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The Situation of the Beginner
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The Situation of the Beginner
Phil Agre
June 1996
This file contains 39 messages, totalling about 63Kbytes, that subscribers (mostly) of the Red Rock Eater News Service (RRE) contributed in response to a call for stories about the experiences of beginning computer users. Please read and learn from the stories while respecting their personal nature. Each message is Copyright 1996 by its author, with all rights reserved. You are welcome to distribute this file, in electronic form only, and only in its entirety, to anyone for any noncommercial purpose. If you wish to use these messages in any other fashion, you will need to obtain permission from each author individually. For more information about RRE, consult http://communication.ucsd.edu/pagre/rre.html or send a message that looks like this:
To: rre-request@weber.ucsd.edu Subject: help
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Date: Mon, 27 May 1996 21:22:15 -0600 (CST)
From: Ron Berntson
I work as the librarian / network manager in a small (600 students) high school in the middle of the Canadian prairies. We deal mostly with students who have a long history of not coming to school. They don't "use" computers in the sense of your question. A month ago, their activities of choice were smoking and playing the few shareware games I put on the network (thankfully, not at the same time). Their necessary computer activity was often typing up a resume. Now, in addition, they like to fire up Netscape and browse for anything and everything. They need almost no instruction - they teach each other. My point? Design means very little; personal context means a lot.
Ron Berntson
Date: Mon, 27 May 1996 22:47:02 -0500 From: gordo@interlog.com (Gordon Jessop)
Less than two years ago I would need my friend's assistance just to turn a computer on and get the word processor up and running. Computers made me feel like an idiot.
Then a year ago last September, I bought one; I spent that entire day and evening (with no sleep) clicking and pushing buttons, just to see what happened.
Now I own a successful software development firm that I built myself; I actually program some of the code, scarily enough ;)
The best advice I can give (and it really helped me) is to simply push the buttons. See what happens when you click something... there is always the undo command - you can't hurt the thing.
Never let the lack of knowledge slow you down... if an acronym or term pops up that you do not understand, let it ride. It'll be explained, in some obscure place or time, later.
cheers, Gordon Jessop
www.remote-software.com cut and paste cgi
Date: Mon, 27 May 1996 22:28:36 -0700 (PDT)
From: Penelope Kelly
when i help people learn to use a computer, i reassure them with "i know it's confusing, but you can learn to do it". i taught myself everything, because when i asked for help, i received a dismissive "there's nothing to it ... it's easy". all that did was make me feel stupid, because it 'wasn't easy, and there was a lot to it'. when i was a beginner i didn't know many people who used computers, so i bought lots of books, used my computer and learned, now it's easy... but i don't use that word with beginners. i/they know it isn't easy at first .. but they can learn.
penelope kelly pkelly@efn.org
Date: Mon, 27 May 1996 22:29:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Judi Clark
When I was a beginner learning email for the first time some 12 or 13 years ago, I remember the most difficult thing to understand was the logic of the system. It's not innate until you've been working with it a while, and even then there are logical things that surprised me. My world wasn't logical in the same way as computers were.
Sending and receiving mail or a file, from a remote system to another remote system -- where was my computer in this set-up? How do I get a file from my computer to someone else? I felt stupid when I didn't know what questions to ask.
My schools seem to have failed in teaching me how to think critically, how to figure things out, or how to ask the questions to take us to the first level of understanding. Memorization only goes so far in a new way of thinking, and I was never good at memorizing. It took me a while to figure out that I needed to move my file onto my ISP's machine, then from there to another machine.
I always try to explain the steps and what's happening at each step when I'm working with beginners.
judi
Date: Tue, 28 May 96 18:52:06 +1200
From: "Blair Anderson"
I have a perspective and experiance that places me at the pitface so to speak, having worked with the technologies for the past 25 years.
Everyday is a new day, Everyday I am a "beginner", Everyday is a challenge, everyday there is pain, be it a lost file, or something falling short of expectations..
The pleasure.. the sense of satisfaction is for the large part diminished by the experience that soon there will be another problem. How experienced is experienced.. well theres the rub.. there is the perception of a constant learning curve, a constant challenge, a constant threat of "newness" that disenfranchises all the collective wisdom thus far.. this is reinforced by a community that "cannot hope to explain in a press release" the constancy of change, other than make "profound" statements, that reinforce the notion of "NEW" and "CHANGE"... drawing into doubt the value of experience...
This is because they dont understand the business of solving problems.
The problems I solve are the same problems that I solved 20 years ago.. they just have different wrappers.. The techniques are the same.. the skills are the same, the resources are the same.. the resolutions are as often as not, the same..
The experience of the beginner... is really the unrefined art of the experienced !
It would be fair to say that I spend 80% of my effort in problem resolution, working with the same tools and information and interim conclusions as a beginner.. and the remaining 20% i do, out of intuition....
The beginner is not alone.. I am just quicker!
Cheers,
Blair Anderson International Consultant in Electronic Commerce, Encryption and Electronic Rights Management
Net Benefits Ltd. BENEFIT@IBM.NET
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 09:26:19 +0200
From: "Richard Ramsden"
In 1984 I was implementing integrated systems at a hospital. The bookkeeper of this hospital was in her seventies and had never used a computer before. She was very resistant. All of a sudden we started having a series of power-outs. The three operating theatres on that floor had backup power supplies but the rest of the floor would go out. Our resistant individual always seemed to be down the passage when the power went. Eventually I caught her in the act of throwing the main breaker switch.
She had selective insight into how the computer worked. It was a Unix system with limited battery backup. She knew that we got agitated if it wasn't shut down properly, and was desperately trying to shake the tree. Although the user interface had been designed with this woman in mind she was the only person who did not make the transition to the new systems. Her mind had been made up the day the equipment had been installed.
