidetracking or about the time it takes just to search. It is hard to stick to a topic when you constantly find other interesting bits of information along the way.

I used these WEB Search Engines to find information on Art Therapy in California: *I give an extensive list of the Dogpile features so that you can get a sense of how wide the search covers on the Internet. The other two engines have similar capabilities but present results in a slightly different format--each with its' advantages and disadvantages.

Dogpile

Dogpile Searches:

The Web: Yahoo!, Thunderstone, Lycos' A2Z, GoTo.com, Mining Co., Excite Guide, What U Seek, Magellan, Lycos, WebCrawler, InfoSeek, Excite & AltaVista. Usenet: Reference, Dejanews, AltaVista and Dejanews' old Database.

FTP: FAST FTP Search.

Other NewsWires: Yahoo News Headlines, Excite News and Infoseek, NewsWires. BizNews: Search for Business News from various sources.

Stock Quotes: Enter Tickers or Company Name. Weather: Enter City, State or Enter Zipcode. Yellow Pages: Enter Business Name, City State White Pages: Enter First Name Last Name, City State Maps: Enter Street Address, City and State.

Dogpile tells you which search engine the site was located through and each "hit" has an option to view similar pages. I received many choices under Art Therapy and some were duplicates.

Metafind.com

Metafind lists the URL and gives the user an option to view descriptions of the "hits". This enables the reader to browse through titles of more sites without scrolling down after just the first two or three. The search is not as broad as Dogpile, but the feature I liked on this engine was that the number of the "hit" on the browser it was found in was displayed with the site URL. This lets you know the index number of the site when you search for it on the individual search engine i.e. #3 on Alta Vista. It also shows how it ranked in relation to the content of the keywords. 

Cyber411

Cyber411 claims to be the granddaddy of them all. It is all powerful in terms of its' capabilities, but it only allows as many sites as it can sweep up in a maximum amount of 120 seconds to be displayed. In this way it cuts down your search for you because of a time constraint. The feature I liked the best was that you have an option to eliminate parallel queries. So when I looked up Art Therapy in California, I didn't get the same sites like I did in Dogpile.

WEB search engines offer different features and capabilities to suit your inquiry needs. The first step to doing inquiries is deciding which engine will narrow your options so that you are not spending so much time searching and more time looking at pages. I preferred Dogpile for my Art Therapy inquiry I found what I was looking for almost right away--University graduate programs on this topic. I learned that the site(s) you find most valuable may pop up in any of the search engines and through different custom searches. I do a good chunk of my research for other courses on the Internet, actually I don't think I have spent more than 6 hours in the library on campus since I learned how to use the Net. I also learned that the matrix of the web is so complex and that it is somehow all connected and available to me through the Internet and search engines. WOW!

My on-line personality is evolving as I continue to find reasons to be on-line. In the beginning I was a communicator through e-mail and a curious observer of the WEB. Now I am an active member of cyber-culture through my publications, activities, and involvement in cyber-communities, including this one. My reasons and commitments to the Internet are stronger. I suppose I will be using the Internet as an expansion of my personality and my real life on a deeper level once I become even more involved. I guess you can say that I am a slow driver on the information super-highway right now because I am taking a lot of time to look around when I head down those linking roads.

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