Leave a Message for Nitsa Mc
Carthy?PSY. 409
AUG. - 29 - 1995
W/ DR. LEON JAMES
Week 1 Report
Assignment:
Use Netscape's
buttons (directory;search;cool stuff;what's new; stop; back).
Self-assessment
ratings
How difficult was this week's task (lumping all the sub-tasks
together)?
Circle one.
Very easy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very hard
This week's rating = 7
How much Negative emotions did it cost you, in all?
Very little 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very much
This week's rating = 7
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 it that you'll be getting good at this week's tasks?
Not likely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Quite likely
This week's rating = 10
How satisfied are you with the computer and Internet systems?
Not satisfied 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very satisfied
This week's rating = 10
How hard did you try to get through this week's tasks?
Gave up easily 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Refused to give
up
This week's rating = 10
Analyzing self-assessment
figures
Difficult?
I gave a 7 to the degree of difficulty for this week's task since things were
hectic at the beginning such as finding Porteus lab closed, having many
questions, being introduced to new terminology (e.g. Telnet, Pine, login,
Netscape, Home Page, down load etc.), and not having enough time to accomplish
the task. But once I got going matters concerning the weekly task improved.
Emotions?
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. The anxiety subsided, however, once I
familiarized myself with sending messages via the e-mail and got entwined in
the Netscape's exploration. Frustration, from time to time, took the place of
tense and stressful feelings. I felt frustrated when things did not work.
That is, when I press a command and nothing happened. When I interlinked to
one directory that led me to another, thinking that this process will never
end, I sometimes felt like going in circles using BACK from the menu and not
GO. That is why I gave 7 to this week's negative emotions. Yet, this week's
task did not involve only negative emotions but positive ones as well. I felt
delighted, fascinated, exhilarated when I encountered some neat things such as
great information, communication paths, and graphics that the Internet offers
and especially the first generation (Psy. 409) photograph. For these reasons I
gave satisfaction with the computer and the Internet a 10. It is amazing what
technology can do.
Later use?
This knowledge of how to use the Internet is valuable since now I can send
messages to friends and family who live in Israel, Ireland, England, Germany,
Taiwan, Canada, and on the mainland. Also, the Internet will be an excellent
method for obtaining recent information from all over the world that could be
of use for my research papers.
Getting good at? Satisfied?
Perseverance?
At first this week's task sounded intimidating, difficult, and confusing. I
was uncertain about the class tasks, but I did not give up easily. I asked
questions, got acquainted with a whole new language, spent 6 hours and 45
minutes at the CLIC lab and tried to go one step at a time, refusing to depart
from these cybertech.
On Aug. 23 1995 our first class on Affective and Cognitive Processes while learning the Internet met at 12:00PM. Dr. James went over the syllabus with us and said that he will let us leave early in order to open a UNIX account at Keller Hall. This was the first task. It wasn't difficult for me since I had already gotten a UNIX ID during the Spring of 1995 but never used it. So instead I went to the CLIC lab to find out, to my disappointment, that it was closed. Yes, CLIC is open only from 10:15AM-2:45PM on weekdays. Imagine that. All these IBM and Mac computers, with their accompanying information superhighways, are sitting there...LOCKED. What is the reason for that? BUDGET CUTS! It was very frustrating news since the only available time that I have is during the afternoons or evenings hours. So I had to cancel work on the next day in order to meet Kevin Bogan (who volunteers his precious time to get us acquainted with the Internet) at the lab class on Thursday.
Things go awry
Things on Thursday started on the left foot. I went at 9:30AM to Porteus Lab
and found a note on the door that read "the Lab will be closed for the first
week of classes." My frustration peaked to its highest intensity. Why? Since
no other class members were around, I missed work just to be there, and I have
no idea how to use the Internet. So, how am I going to accomplish the first
week's task? Luckily, other students showed up later and while we talked I
found out that we share the same problem. My misery is their misery as well
(they had another class to attend, they had no idea how to use this so-called
Internet, etc.). HOPE! Kevin arrived and found for us a quick solution: he
took us on a field-trip to the CLIC lab. While waiting for the lab to open at
10:15, we overwhelmed him with our how, why, what, where questions regarding
the Internet which he kindly answered patiently, one by one.
Learning how to send first
e-mail
When the lab opened we gathered around Kevin and he explained to us how to use e-mail from
an IBM computer. I felt a bit anxious at that time since I'm not familiar with
the IBM environment, only with the Mac. I thought to myself "now I will really
get confused." Conversely I thought, "think positive", "take it one step at a
time."