Richard Ramsden email: ramsdenr@cssa.org.za Voice: +27 21 790-4917 Cell: 082-9005729 SMail: 11 Plumtree Avenue, Hout Bay, 7800, South Africa
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 03:39:20 -0700 (MST)
From: Daniel Eisenberg
My first computer purchase, in 1979, was a CP/M 32K computer for which I paid $4500. at that time there were no brand names, it was assembled for me by someone who later, briefly, became a dealer. While it was an educational experience in many ways, and prepared me for later experiences, the computer was never able to do even one of the tasks I envisioned for it (word processing and schedule keeping). The software was not yet available, to make along story short. But I was at the time to inexperienced to know this and it performed well (aside from breakdowns) all of the specifications that the seller had written, so I didn't have much recourse. I did write and publish an article about 1981 on "How I Wasted $4500 on a Microcomputer."
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 07:21:39 -0500 (CDT)
From: Don Bass
I work as an instructional administrator in a community college and I have found two principles helpful in dealing with beginners.
1. Make equipment and support available to the beginner. We have nearly 100 faculty (4,000 students) and we attempt to put equipment in the offices of every one. We are almost complete. If equipment is available, and a person available to answer questions, and technical support to do installing and configuring (at the start), then there is a good chance of success. In tandem with this it is helpful to establish user groups (by topic, or software package, etc.) and to offer training. From this time forward, I cannot conceive of employing anyone who is not computer literate. These are the same things we do to help students...provide the environment and support. We are making a lot of progress.
2. Do not cast pearls among swine.. I find that I waste my time trying to talk people into being interested, or arguing about the value of technology to someone who is emotionally opposed to learning. (i.e. Luddites). If someone is not trying to use it, one might as well be talking to himself/herself.People cannot learn to use this stuff or appreciate, or understand anything about it, until they are in it.If they want to argue about something that they know not, I just walk away.
I estimate the "unclean" represent 3% of the population.... very minimal. I suspect they don't use the telephone much either. ~:>
Don Bass College of the Mainland Texas City, Texas
"Every expert was once a beginner."
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 09:04:15 -0400 From: edh@cybernex.net (Eric D. Hancock)
I remember my first experience with a computer.
It was fifth grade, and the computer was some sort of Atari (quite old). We were in a classroom situation, learning simple programming concepts in BASIC. This should have been stressful, but the instructor was very nurturing, encouraging us to experiment.
I have noticed a trend in this area. Many people who experience computers for the first time using DOS/Windows are told "Do this, type this, and don't touch anything else!" They get the impression the computers are fragile, moody, mysterious animals. However, people who experience computers for the first time using Macintosh (or NeXT) are more at ease, and are less likely to be told "Don't touch anything!" There are, of course, exceptions to the rule.
Just my observation. By the way, I now program computers for a living.
E-
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edh@bc.cybernex.net / 76502.271@compuserve.com http://www2.cybernex.net/~edh/
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Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 09:27:18 -0400
From: "A. Simon Mielniczuk"
Some short anecdotes about beginners & technology.
During the late 80s I was training grad students from a social work faculty on computer applications. One of the students was a mature woman who had returned, after several years of successful practice, to get a graduate degree. During the largely hands-on session I noticed her becoming increasingly aggitated. She shoke her head, clenched her fists, exhaled heavily. I asked her, "Are you having a problem here?" "I've spent my whole life staying away from typewriters and keyboards. Now these things are everywhere!" Her conscious effort to avoid gender stereotyping in order to maintain her professional status had re-bounded.
In another instance I was sent to a northern Ontario First Nations community to introduce a community development project to basic computer use and an online communication system that linked several such projects. Early on it became clear that no one with the project had any computer experience. During my tour of the community I noticed a large covered case under an office desk. It turned out to be a very powerful PC which had been sold to the band along with various software packages. No one could put it together or turn it on.
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A. Simon Mielniczuk Information System Consultant Toronto, Ontario Canada Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse http://www.opc.on.ca/~simon http://www.opc.on.ca (416) 408-2121 x241
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 10:44:56 -0500
From: "Barrett L. McCormick"
A while ago a close friend was a support person for a Fortune 500 firm that was upgrading a wide area network. The upgrade required users to install Windows, which many had never used. The support was all conducted over the phone which at times led to interesting complications. One woman simply could not get the cursor to respond to her mouse despite days of struggle with drivers, hardware diagnostics, re-installations and all the usual fixes. Finally, one of the support people discovered the problem: the user was holding the mouse upside down! Without this bit of context, the rest of the fine diagnostic skill and instruction was useless. Which leads me to wonder what else veteran computer users know that is not formalized in manuals or verbal instructions. I suspect it is the vague awareness -- or the fear -- of not knowing such things that the insiders take for granted that makes beginners feel so stupid.
Barrett McCormick
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Barrett L. McCormick blm@execpc.com Political Science (414) 288 6842 Marquette University/Milwaukee, WI 53233/USA
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 14:40:43 -0400
From: Dean Esmay
When I first started using a computer, my experience as a beginner was different from most, because I was fascinated by them from the very start, and learned everything I could about how to use one.
When I got to where I had to start helping others, I found that I had an aptitude for teaching others how to use them. I've done consultation work as well as taught workshops, and have usually been highly praised for my ability to put myself in beginners' shoes.
Although it sounds obnoxious, one thing that usually has helped was for me to always assume that the person using the computer is too old to have learned the way I did--I was a 13 year old kid who developed an early passion for them, but I realized that most older people weren't so lucky, and that older folks already had ingrained habits of thinking about how things work, and would not adapt so easily.
Part of this is my age I suppose; today young people are very used to electronics, so they tend to pick them up easier. I still wind up working mostly with people over 30, usually over 40, who are beginners. The young kids pick it up well, the older folks don't.
So the main piece of advice I always start with is, "Don't worry that this is confusing. It will probably take you a while to pick it up. If you have kids, most especially don't feel bad that they seem to learn this faster--every time I encounter someone younger than me, I'm amazed at how much more quickly they pick up new stuff than I do. It's just how it works. Remember to be patient with yourself, and that the only thing that really will get in your way is if you let yourself get frustrated. Getting frustrated is the one thing that'll slow you down and give you trouble. Just relax and have confidence--you CAN do this, and I know you can because I've taught lots of others who started just where you are."
