Internet for beginners

1. Internet for beginners Workshop presented to library assistants in Worcester, Western Cape, 6 & 7 July, 2011 Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

2. Workshop outline • Background to Internet & WWW • Web browsers • How to navigate a web page • How to read a URL • Email for beginners • Setting up a web-based email account • Netiquette • Search engines • How to use Google effectively Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

3. What is the Internet • Internet is a global network of networks • The Internet is a collection of computers and telecommunications hardware linking those computers together. It is the highway that the applications use to transfer the data. • The Internet is intangible, more a concept. • Nobody owns the Internet. People and institutions may own computers and web sites but nobody regulates the Internet. • People connect to the Internet to access its vast store of shared information • The Internet is an inherently participative medium. Anybody can publish information or create a new service. Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

4. Brief history • Research that led to the Internet as we know it was funded by DARPA, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency in the USA. It was envisaged as a communications system to be used in a national emergency. • The first Internet went "live" in 1969 with two sites, UCLA and SRI (Stanford Research Institute). The Internet originated as the realm of the military, research centres, universities and government who identified its data transporting capabilities as significant. • In the 1980s the use of computers became more widespread. In 1989, Compuserve (now run by America Online) and MCI Mail provided the first commercial email connections to the Internet. Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

5. African undersea cables as at 28 September 2010http://manypossibilities.net/african-undersea-cables/ The Broadband Revolution is upon us! Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

6. Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

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8. Internet penetration in Africa (Jun 2010) Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

9. Internet in Africa (March 31, 2011) Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

10. Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

11. More Internet Statistics S. Africa now has 6,800,000 Internet users out of a population of 49 million = 13.9% Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

12. How to connect to the Internet • Computer • Connection -Phone Line, ADSL, Wireless, Satellite • Modem • Network Software -TCP/IP • Application Software - Web Browser, Email • Internet Service Provider (ISP) Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

13. Tools & services on the Internet • Email & IM (e.g. Google chat) • Join Listservs or Discussion groups • WWW • Blogs • File Transfer Protocol (FTP) – download free software such as Adobe Reader to access pdf Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

14. Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

15. The Web is a sub-section of the Internet, but it is the fastest growing part of it. • The Web is a large number of computer documents or "Web pages" that are stored on computers around the world and are connected to one another using hyperlinks.  • These Web pages can be seen by anyone through their computer's "Web Browser,“ • Originator of the Web is Tim Berners-Lee (1991) • Web pages are written in coded language such as html making it possible to add pictures, sound & interactivity to plain text Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

16. What you can do on the Web • Online shopping • Submit your tax return to SARS • Find Government info – Cape Librarian • Read e-books • Entertainment – Cinema news • Webcams • Library catalogues Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

17. Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

18. How to navigate a web page A B C D E Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

19. How to read a URL http://www.ala.org/ala/onlinelearning/index.cfm http:// - (hypertext transfer protocol) indicates that this is a web page www - indicates that this a web resource ala.org – (American Library Association) is the domain name (unique address) of the machine on which the file is found, the host system online learning - is the directory indicating the location of the resource on the system The file name “index.cfm” is the actual document name or specific page you require Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

20. Can you read this URL? http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/ Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

21. Domain name extensions – guess what they mean • .edu • .org • .ac • .com • co.za • .nl • .net Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

22. A few ways to access websites • Enter a Web address into your browser and retrieve a page directly • Browse through sites and select links to move from one page to another both within and beyond the site • Do a search on a search engine such as Google to retrieve pages on any topic • Click on links within e-mail messages Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

23. Hyperlinks • Hyperlinking is a way of moving between website pages • The text to be hyperlinked is recognizable by being underlined or a different colour • Images or a combination of text + image can also perform hyperlinks Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

24. Browsers are programs used to explore the Internet Web browsers Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

25. Email for beginners Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

26. What is email? • Electronic mail or e-mail is one of the most popular uses of the Internet. • With an e-mail account you can send an electronic message (much like a letter) to anyone with an e-mail account but you need to know their e-mail address. • An e-mail address looks like this: it is your username, then an @ ('at') symbol, and then a domain name (something .com, .net, or .org in most cases). E.g. szinn@uwc.ac.za Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

27. Setting up a account • Type the URL “gmail.com” in the address bar • Select (click on) “create an account” • Have your diary or cell phone handy to record the user name and password you decide to choose • Complete the online format and submit • You will receive a welcome message from Gmail Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

28. Sending an email • Select “Compose mail” • In the “To” field, enter the recipient’s email address • In the “Subject” field type a heading describing the gist of the email • The space below is the area where you type your message much like a letter • When completed you select the “send” button Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

29. Other options and fields • “Attach a file” option allows you to attach documents, images or any files saved on your computer • CC stands for carbon copy & is used if you want to send a message to multiple people, add the extra addresses in the CC field separated by commas • BCC stands for blind carbon copy. BCC works just like a carbon copy, except the e-mail addresses you type in BCC cannot be seen by recipients. Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

30. Netiquette • Never send an email in CAPITAL LETTERS only. It is the equivalent of shouting • When communicating with people not your closest friends address them with respect. Use complete sentences with proper capitalization and punctuation. Refrain from using shorthand abbreviations, such as “u” for you. • Refrain from flaming (bashing) - hostile and insulting interaction between Internet users • Don’t use emoticons with people you don’t know well. Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

31. Search Engines Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

32. Search engines - introduction • A collection of programs that gather information from the Web, index it, & put it in a database so it can be searched. • The search engine takes the keywords or phrases you enter, searches the database for words that match the search expression, and returns them to you. • The results (called hits)are hyperlinks to sources that have descriptions, titles, or contents matching the search expression. Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

33. Types of search engines • General • Ask http://www.ask.com • Google http://www.google.com • Exaleadhttp://www.exalead.com • Specialist • KidsClickhttp://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!/ • Ananzi (South Africa) http://www.ananzi.co.za • SearchEdu (education information) http://SearchEdu.com/ • Meta • Dogpilehttp://www.dogpile.com/ • Mamma http://www.mamma.com • MetaCrawlerhttp://metacrawler.com Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

34. Using Google - homepage Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

35. Google Directory Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

36. Searching • With basic searching use the fewest, most apt words • With advanced search you can tailor your results to be more accurate • Change search settings • Results page Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

37. Standard View of results for a search on “health” Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

38. Wonder Wheel view of results Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

39. Google Librarian Central Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

40. Web Hunt! Are you ready? Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za

41. Useful References • http://www.webopedia.com/ • http://www.sharpened.net/glossary/ Sandy Zinn szinn@uwc.ac.za