Psy 409

Dr. James

9/12/95

Week 3

Week 3 Report: Using UNIX and Pine

A. Self assessment ratings

How difficult was this week's task?

Very easy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very hard

This week's rating=7

How much negative emotion did it cost you, all in all?

Very little 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very much

This week's rating=3

How valuable for later use is this knowledge or skill going to be for you?

Not useful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very useful

This week's rating=10

How likely is is that you will be getting good at this week's task?

Not likely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Quite likely

This week's rating=9

How satisfied are you with the computer or internet system?

Not satisfied 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very satisfied

This week's rating=9

How hard did you try to get through this week's task?

Gave up easily 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Refused to give up

This week's rating=10

This week's assignment was very challenging for me. I was able to perform most of the tasks. The greatest achievement I had was that I actually managed to send my document from my disk to my CSS account. Furthermore, I completed the conversion of the document from rtf to html.

The subtask I decided to complete first was name="send">sending a document from Netscape to my UNIX account. I went to Yahoo and from there to News, then to International and finally found Germany. I selected an interesting article from the name="spiegel">"Der Spiegel", a very well-known German journal. The article was on the last concert tour of the Rolling Stones. To send the document to my e-mail account I clicked on Mail Document and filled in my own account name, of course. I attached the document , clicked on Quote Document and gave the command Send. Minutes later the document was found on my e-mail account. Great accomplishment....I felt very positive and confident to go onto the next task.

The next task meant trying to leave name="leave"> a message on somebody's homepage. The syllabus demanded that I send an e-mail message to somebody's homepage ?? What?! Well, to be honest I felt very dumb. I simply did not know what kind of address I should put in the "send to" box. Did this mean I should put in the CSS account address? I could not figure this out, so I left a message on Dr. James homepage-not an e-mail message but simply a note...My frustration level had risen. The third task I attempted to complete was to name="save">save a pine message to a unix account and then download it to my personal diskette. In my mind I figured that I could probably send it to my CSS account and from there "somehow" transfer it onto my diskette. The command for this transfer seemed not included in the repertoire of my brain cells. I tried to play around with the FTP program, however, could not really find the correct path.

The most complex task, I thought, would be to perform the transfer of my rtf document onto my homepage, setting up a link and actually viewing it on Netscape. However, I had great success with this part of the assignment. I had typed my second week's report on Word Perfect 5.1.. Therefore, I had to first bring it up on WP 6.1. to be able to save it as an rtf document. I managed to do this easily. To send it over to my CSS account I simply went to telnet and gave the command to send it to www.soc...., my current address. Once I saw it in my CSS directory I was able to use Dr. James' instructions on how to publish it on the Netscape. I converted rtf to html successfully, and when I went to Netscape I was able to see my document. The completion of this rather complex task made me very exited. I did not ask any lab assistants for help this time because I had the urge to figure it out myself.

The name="errors">fossilized arrows I observed during this week's assignment were :a.it still took me a rather long time to convert from rtf to html because I was not careful when reading the instructions. I also did not always watch the screen, and thus it seemed that the computer got confused at times. Furthermore, I still do not understand the actual concept of html. What is it? I know that this is probably stupid to ask but I am putting in so much new information in my brain for this course that I sometimes seem to loose track. I have observed that I am much more confident about using the system, however, I feel that sometimes I seem to suddenly block out all the things I have learned so far. It almost feels that there is too much new information my brain is trying to absorb, and it needs some time to digest it. Another problem I have been facing in each assignment and have not solved yet is how to really make use of the Help option. I am frustrated with the option because I feel that it should be made very clear and easy to use. If people are just learning how to work the system they should not be scared away-especially by the Help option!!!

During this week I realized, though, that I am much more secure and that I really believe that I will be able to handle all the tasks . I am more relaxed when I sit down at the computer, and therefore, my mind is able to concentrate more on the task. The weeks before I had felt more scared about not being able to perform the tasks. Thus my nervousness hindered me to be clear about what I was supposed to do. Sure, I always managed to complete the assignments but the feeling about "I can't do this" was much greater.

I noticed ,too, that I must start writing down meticulously what steps lead me to what result. I am not able to memorize all the commands. In general, I felt much more positive during this week's assignment. I begin to appreciate the cyberworld much more. Furthermore, I realize that this system has tremendous positive aspects to offer to me in terms of saving time. If I can integrate all these aspects into my other classes I will be able to benefit greatly from this system.

Moreover, I am learning to teach my mind to get used to the computer language and way of thinking. I am much more relaxed, and therefore my mind is more open to learn more about the operation of the internet. In the beginning of the course I felt much more constricted (tighter) in my mind. Actually, every time I sat in front of the computer I felt very nervous and developed severe headaches (totally stress-related). At first I had thought that the clic lab was only hot but since these symptoms kept reoccurring I started relating them to my computer assignments.

This assignment gave me more confidence in my ability to conquer the difficulties that might come up during the next assignments. I have found that I really enjoy playing with the machine, and that I am eager to find out myself how to solve certain problems. Since I understand the computer language much better I also see that most of my questions can be answered through simply paying attention to the computer. If I have endurance I can find all the information I need, and will be able to find my way through this jungle of cyberspace.

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