And all that's true--the #1 thing I've always found about people I'm trying to teach computer use to who just aren't getting anywhere are the people who've allowed themselves to become frustrated. It's not a self-esteem issue; some people with terrible self-esteem make progress. It's the people who get angry with themselves or the computer, who simply become frustrated because they "don't get" what's going on, who have the most trouble by far. The only people who are worse off are those convinced they already know everything, and they're fortunately quite rare.
There's one other thing I recommend for beginners--whenever possible, I encourage them to get Macintosh systems. There's simply no disputing anymore that the Macs are easier for beginners to pick up, and have fewer problems with setup and daily use than most Windows machines. I use both platforms myself, and have taught people to use all manner of machines, but I think everyone on this industry ought to recognize that, despite whatever strengths other systems may have, at least those Macs tend to work right out of the box, and beginners learn to use them much more quickly than other systems. In my experience, they tend to get used more often too--I've seen many a family buy a computer only to have it sit in a corner, rarely used, or used only for one or two games. I have yet to see anyone who bought a Mac wind up in this position.
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"All truth passes through 3 stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." --- Arthur Schopenhauer
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 11:43:27 -0700 (PDT)
From: Andrew Robson
Since I got behind due to the long weekend, and have no time for distractions from work, I am (of course) going to respond to a couple of your recent items.
As an undergraduate in the mid 1960's, I found myself in the position of being a teaching assistant for an elementary programming class (FORTRAN) offered by the Mathematical Biology department and attended primarily by MDs and post-docs. I graded programs and did tutorials and help sessions at the students request.
The high status and undeniable intelligence of the students did not help them much with procedural programming. The most basic programming concepts were the most difficult to get across. I spent hours explaining IF statements and DO loops. I became convinced that something about the practice of medicine interfered with the ability to understand procedural logic. The sticking point seemed to be that the computer would only execute the statements in a program one at a time, and would not even consider the alternatives that were not selected.
Of course, I was spending my time with the students that had the most trouble. Still, I think that the main impact of that class was to leave these medical professionals overly impressed with programmers in general and vaguely convinced that we had special powers to make the computers do our bidding. I suppose turnabout is fair play since doctors trade on a similar impression from the layman in the practice of their art.
Andy
Date: Tue, 28 May 96 12:06:05 PDT
From: Giordano Beretta
Around 1980 I was working on a fairly abstract PhD on computational geometry. My advisor had a severe acid test for all software his PhD students wrote; when a demo was ready, he would bring in a 6-7 year old kid who could read and that kid would be the first user of the software. Only if demo survived the kid, the professor was willing to look at it.
Among the lessons I learned are:
Reference: J. Nievergelt, "Errors in Dialog Design and How To Avoid Them," in "Document Preparation Systems," J. Nievergelt et al. Eds., pp. 265-274, North-Holland (in the US: Elsevier Science Publishing), Amsterdam, 1982.
Giordano Beretta Member of Technical Staff Hewlett-Packard Company beretta@hpl.hp.com
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 15:40:31 -0500 From: glockner@intr.net (Alexander Glockner)
I usually have two stories I like to tell when a beginner says that s/he doesn't think s/he can learn all this computer stuff.
The first is about my wife learning to drive. For the first few months after getting her license, she had to have a passenger tell her where to turn, even if she had driven the same route many times before. She could not operate the car and figure out where she was at the same time! No, my wife is not stupid - she just grew up in a country where few people had driver's licenses, so she had little background knowledge obtained from watching others drive. Her attention simply had to be focused on operating the car.
When the beginner says something like "but that's just a fluke, learning to driving a car is so natural" - and this is most of the time - I point out that learning to drive was not natural in the early 1900's; it required wealth, strength, mechanical aptitude, and daring. We've just had a century of experience to learn from. I then make some moral about having the same daring as those drivers of old...
If the beginner still isn't convinced, I tell my own driving story. I was taking driver's ed as a 16-year-old, and in the middle of the last left turn I had to make on the last day of class, the car suddenly lurched to a stop. The driving instructor had slammed on his foot brake when he saw that I wasn't going to complete the turn properly, and the car stopped less than five feet from going head-on into a telephone pole and a mailbox. I could not remember beginning the turn. After that, I didn't try to drive for eight years - though it was simply a matter of learning how to pay attention in spite of any natural inclination. Well, at least I saved a lot of money on car insurance.
The beginner usually sees the second moral before I start it: A beginner is going to make mistakes. No tool is easy to learn to use - especially if it's been designed by expert users and has only been in the public eye for a decade or so; that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. We'll learn over time to make it easier to use; even then it doesn't mean you'll never make a mistake.
(A few beginners I have to beat into submission by then asking how much time they spent in school learning to write, but very few...)
Alex glockner@intr.net
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 19:21:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Ilene Frank (REF)"
My favorite PC story about myself: In 1988, a friend and I decided to get the identical PCs so we could compare systems if anything seemed broken, help each other learn, etc. He recieved his and got it up and running in no time. When my equipment showed up a few days later, I nervously put all the cables in the right place (I thought,) plugged it in, and turned on the master switch on my surge protector. The master switch lit up just fine, but nothing else happened! I was frantic. I called my friend. He "walked" me through all the connections. I tried again. Nothing. It was only some number of phone calls later, that I happened to accidently like look at the side of the computer case and see this HUGE red switch labeled ON/OFF... "Hey, Joe, do you think this could be the problem?"
There are plenty of days when I feel that I have not progressed much beyond this point. And I always try to remember this when I'm dealing with inexperienced computer users at the Reference Desk.
Ilene Frank, Reference Dept. Tampa Campus Library, LIB 122 University of South Florida, Tampa FL 33620 ifrank@lib.usf.edu Work 813.974.2483
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 17:29:58 +0000
From: Judith Sherwood
"You're always a beginner" category
After 6 years of owning an Apple II, and then a Mac, I bought my very first PC. I can vividly remeber setting it up, and flipping the power switch. The computer store had pre-loaded Windows,and set it up to run Windows on booting up. They hadn't installed the mouse software though.
