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LLI Internet
Workshop - Fall 2006
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home |
These lesson plans
are for the Internet Workshop course
offered by the Lifetime Learners Institute, on the
campus of Norwalk Community College. They are
intended for in-class use only, not for the wider
world. Marilyn
Bakker, Facilitator. |
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Last
update:
04/06/2007 -
Note: There was no course in Spring 2007 - it's time for something
different! |
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Lesson
plans |
Hints
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To go up and
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Down keys.
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Use
Edit>Find to find a word on a long web page. Try
it now to find the word blog.
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Class
message board
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See
what's happened to it.
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1. Just you and your
computer |
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Files
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| This web page
is an htm file |
| Photographs
are jpg files |
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This graphic is a file
named atom.gif.
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 Your
computer - hardware loaded with software (programs).
When you
work with programs, you create files. |
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What is a file? A file is a single piece of work
created by a programmer or by YOU. There are hundreds
of files on your computer. Programmers create program
files. When you
work with a program, you create files.
MS Word creates *.doc
files. Excel creates *.xls files. Acrobat
files are *.pdf files. A digital
camera creates *.jpg files. You can take music from a CD
and create *.MP3 files. |
| The files on your
computer are organized in "folders." With the program
called Windows Explorer, you manage the
organization of the files on your computer.
Working with the Windows
Explorer. |
 How
big is a file? To protect your files against a
crash, you back them up on some kind of storage media. A
floppy disc holds 1.5 megabytes. It can hold about 30
small documents or photo files (but not even one MP3
file). |
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2.
Windows features |
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| Years ago we could
work with only one program at a time.
Microsoft's Windows operating system
lets us work with several programs
and/or documents at one time by
opening them in different
"windows." |
Windows
XP. In the classroom, we
work with the Windows XP operating system. |
Windows Programs.
Your software (programs) will include
the Windows Explorer
for file management. You might include Microsoft Word (word
processing) and Excel
(spreadsheets)or other programs
designed for the Windows
operating system -- like
Quicken (bookkeeping) or
Photoshop (photo editing and management).
On your screen, Windows programs all
have the same look and similar menus.
See Windows
menus |
Creating a Word file with
Microsoft Word.
Demo: Instructor will
open MS Word, see the menus, do a copy/paste operation, minimize
and maximize the window, and save the file into the "My
Documents" folder. |
Managing your files with the Windows Explorer
Demo: Instructor will open
the Windows Explorer and locate the
just-created Word file.
See How
to use the Windows Explorer
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See How
to copy/paste
Demo:
How to select, how
to copy/paste. |
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3. Sharing your files
with someone close to you |
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Copy the file from PC-1's hard drive to a floppy disc.
Bring or send the disc to someone else who will copy the file onto PC-2's hard drive.
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When PCs are
networked to each other, files can be copied
directly from one to the other. |
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4. The Internet and
Internet Services
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 When PCs are connected to the Internet: PC-1
can copy (upload) a file to a server computer; then PC-2 can copy
(download) the file from the server. Via the Internet, you can share
files with anyone in the world |
What is the Internet?
The Internet is a hardware network of
millions of computers around the world.
Click here for a
glance at how it evolved. |
How the Internet uses servers (click
here).
Servers handle email
and serve up web pages. |
An Internet
Service Provider (ISP) connects you to the
Internet.
An ISP provides two main services: email, and
access to the World Wide Web.
Standard ISPs provide standard services
that use standard software, and a variety of dial-up and
broadband services. AOL (an Online Service
Provider) is different (see
how).
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What's new
Today, almost 75% of web users have broadband
connections.
[Nielsen]
AOL is offering its services free (but not the
connection). [Free
AOL] |
Offsite
resources
AARP's
How to Choose an ISP.
CNet
ISP Buyers Guide
compares
dial-up and broadband providers.
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6. Search engines - finding things on the Web is easy
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There used to be many
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| When these
workshops began years ago, we talked about the many ways to query
many different search engines. Many of them no longer
exist. |
Today's
favorites are
Google and Yahoo.
Compare
Google and Yahoo side by side. In class we tried these
words:
Australian film Schubert sonata piano |
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Searching beyond Google and Yahoo - Nine
search engines compared. (Link to Cnet) |
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Features compared: at the Berkeley library. |
Important difference:
Directory:
compiled by human beings. Yahoo created the
first directory.
Search engine: a
robot. Google created a robot that blew everyone else
away. |
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8. Your
personalized Yahoo home page
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Many websites
offer personalized home pages.
