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Phase I Phase II Phase III My Overall View Advice To The Bottom |
For those of you, like me, who have absolutely no experience with computers except for word processing, getting online can be scary. It is intimidating because it seems like such a complicated task that you don't even want to try it. Trying to get online is the first step to surfing the Web and being exposed to its wealth of information. This is also the phase that is the hardest, having to overcome that initial frustration. However, don't fret, you are not alone, read on:
Go to Ragna Borries's Report 1 where she says, "This week's assignment made me feel like an idiot. I actually spent around five hours in front of the machine, not getting anywhere. Wow..how stupid can you feel??!!"
When you go to Nista McCarthy's Weekly reports, week 1 she said, "The first negative emotion involved anxiety since as an Internet novice I was about to venture into the unknown. I usually feel anxious when I enter into domains that I'm not familiar with."
In Catherine Heller's Report 2 where she says, "I know a lot about the basic workings of a computer like Word Perfect, Quicken, and Games. But to actually compose something on the computer in a language that it knows is beyond my capabilities."
Go to Karla Dias's Report 2 where she says, "The first day of class was too much to handle for an inexperienced individual as myself. There were about thirty students in the class. In my mind every single one knew what the Instructor was lecturing on, but me."
Phase II : Attitude change into positive
feelings.
As the weeks go by and you spend more time on the computer and become more familiar with it your attitude towards the Internet will change also. Eventually you will actually like using the Internet and view it as something wonderful.
Try going to Chong Yun's Report 2. Here he says, "The only thing that I see necessary is that the people should take advantage of this wonder potential and asset that we have within our time. There are no limits nor boundaries that keep us from being able to do what we want. We create our own limits and boundaries. With the use of search engines, no dream is too great to acheive or ascertain...the knowledge can be ours if we just use it."
In Shane Akagi's Lab report, week 15 he writes this, "After a lot of hours experimenting, I finally managed to get something up on the Web. It was really hard at first, but with practice, I got better, as did the rest of the class."
There are also other cases like Artemio Baxa II's Report 2 in which he writes, "I was big-time confident using this search engine! From the first click on the mouse to engage the search engine, I felt right at home."
Phase III : Knowledgeable enough to give
advice to others.
Now that you have gotten through the first two phases you have gained more knowledge on how to use the Web. At first it was hard, but with time and practice you have gotten to like using the Web and are now a master at using it (well, sort of). You are now able to give advice or say what you have learned to others to make it easier for them to use the Web and to let them know that you have been through the same thing.
In her lab report 15Adele Kimura advises, "My advice to others is if you are having any kind of pbrolbem get help soon. Do not think that you can solve your bpoblems yourself because if you are computer illiterate like myslef then you will need help from anyone that is willing to help you."
In Alan Furukawa's Report 3 he says what he has learned," I learned the term "surfing the Internet" after the first week of class and found that with the click of a button on a "link" I could travel almost anywhere."
Rochelle Tactacan of Generation 2 in Psy 459 writes, "I would say that giving yourself time to practice and by manipulating the internet will aid you to succeed."
Calvin WH Cheung in his message to the next generation advises, "Describe all your damn links early or your going to pay."
In Conrad Moreno's Report 2 he says, "Looking back at how far I've come since the first day of class, I can only feel a great sense of accomplishment. This is a pretty good way to leave a class."
I think that the process of learning the Internet is a somewhat complicated one. It is easy to use the E-mail and Netscape because these programs are so user friendly that it makes it easy for computer illiterates to use. However, when it comes to setting up a homepage, this is a complicated task. If you have the complete instructions you can just follow this step by step. Once you actually set up the homepage then you can explore different options and see what they do.
When I first started using E-mail and Netscape it was pretty easy because the way these programs are set it you just basically click on what you want. The words that are used are practical ones. Setting up my homepage was hard at first. I didn't know how to do it. I tried reading the HTML book, but it didn't really help. In class when Dr. James gave us the complete step by step instructions is when it was easy to set up the page. I just followed the directions and was so happy when I saw my page up.
Doing the links were a bit harder. I wasn't sure how to do them so I just tried using some of the codes from the directions from the homepage. After a number of trials it worked!
When I first started taking this class I didn't think it was the right class for me. I was thinking about dropping it because it wasn't what I expected it to be. I thought that it would go slower and we would learn the step by step directions for doing anything on the computer. I had never used the Web before this class and part of the reason was because I was afraid to. I thought it would be hard and confusing. I was surprised when I first tried it. Although it is still confusing and frustrating, I am sort of getting the hang of it. I think that the initial stage of doubt and negative feeling is due to ignorance of how to work the computer except for word processing.
Don't give up, just keep trying all kinds of commands to see which ones work. Make a friend in the class that you can go to lab with or call for help. Ask for help if you are confused or don't know how to work a certain command. You are going to spend a lot of time on the computer so somehow find the time to do it because it will help you to become more familiar with the Internet.
You might also want to think about getting a modem for your home computer so that you can do your work at home. That way you won't have to spend so much time on the waiting lists in the computer labs because they are often full. Getting a modem is a good investment because the computer age is rapidly growing and after this class you'll be so familiar with the Internet that you'll want one. I'd never thought that I would get one, but I did. Also you should sign up with an Internet provider instead of going through the UH system. If you use the UH system it may take a long time to get through when you're at home. With an independent provider you can get through right away. There is a fee to pay every month, but if you don't like to wait around for the lines to be open the fee will be worth it. Also if you do not want to be disturbed while online use your phone and dial 72# then 521-BUSY. You may have to do this twice. To know that it has worked you will hear two dial tone beeps. This will send your calls to this number and the caller will get a busy signal. If the phone rings while you are online you get cut off and all the work that you are doing does not get saved. This has happened to me several times before I learned of this number. When you are done using the computer dial 73# to disconnect the number and your phone will be back to normal.
Start early on your reports. Some are harder than others and take longer, especially the reports that require you to use the search engines. By starting early you will have more time to improve your reports and homepage. When you have finished your reports you can work on the fun stuff like making your homepage more creative. You can also check out your classmates' reports to see how they're doing or if you don't know how to answer a particular question.
Here are some hints: If you find a page interesting and want to find out how that person did their text or tables or background go to View on the toolbar and click on Document Source. This will show you all the commands that they used, the commands that do not appear on the page. This can be very helpful when you want to create a table of contents or enlarge and change fonts of the texts.
Another useful hint is the Copy/Paste method. This is good when you have a few sentences that you want to copy onto your report or you have an address that you want to go to, but don't want to write the whole thing out. Simply highlight the address or the sentence that you want to copy. Use the mouse and go to Edit on the toolbar. Click on Copy and it will be copied in the computer. Find the place where you want this copied information to go and go back to Edit. Now click on Paste and the copied information now appears in that space.
Remember that you are new at this and it will take time to get used to using the Internet and typing your reports on your CSS account. When you type your reports on your account it may look messy because of all the commands with the brackets <>, but it will not show up on your page. Don't give up trying because once you get the hang of it, it won't be too bad.
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