Try looking at the program manager, and imagining how you would do anything at all from that point, without a functioning mouse.... Using the Alt key and F is not an intuitive move for a non-Windows user! I finally called a friend who explained how to access the pull down menus without using a mouse, but it was one of the most frustrating computer experiences I can recall.
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Judith Sherwood: c4s@library.sannet.gov | San Diego Public Library Voice: 619.236.5824 | 820 E Street, Fax: 619.236.5878 | San Diego, CA 92101
Date: Tue, 28 May 96 21:10:39 -0700
From: "P. Eads"
The most frustrating experiences for me as a beginner was trying to buy the computer and then learn it. I had no idea where to start or what kind of computer I needed. I read and researched as much as I could even though the information meant nothing to me as I had no one who would explain what the terms and hardware/software was all about. I went to a local computer store in my city and thought that if I was going to buy a system, surely the salesperson would be able to help me with what I needed as well as what all the jargon was all about. Not Hardly! I couldn't even find a salesman to help me. They would walk around me to help a guy, but leave me standing around looking for someone. I would flag a saleman down and he would be too busy helping someone else. It was very frustrating to try to spend money on a system when no one wanted to help out. I ended up buying on gut instinct and managed to get a beginner system that held me for about 2 years and was easy enough for me to rip apart and figure out how to install things. My husband, who I meant after I got the system, helped to teach me a lot about how things go into a system and now we both continue to be pretty proficient at making our own systems rather than buying prepackaged.
Nowadays, when I go into a computer store, if I don't see women on the floor working at selling computers, I don't spend my money there. I even tell the management why, as women don't like to be fobbed off by men who won't take time to talk to them about systems. Perhaps if more stores made an effort to recruit women to sell their systems, more women would consider buying, but as long as men make them feel stupid, they either won't buy, or they'll wait until someone like me comes along and is willing to go with them and teach them what getting a computer is about.
Penny
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 21:54:50 +0000
From: "John Statler"
A friend recently bought a complete pentium system. She asked me to help set it up and teach her. I expected the system to be already set up since it came from a main mail order source. Boy, was I fooled. I made the mistake of having her sit at the keyboard first off. There were so many glitches (like the mouse working so fast even I had trouble) that she was pretty well shaken up.
The software was loaded but untested, the modem wouldn't work and after 2 hours of messing with it the company sent out a tech from 150 miles away. I think win3.1 might be more user friendly than win95. By the way, anyone know how to slow down that mouse?
Economic Justice / Leadership and Homeless Issues
John Statler 1120 Niantic St. Medford, OR 97501 541-770-5524 statler@mind.net
Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 11:24:01 +0000 From: k.l.brunskill@aston.ac.uk (Kate Brunskill)
As an undergraduate I was quite literally forced, against my will, to learn how to use a computer by one of my lecturers. This lecturer ran a fascinating course dealing ancient scripts, palaeography, handwriting forgery, hand printing, and many other great things. There were 12 students in the class and he decided that, as humanities students, we needed to be educated about using computers or we were going to get nowhere in this world. He is a Buddhist, of the enlightened variety. So we were introduced to the most basic pc and told that all our work was now to be submitted in wordprocessed format. At the time I was very worried, I was wrapped up in a certain way of thinking about writing creatively. I believed that if I lost the ability to write a coherent, flowing sentence and get it right first time I was losing something very important indeed. This new tool was encouraging me to simply fling words onto the screen and then to tweak them into coherence, cutting and pasting, deleting, amending as I went along. I feared that when I came to the end of my course and had to sit exams, I would be unable to reverse the process and would be unable to write a structured essay. Of course, this didn't happen, of course I can still write the "old" way, but more often than not I don't. Indeed after all the "tweaking" I often come up with a better product. Having said this, I still haven't entirely lost the suspicion that somehow I've lost a creative edge.
Kate Brunskill CAS-IAS Project Researcher Aston University, UK
Date: 29 May 96 06:46:22 EDT From: "R. Craig Schroll" <71101.3545@CompuServe.COM>
Three main rules of computer users should be: Backup before you make system changes. Backup before you install software/hardware. Backup often even if you do not do either of these.
Every major problem I have ever had with my computer has been easy to solve if I was following the above rules. Prior to learning this lesson I had several ocassions where the easiest solution to the problem seemed to be pitch the computer out the window and go back to doing things by hand.
For purchasers a big warning. Always evaulate the purchase of a computer based on what you intend to do with it now and in the foreseeable future. I went through three computers in as many years when I first started because I didn't do an adequate job of this. My current thinking is to by the best I can afford and keep it for as long as the capabilities are adequate. I usually get five years service from a computer now.
New purchasers need to reconcil themselves to the pace of technology improvement. Even if you by the best of the currently available models your computer will not be the cutting edge almost by the time you get it set up and learn how to use it. If you're buying from the top of the pile this doesn't matter. If you decide to save a few dollars by buying at the bottom of the range it might.
If you need to be mobile consider a laptop computer and docking station rather than a laptop and a desktop computer. I travel frequently for business and have been using this arrangement for about six months. It is working great. It's one of those things that after you do it you wonder what took you so long to decide to do things this way.
There is no such thing as too much memory. Both for RAM and your hard drive, get as much as you can afford when you purchase a computer.
Invest in a quality external storage device such as a Zip drive. This will make following the first rules easier and can effectively increase your storage capacity without limits.
Do not automatically upgrade software. If you use it infrequently or not at all anymore you obviously don't need to upgrade. Also, if the upgrade provides features you won't use why bother.
Also on software, keep the number of primary programs to the minimum that is effective for you. Software will consume memory much more rapidly than data. Ideally, you should periodically clean off software you no longer use or use so infrequently as to not be worth the disk space it takes up.
I could go on and on but, you asked for brief so I'll stop with this.
Hope your project goes well.