In class, we work with Yahoo, which offers a growing
number of
services that you can get by establishing your own (free) Yahoo ID.
See
Free
Yahoo accounts for individuals. Meet Lily Richards, a
fictitious person who has established a home page for use in this
workshop.
Go to Lily's home page: user ID lilyrichards2001, password
workshop.
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9. User-generated content (that means you)
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Your own website |
| What
is a website? A collection of files housed on a server
computer. |
| Topic:
about
html.
Topic: Launching
a website |
| With your Yahoo ID, you get a free
Geocities website. See
this one, created
by an LLI member and former workshop student. |
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See
myspace.com, which is
causing a furor among parents of teenagers. Click browse. |
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Your own web log (blog) |
| Over 32 million
bloggers are on the Web now, entering their thoughts, often on a
daily basis, about everything. At
blogger.com, you can have
a blog in just a few minutes. |
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Other sites invite writings from you |
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Wikipedia.
Amazon. |
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10. Online discussion
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Bulletin boards
Messages are posted on
electronic bulletin boards just as they would be posted on a real
bulletin board. You must go to it, it doesn't come to you.
Usenet newsgroups.
The "Usenet" began as a collection of bulletin boards called
"newsgroups." At first, participation in newsgroups required a
special "news reader."
Today, the best entry to
current and archived messages is the Google Groups page:
groups.google.com. See
Google's Basics
of Usenet.
Site forums. Many specialized web sites have their own forums,
e.g. most of the financial sites. See for example the conversation section at
morningstar.com,
the discussion boards at fool.com. The Lonely Planet
Thorn
Tree is a forum for talking about
places and finding travel partners. There are
hundreds more.
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Automatic mailing
lists
email only (listserv-type lists). Members correspond with
each other via one group-email address. Starting and maintaining a list requires special software.
Some listservs make message archives available at sites like
escribe, The Mail Archive, etc.
Web-based
mailing lists. A web-based mailing list provider manages the
email messages that circulate among list members, and also provides a
web page for archived messages, and maybe more. See
Yahoo
Groups for groups of individuals. |
Chat
People can also chat with
each other online, in real time. For more info about Internet Relay Chat
(IRC) and other kinds of chat, see this
help site.
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11. Working with images
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Digital photography
Shortcourses by Dennis
P. Curtin. (All there is to know.) |
Buying a digital camera
An extraordinary site for
product comparisons: dpreview.com |
Scanning
A
Few Scanning Tips, by Wayne Fulton. (Far more
than a few.) |
Photo editors
Scanners and digital cameras
generally come with photo-editing software.
A powerful free viewer and editor: Irfanview |
Sharing photos on the web
There have been many free photo-sharing websites,
but some have started to charge fees. Yahoo still offers free photo
sharing. |
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See
recent
TechCrunch blog about Flickr and its competitors. |
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12. Utilities for downloading
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 Acrobat
Reader for pdf files
Vast amounts of
documentation are on the Web in Acrobat pdf format (Portable Document
Format) including instruction manuals and IRS tax
forms. IRS Form 1040 pdf
You can read and print these documents if the
free Acrobat Reader is
installed on your computer. |
Creating
pdf files - a wonderful capability
Read about it here. [Hint:
Search Google for pdf creation to find other free or
cheap software.] |
| Compression
utilities |
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WinZip:
The Archive Utility for Windows.
WinZip is the standard
compression/decompression utility. They explain the subject on a page
called What is a zip file
anyhow?. The software costs $29, but you can download an evaluation
version. |
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Aladdin
Expander
Mac users compress their files
with an Aladdin Systems' program called Stuffit. The Stuffit compression
software costs $29.95, but the decompression (expansion) software is free,
works on the PC and the Mac, and decompresses *.zip files as well. (Stuffit
compressed files have a *.sit extension, not *.zip.) |
| How to
download files |
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The
Beginners Guide to Downloading at CNet's
downloading.com. |
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13.
Media downloading
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Music. The illegality of
sharing music MP3 files has been a big issue for years. Kids
want to download MP3 files mainly to listen to music on their
portable media players - the Apple Ipod and others. |
Podcasts. Kid
and adults enjoy listing to podcasts on their portable players.
See article by David Pogue:
In
one stroke, podcasting hits mainstream. |
| Digital Audiobooks.
See, for example, offerings from the
Westport Library. |
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Human-edited
web directory (1994)