Theoretically, everything seems very straight-forward using e-mail. Once you login, everything is there in the menu and you just have to order like you order food in a restaurant. For example, if you want to check your mail, flip pages, send mail, or save messages you just pick the command from the menu and type the first letter that the menu indicates. Remember however, this is only in theory. Was it the same in practice? I tried to use the e-mail by myself with the environment that I'm familiar with: the Mac computer. It was the same procedure and I did not encounter any difficulties at all. As a matter of fact I got so excited after I sent MY FIRST E-MAIL to Kevin, (to let him know that I'm enrolled in the class of Psy. 409) that I started sending e-mail to all my friends. My best friend Richard came by and I showed him how expert I was in sending and viewing e-mail. I taught him how to send e-mail so we started to exchange messages....that took awhile.
Well, that day I spent many hours in the CLIC lab since I not only learned how
to use e-mail, I also learned how to use the Netscape. WARNING! If you want
to use the Netscape you need to watch the time since while in the Netscape the
time flies quickly. Using the Netscape is very easy but it can be very slow as
well. A tip: arm yourself with a lot of patience. For example, I double
clicked on Netscape which has a picture with the letter N and shooting stars
above a globe. I got a note on my screen saying that the Netscape's network
connection was refused by the server because (a) the server is not accepting
connection or (b) it may be busy. When I tried again I got the same message
again and again. I thought I was doing something wrong. So I called Kevin for
help. He told me that I did not do anything wrong and to keep on trying to
connect. Finally, after about 10 minutes, I got in. I decided to click on the
Internet Directory and see what happens. This directory led me to the Yahoo
directory and that directory led me to another directory where I chose Social
Science as a topic. After that I clicked on Psychology and then I clicked on
Cyberpsych, but nothing happened. Why? I don't know. I tried to click again
and again on Cyberpsych... still nothing happen. I called for help. This time
Dr. James came to my salvation. The lesson is: you need to click on the
highlighted words not on any other words or dots! This Cyberpsych took me to
another directory and I asked myself if I would reach a dead end eventually.
All I did so far was to pass from one directory or from one table of contents
to another, picking up what is of interest to me. Well, finally I picked
Psychology Page which offers psychology games. I thought that if I started
with games, I might reduce the tension that I felt at that moment. I reviewed
the games. They offer neat games such as "King of the Day" and so on but I
decided that I do not want to play since there is a lot more to explore...
Some tips on how to explore the Internet's
system
So what did I do next? I wanted to explore further what Netscape has to
offer, which is a lot of information. I decided to go back to the beginning,
but how, after all these interlinkages? It is simple; just explore the menu.
One item says GO. You can open this and go directly to the beginning of Yahoo.
This I learned from Dr. James. Actually while on the Netscape you can connect
yourself to Telnet in order to send e-mail and you don't need to quit Nescape.
I found this very fascinating. Imagine that you can connect to all these
programs without quitting the previous ones. Also, if you don't keep notes of
which directory leads to another, you can just look at the menu above, click on
BACK, and it will take you one step back at a time.
Next, I decided to explore some information about the topic area of my team. There are three ways: (1) call Dr. James again; (2) if you are already on Yahoo just click on search; (3) if you are not on Yahoo pick search from the menu (but then you have to wait patiently for a long time). After choosing, you can type the topic that you want but believe me, you need to try to narrow it down or it will overwhelm you with information.
Incredible! Nitsa discovers Generation One
Cybercommunity's photograph
That day Dr. James showed me an incredible thing. This was the photograph of
the first generation class. We both connected to their Home Page (if you want
their address let me know). There you can find their
photograph (which Kevin Bogan took) on your screen. Believe me it
was amazing. You can also read about their aches and pains while
learning the Internet.
Well, it was 2:40PM and the computer let me know that the library is closing soon. I felt very content at that time since I had accomplished a lot with little difficulties. I had learned how to send messages via e-mail and also how to use the Netscape.
Afraid to mess things up
On Sunday Aug. 27, I arrived at the CLIC lab at 12:17PM. First I checked my
mail. Hooray! I had plenty of messages; among them were ones from Dr. James
and Kevin. I viewed them but couldn't understand the instruction that Dr.
James left on how to store the class members' addresses. I decided to try it
later since I was afraid to mess things up. Remember, we are dealing here with
computers not with humans. You just press a command and it does exactly what
you want (however, with humans it is a different story). But what if you press
the wrong command?
What's Cool?
After checking my mail I decided to explore the Netscape again. This time I
picked WHAT'S COOL. You have got to check it out. It offers a variety of cool
stuff such as the Internet Demographic Events, Money and Investment Updates,
the Discovery Channel Online (with great stories), MTV communication (offers
animation as well), and if you are a rainforest activist it offers the
Rainforest Action Network.
Harvesting rewards via the
Net
In sum, the first week's task involved positive and negative emotions and
thoughts. The Internet is just like a Skinnerian type of maze where you get
reinforced each time you enter a new body of knowledge. The more you explore
the greater are the rewards that you harvest.