Craig Schroll, CSP President FIRECON PO Box 231, East Earl, PA 17519 USA 717-354-2411 fax 717-354-7233 71101.3545@compuserve.com
Date: Wed, 29 May 96 8:40:07 CDT From: b-hayward@cecer.army.mil
I avoided computers for a long time. As a teen (I am 29 now) I thought they were mainly good for wasting of time on games. I took a course in high school in Basic, but my logic was so different that the instructor had a hard time debugging my programs. Worse, I learned squat about the computer itself. It was a bad experience that I didn't shake for a long time.
When I went into the service, I learned to use a particular system that really didn't work well, and the whole setup so task-specific I still didn't learn computers. Even when I learned to be in charge of the system, I was still just a trained monkey learning to push certain buttons when certain things happened.
I only really learned computers when I went to work as a student research assistant at a government lab. It was scary - the computer had been set up by someone else. When I turned it on, the computer started spitting out arcane messages faster than I could read them. Then it just sat there, with this funny thing on the screen "C:\>", and I had no idea what to do. Fortunately, I was given the time to learn the computer, make mistakes, read the books. It was a revelation. Everything I had learned about computers up until that time fell into place (though it wasn't much). I was getting to the point where some real learning could take place, but I needed some formal education. And that wasn't available, and that is where I am today - knowing just enough to be dangerous, but not enough to really be proficient at fixing problems.
Bryan Hayward SPACE: FUND IT OR PRIVATIZE IT! The bold shall go to the stars. Lee wailz, Lifeson jamz, Peart bangz drumz - Rush rulz!! The Religious Right aren't, and Creation Science isn't.
Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 09:01:07 -0500
From: Technical sales support
I had an occasion to tutor some grade school kids on some old PCs that they had in the classroom. After I sat the kids down and we were ready to begin, I decided to throw them a curve to break the ice. I said "OK, now who here thinks they are as smart as a computer?". You could feel the shock that someone could ask such a question. They looked at each other, and said nothing. After a pause I said, "You're wrong. You are ALL smarter than a computer. The computer is nothing more that a machine like a TV or radio, it just does things that seem smart."
Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 07:29:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: Gary Gach
For me, this has largely been my life for the past couple years. I've been teaching basic Internet literacy to the general local community for a couple years now (http://www.unex.berkeley.edu:4243/cat/comp3.html).
(When I began, there was, like, one other Internet trainer in town. And, curious to ponder, neither of us were "certified." We mostly made the whole thing up, from job description to course content.)
I've literally SEEN the Nielsen/O'Reilly polls ("Who is using the Internet?"): via the students who come to my class They've never used a computer before, and don't even know what a mouse is, but are willing to learn. Or they've been using AOL, for two months now, bumped into the button marked Internet, and got really confused: "Is AOL the Internet?" "Is Netscape?" (etc.) They're all age ranges, ethnicities, genders, etc. And they often don't know whether they know anything already or not.
Sometimes, a few are more advanced, and like to let everyone else know it, ("My daddy has a newer car than your daddy does.") But mostly they are not only put off by "technospeak," they don't even know what "technospeak" is. Nerd, geek, newbie, server are all Martian to them. Some have never set foot in the Computer section of a bookstore before. Some that have invested in something with a demeaning title like "For Dummies" feel even worse when they try to read it and still feel left out.
(And you bet they all feel left out when the writer/trainer/presenter is doing little more than a "brain dump" ("This is what I do when I log on to my server") rather than empowering them to not get hung on the technology, to be mindful of the culture, and to keep an eye open for what will be unique to them.)
They don't all have power tools. (I.E., many use the Web via e-mail!)
And yet this aggregate of folks comprise about 50% of the people using the Internet right now.
Putting it another way, one year from now, the total number of these beginners will equal the total number of people who are online today.
And, to put a capper on it -- they are now joining us from Kuwait, Uganda, China, etc.
* - - - - - - -
If you wish any further food for thought, here's an excerpt that went out on the Net last week. It elicited an e-mail letter "out of the blue" to me, last night, from a gentleman in Pakistan, asking me to urge my publisher to distribute the book there, and offering to revise it to fit the country's needs and to translate it into Urdu. I don't think I'm sounding my own horn.
from "Endpapers," AMERICAN REPORTER, #293, May 22, 1996
(URL: http://www.newshare.com/Reporter/today.html Archives: http://www.newshare.com/Reporter/archives/ For more info on AR: http://oz.net/~susanh/arbook.html)
... the Internet is an ad hoc phenomenon, bottom-up, with no clear vertical hierarchy, so too there exists no Internet Literacy Budget. No Internet Training Certification Center. In a word, there's a gap.
Al Gore hasn't commissioned the GPO to issue a citizen's guide to the Internet. The phone company hasn't. And, surprisingly enough, the big online services -- that, in part, sell the Internet -- do a relatively scant job of explaining what that very Internet is; until very recently, for example, you had to bump your head on a file tucked away at CompuServe.
So there's this gap. And yet without some kind of push to make it intelligible, understandable, and, most of all, meaningful and useful to the mass populace, it might suffer the fate many of other scientific breakthroughs and technological innovations that did not fill that gap. Or suffer under the hands of the woefully ignorant. ...
So, while the Internet is like the phone -- just plug it in -- it's also like the computer -- something first-time users need to monkey around with a few times before it "clicks." It needn't be hard -- and it can be downright empowering.
Gary Gach has been teaching basic Internet literacy for a couple of years. Pocket Books published his POCKET GUIDE TO THE INTERNET in May, America's first massmarket pocketbook guide to the Net. ISBN 0-671-56850-7. (http://www.pocketbooks.com/netguide.html)
gary gach |_|_|_|_| internet trainer 1243 broadway 4 |_| |_| ggg@well.com san francisco, calif |_|_ _|_| 1.415.771.7793 94109-2771 | | | | | http://www.pocketbooks.com/netguide.html
Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 13:14:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: Lewis Kaye
My experiences with beginners and technology are not, in fact, concerned with computers. However, I do believe they are instructive. The questions you raised in your call for comments apply equally well to all forms of high technology, from computers all the way to the VCR and microwave oven. The issues really revolve around the mystification of technology, and the consequent belief by many beginners that they are incapable of mastering such specialized techniques.
For several years I was the Technical Coordinator for a small, volunteer- based community radio station in Toronto. Among my responsibilities was to teach new volunteers about radio production, and to train them in our relatively low-tech studios. But for new volunteers, the studio was a daunting place: radio production was a task for specialists, and many wondered out loud how they would ever learn these skills without years of education. The trick was to make them feel comfortable, intelligent and capable. This was accomplished by explaining them the technology on their own level, free from any jargon and with the knowledge that what these people were in fact scared of learning. More accurately, they were sacred of NOT being able to learn. But we humans have this wonderful capability to learn just about anything.
All that was really needed was to make people aware of what they already knew, but took for granted. A studio is really no different from a home stereo: same principles, just more complex. Emphasizing this similarity seemed to make people more comfortable, and when they were comfortable they learned quickly.
With respect to computers, we could say that the Internet is nothing more than a more complex telephone network and a PC is nothing more than a more complex TV/VCR combo. What we all have to do when dealing with beginners is to emphasize the similarities between computers (or any other technological tool) and their associated skills and knowledge that beginners simply take for granted.
Lewis Kaye Ottawa, Ontario lkaye@ccs.carleton.ca
Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 10:09:56 -0500
From: Don Nicholls
We have all heard comments about children readily picking up on computer skills, particular in games, but just in general. I have wondered just why. Is it, "old dogs learning new tricks"?
Not sure about that, for I am in my 50's, and went back to college following an injury. In high school, could not begin to comprehend calculus but found myself actually excelling at this old age. At same time, find myself having to take it much slower in absorbing the computer knowlege that I am studying. None of it comes easy.
Computer pain for me is only that I need an ergonomic work station for my injury. The pain of learning is just frustration at times. When my 12 yr old wants to, he picks up instantly on anything I show him. So it might just be interest/confidence level that limits us in new things. Many of my friends are intimidated by computers, so simply reject learning about them. To add to normal intimidations, the computer industry frequently goes out of their way to complicated the program/ application. Not all of us are gurus or pardon, nerds in computers.
Will summarize by urging the experts to orient their projects more to average user knowledge. Case in point has been learning Web construction. I have searched everywhere to find the inclusive software/editors, & reference material to grasp HTML. Have succeeded, but not without "pain".
Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 16:57:57 -0600 (MDT)
From: Shirl Kennedy
As a professional Internet trainer and consultant, I find that I am working directly with fewer and fewer "rank" beginners these days. However, the librarians that I train -- particularly the public librarians -- are telling me that novice computer users are increasingly relying on the library as "tech support desk of last resort."
Computers are being marketed and sold as commodities now; you can pick one up at your local "big box" appliance retailer or WalMart or wherever. But no one will be there to hold your hand when you get the thing home, attempt to unpack it and set it up and...uh, use it. You have your choice of reading the turgid, poorly designed manual (if one is provided ... increasingly rare in this age of "online documentation"), sitting on a tech support phone line (long distance/your dime) for 40 minutes (and/or even being asked to provide a credit card number before your question is answered), finding a computer literate friend, or...
Most libraries now have computers available for public use, often including Internet access. This has not gone unnoticed by library patrons who need techno-help. You've never used a modem? What better (free) place to learn than to dial into the public library catalog. The service-oriented librarians will walk you through the steps of setting up your telcomm program, etc. They'll show you how to use WordPerfect to prepare your resume, surf the Net to get that information on Uzbekistan your kid needs for his or her geography report, and dial into and use the local community freenet.
Computers have sprouted like weeds in libraries and schools. There always seems to be money around for the purchase of "technology" -- e.g., "things." Trouble is, there's not enough money to hire additional people -- or even train existing staff -- to support this stuff. I am disheartened to hear an increasing number of librarians moaning and groaning about computers and the Internet, but it's hard to blame them, considering the extra burden being placed upon them by a public desperate for technical support.
Shirl Kennedy Data is not information. Senior Internet Trainer/Web Goddess Information is not knowledge. Bibliographical Center for Research (BCR) Knowledge is not wisdom. 14394 E. Evans Avenue, Aurora, CO 80014 (303) 751-6277 "Hey, BCR's got a Home Page!" http://www.bcr.org
Date: Thu, 30 May 96 18:59:40 EDT
From: Tony Harminc
There is an old story told about beginners and the Stanford WYLBUR system. (WYLBUR was an online, text editing system, with remote job entry, and various other features.) The WYLBUR command-line prompt was COMMAND.
Supposedly someone did a survey of beginners faced with this prompt for the first time, and a large proportion thought it meant that the computer was about to give them a command.
Probably this is better and more authentically documented elsewhere.
Tony Harminc
Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 23:13:15 -0700 (MST) From: entre@aztec.asu.edu (K. KEMPER)
1) my first was in 72 learning fortran. WIth no algebraic background (neither did anyone else in class). WE all bombed but earned Cs as the teacher was gracious. 80 column cards;
2) TCI 100? the cassette system. I took it from my son the evening I gave it to him and stayed with it 16 consecutive hours. I found that the instruction manual had 3 errors in it and I was the first to point this out to the publisher and I gave her the solutions!;
3) A friend, a year later, lent me a Peace software system (hardware?) and forgot to tell me about 3 simple commands to start that were not in the manual. In 3 days, with 72 hours invested, I could not get into the system. When he returned, he apologized and keyed the simple pre-3 steps and the rest is history. I have loved and hated computers ever since!
I use IBM in the morning, MAC in the afternoon, and back to IBM at night and have crashed the Mac pentium 25 times, once 5 times in 3 minutes!
---
Entrepreneurial teacher, traveler, editor/writer and TV producer and director. entre@aztec.asu.edu. 602-279-0561. Also real estate syndicator! smile, you might feel better!
Date: Sun, 2 Jun 1996 10:10:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: Selia Karsten
A group of us at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education recently completed a web site for Newbies called "Home on the Info Range". http://www.oise.on.ca/~civan/1551/intro.html
In my module (each of us are metaphorical cowpokes sitting around a campfire telling tales about how to do E-mail and internet information management) Sagebrush Selia shares her LOG of what it was like her first sessions on the computer for a distance course. There is also a section called TALL E-TALES which gives collected stories from newbies (names changed to protect...) There are TIPS for Newbies and LINKS for Newbies in this and in other of the modules.
Selia Karsten skarsten@oise.on.ca http://www.oise.on.ca/~skarsten
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 03:20:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: John Howard Oxley
It's been over a decade since I was a beginner, but I still remember it. My first machine was a SANYO MBC-550 with 128K RAM, a single 360Kb disk drive, and an analogue monochrome 25x80 monitor. It was a very simple system, and I was able to learn all about it rapidly -- I could take it apart, do all needed diagnostics and repairs, and learn all the programs it used. It didn't actually do all that much -- I had 3 main programs, EASY WRITER II, CALCSTAR [spreadsheet], and DATASTAR [database]. I used the system mostly for word processing, and churned out lots of important, useful work. The very simplicity of the system was a joy -- it enabled me as a beginner to gain competence and mastery with a reasonable learning curve -- in short, it made being a beginner fun.
Now, of course, I have a system whose power is literally orders of magnitude greater than the system with which I started, with a host of capabilities undreamed-of when that first system was put into use. Since I use a stable operating system, I still don't crash much, and my productivity has been greatly improved also. But as always, there is a price -- it is not possible for me to have the sort of informed command of my system now that I did in 1985. Now I have to employ experts for any operation beyond the most basic, and more and more I cannot understand what they are doing in any detail. So I think of what it must be like to be a beginner today, and realize that with my current system, I have in fact reverted to being a beginner again. Which makes me think that being a beginner now is a lot more daunting a prospect than a decade ago, because there is more to be learned, and less time in which to learn it. Much of the fun of mastery is gone, as a result.
PS: A point to stress with the initial system -- it was so simple, and had such a limited number of tasks to perform, that it was relatively stable and did not crash much. This situation was totally reversed when WINDOWS 3.x came on the scene, and did not really change until WINDOWS NT was released.
Regards, John Howard Oxley
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 04:11:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: "elinor mosher"
I'm a 68 year old widow here in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia. I had read about the Internet and was interested, but not in computers themselves -- found them boring, and hadn't used them. Abit over a year ago, I realized I was on the same phone exchange as a server node, so I bought a 2nd-hand 386, to get me on the net.
My youngest son helped me get connected, but at first, we couldn't get any feedback.After fooling around with it for two months, we tried the Maxseg down to 68 and it worked. I do most of my activity on mailing lists, (Canada-L, Quaker-L, Futurework, Labour-L, freematt, Current-l, Red Rock Eaters (Love that name). For the last 3 months, I have been writing a little column for the American Reporter, online newspaper, called "Apples from Paradise" which is kind of fun. (I'm going to do one this am called 'Carl Sagan and the Witch' -- a woman calling herslef a witch just moved into the village, into a big gothic house. It won't be nasty.)
I just bought some more memory, and put Netscape and Win 3 on, but the web is terribly slow here; also, much of other functions. I think it's old telephone lines. This is why I use mailing lists so much.
I'll be interested to see what happens when the new stripped-down $500 computers come out. I think email is still the big thing. My son solves most of my computer problems. I said to him one day when he was working on one, "How come when I do something dumb, it's because I'm a techno-moron, but when you do it's the stupid software?" I saw a little grin cross his face, then he turned around and with a look as bland as Kissinger said: "So what's your point?" Oh, well, at least he does it!
One of my new net acquaintances is a computer whiz at the Pentagon. He calls me his net nanny. I would hate to have to give it up now.
---
elinor mosher emosher@fox.nstn.ca Paradise, NS B0S 1R0 To miss the joy is to miss all. R. L. Stevenson
Date: Sun, 02 Jun 1996 21:13:48 -0400
From: "Mary R. Pyett"
As a technology coorinator and consultant to several schools, I have seen many people resistant to technology, for many reasons. I can think of one teacher who approached the principal of a school where each classroom was to receive 4 new networked computers. The teacher pleaded that she would be retiring after one more year and she would not be a part of this project. The prinicpal totally defused the situation by telling the teacher she would receive the four computers and was required to attend the training, but did not have to use them if she so chose. The teacher was satisfied with that and met the requests. Not long after school started, an uninformed person flipped off the switch on the server which was located in the office. This caused all of the classroom computers to stop working. Guess who the first teacher in the office was to demand the computers be brought back on line because she couldn't teach without them! You guessed it!!!
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 1996 10:19:22 CST6CDT
From: "PAUL DOTY"
I am a librarian and spend a fair amount of time with computer-beginners. What I am most struck by is the extent to which most beginners start a line of questioning with self-derision. "I'm a real idiot when it comes to these things" "I can't get along with machines" "I don't know anything about computers" (I don't either, I just use them all the time). This obviously is generated by a feeling that a college student should know how to use a computer, and I suspect the real root of that is the omnipresence of techology in the jet stream media. I had a case once, of coming to assist a women with one of our online tools, and as she started to ask her question she pointed at the computer terminal and backed away as if it had actually threatened her. (I've seen her since making good use of both print and computer resources).
Paul Doty Information Literacy Librarian Jim Dan Hill Library University of Wisconsin Superior pdoty@staff.uwsuper.edu
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 1996 11:39:51 -0500 From: smk@io.com (Susan Kirchman)
When I was a beginner I loaded a borrowed computer into my car, took it far far away and hid-out while I made my first attempts at useing this new tool to make my artwork. I was so sure that I could not do it that I didn't want anyone to know that I was trying. I still have screen shots of those first few images. I think that they effectively convey the trepidation that I was feeling. I wish that they could be included in this compilation instead of this text.
A three year old boy that I know is the biggest " 'puter user" in his family of four. He will never remember the experience of being a beginner.
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 1996 11:09:13 -0700 From: habel1@llnl.gov (Patty Habel)
I do not reply often but I couldn't resist this one. I hope it fits in with your request...
A few years ago I worked as a consultant to the City Recreation Department, teaching evening beginning computer classes to adults. I taught using one computer for 10 students in a shared hands-on and lecture style. At the same time, I taught classes during the day with an organization called "Computertots". I took one computer into private preschools and daycare centers and taught computer to small groups of 3-4 students ranging in age from 3-6 years.
It was a terrific experience teaching the two age groups simultaneously. Most adults that registered for my course, did so because they were fearful of the computer. They appreciated the ability to just observe or participate hands-on if they chose. Many of them needed the non-threatening environment of not being forced to sit behind their own computer and keep-up with the class. It was so gratifying for me to really see these adults go from total fear (and this is not an exaggeration) or at the least confusion and apprehension, to "lights-on" and enthusiasm!
On the other hand, the children I taught were afraid of nothing! We taught them computer and disk care and operation by singing catchy little songs with a mascot puppet along with the activities. They took to it like fish to water. They were so eager to see me when I arrived each week and couldn't wait to "play" with the computer. This play taught them to respect the equipment, to be creative and to succeed. Not bad life skills at age 3-6, huh...
The experience I gained teaching the children was much more helpful to me when teaching adults than vise-versa. In this day, when computer use is becoming more and more vital to everyday life, helping these adults to become computer literate is definately one of the most gratifying jobs I have had. These adults taught me that there are truly very few people who cannot succeed if given the right environment, encouragement and knowledge.
Patty Habel Customer Liaison Telecommunications Systems Dept.
Date: Tue, 4 Jun 1996 09:25:19 -0500 (CDT) From: bowker@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu (Geoffrey Bowker)
When I was first learning email in the mid 1980s I used a colleague's account (there weren't clear lines on how to set up your own). I had no idea how it all worked - had no idea what a unix shell was etc.; and there were difficulties getting out from Paris to the rest of the world (problems with the British academic network coz they weren't paying their dues, and problems routing to the US). I had a driving desire to learn - my lover was in CA and I was in Paris, and we couldn't afford phone calls to negotiate life together with. I would send her these impassioned love letters, not realizing that every time they failed to get through for whatever reason (bad address, routing problem, mistake I had made) they bounced back into my colleague's inbox. After a few weeks of this (he was French after all) and I guess a particularly steamy bounce back he told me about this and helped me set up my own account... . What I learned from this, and continue learning, is that privacy on the internet is not like privacy elsewhere. No beginner is going from the start to be able to set up a levely of security on their files that a priori they would like to have - if you don't know what 'finger' is then it's hard to stop yourself being fingered. I think that you need to both modulate your own space boundaries as well as learn how to protect your output: the emotional work of the former option is as important as the technical work of the latter.
Date: Wed, 5 Jun 1996 19:21:37 -0400 (edt) From: techno@vir.com (techno)
Well here's a topic that could cause a stir. I guess I should start with my own experience. I am not university educated, and I am a professionel municipal Firefighter. I did a lot of electronics as a hobby in the past 10 years(audio,video) and over the past 5 years became self-educated in computer technology.(hardware hacker) Over the last 2 years I've been a self-study in communication technology.(BBS's & Internet).It's become almost an obsession as I know intuitively It's the single most important thing to happen in this century. Being a blue collar worker, so to speak, I decided to learn how to set up a BBS and get my son and myself hooked up to the "net". We both share this passion for this new tool. First I bought a book,"Canadian Internet Handbook" by Jim Carroll & Rick Broadhead. That book was crucial to understanding how to get on the "Net".Later I bought another book"The Internet Complete Reference" by Harley Hahn & Rick Stout.Reading 800 page books did not intimidate me, as I had done a lot of that to learn computers. Now, the good part. After picking an ISP with great anticipation I began the technical "nightmare".My ISP dropped off the software on disk and I figured I would set it up in an hour.I installed the software, and had weeks of headaches trying to get it to work right. Of course my 16 yr old and I were fiddling with the settings to try to get it to work right, but to no avail. Finally in utter exasperation and frustration I called the small budding ISP for help.The VP half owner came over and was very polite and installed the software for us again and got it working. I felt quite technically inadequate at the time. Everytime the server would have problems or the uplink connection would develope a problem, my son would start fiddling with the software settings thinking it was our fault.That would completely mess up everything again and I would have to figure out how to reset it to the defaults.I learned a lot about setting up internet software but it was quite frustrating and a source of stress. Eventually, I became quite good at setting everything up, my son too.Chalked it up as a good learning experience. But, I am sure 99.5% of the general population doesn't have the patience for this stuff! It's just too complicated and difficult for the average joe. They have to figure out ways to make the install and setup idiot proof. I don't consider myself to be a total moron, as a matter of fact I consider myself to be quite technically adept but it was too complicated for me let alone the average person. Enough said. I do now enjoy the tools like email,usenet,web ,gopher,FTP, and IRC. Lets hope that it gets easier for the newbies in the future or a lot of people will reject it.
Doug Taylor Montreal Quebec. "Ye shall know the truth and the truth will set you free"
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 96 08:21:13 EDT From: michalik@VNET.IBM.COM
My own situation as the computer beginner was hellish, without Virgil there to guide me! The professors I had had little interest and no ability to explain how to use any of the computer technology we had available to us. The tutors were arrogant and more interested in working on their programs than helping you with yours. You were left fend for yourself, with only your classmates to help you, and since they were as overwhelmed and as overworked as you were, that help often was meagre. In fact, we were so starved for information, that I felt joy - JOY! - when I found a quick reference card explaining how to use the compiler, debugger, and the system. It was like manna.
Things got better as I rose through the info-archy in University, but then I started as a beginner at IBM and the cycle began again. It was better in many respects, but I still had to search for PL/1 manuals, dig out old compiler references, etc. Such a waste.
Looking over my beginner experiences, my situation and that of my classmates was analogous to being a peasant. We scrounged for information, putting together programs with old technology, while the T.A.s and professors with their nice terminals and their unlimited access to the system and its information worked in relative luxury. I still see that happening in IBM. I'd be willing to be bet that little has changed in Universities, either.
Bernie
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