WARNING – you must be over 40 to get the full impact of this posting.
It was only 15 years ago and we did not have a personal computer at the house. Why should we? What would you possibly do with it that wasn’t just more work? The early users were moving from Prodigy email service, Dell was just starting, most internet users used their provider’s search engines and workplaces were still trying to cost-justify the purchase of more than one PC per office area.
As a result of the post last week, “Try Honesty,” an old colleague and friend emailed me a comment/compliment that reminded me of an interesting transition time in my career. “You sure have come a long way on your skills with the Internet from those days when I "mentored" you in your office” Randy stated. In the early 1990’s Randy was a first-line manager and I was his boss. He had a quick affinity toward the internet and I was curious. I have mentioned often about being mentored by whoever knows your interests. Level and stature should not matter. I am not sure which thing brought the smile to my face, the memory of Randy teaching me to do a search, or the fact that my mentoring theory proved correct again.
Who initially taught you the internet? Have you been mentored by subordinates successfully?
Friday, May 15, 2009
Who taught you the internet?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
62 comments:
John,
I started to use the Internet around 1994/95 on 9,600bps modems over dial up. I primarily used it for trading mp3s on ICQ, email and chat being a kid in highschool. Thus, as with the rest of my computer/IT knowledge, it was all self taught. Trial by error is the way have I learned best.
I take pride in the fact that I have taught my grandmother and a bunch of her friends how to use computers and the Internet. That has opened up a whole new world of living and interacting to them.
Regards,
Phil
Hi John,
I would have to fall into "Try Honesty" group. I also accepted the internet quickly and learned as I went. I became addicted to “Search Engines” and the quest to find a better one. When I found Google back in ’99 I gave up Alta Vista. I use this tool almost exclusively for research on a broad range of topics.
I recall purchasing a used Apple Macintosh computer (...I couldn't afford a new one !) in 1984 that included a modem and some literature about this unusual service offered by Compuserve. I didn't realize it at the time, but when I dialed the 9600 BAUD Modem to connect, I was be charged for Internet access. It seemed like an interesting novelity, but the connection speed was so slow that I never imagined the potential applications that were soon to come, and much of what we even take for granted today with high band-width internet access. I suppose that I taught myself by trying things, reading about it, and talking with others. I didn't use the internet very much until I got a MS DOS PC at work around 1987, and even then it was primarily an email tool. I think the power of the internet was evident to me when we started using MS Windows at work, and I was convinced that I needed to buy a home PC to have access to the internet at home also. The rest is history....and it continues to be written.
I learned about the internet from the hackers in the computer center at Boston University in 1985. I had a job sitting at the help window and the hacker guys (they were all guys, except for me) showed me how to bop around on the internet, logging into guest accounts on Unix systems all over the world. We would look around a bit, find out what time it was in Tokyo, silly things like that. This was long before security was an important issue.
I remember fondly using tools like Archie, Veronica, and Gopher to meander around the internet. When I first heard about the web in 1993, I was excited and rushed to build my first web page. I was a charter subscriber to Prodigy, but gave it up after a short time in favor of a shell account at TheWorld in Cambridge, MA - the first real ISP (this was 1991).
I've always been grateful to those guys for opening the doors to the internet for me. I can remember trying to explain the internet to some of my early bosses, who were completely in the dark about it. One of them was impressed when I found him some free Ada tools on the Simtel20 FTP archive (anyone else remember that?). He had been completely unaware of the existence of such things or of the concept of "free" software. Ah, how times have changed :-)
I mostly work as a contractor/consultant, so I'm usually the one doing the mentoring, but I have picked up some useful tips and tricks from some of the junior level people I've worked with. There's always something new to learn, so it pays to keep your mind open to it.
John:
I consider myself lucky to have stumbled upon the Internet and related networking technologies in the “early days” of these wonderful things. My first work computer was an Apple II in 1983 where I learned my way around a keyboard and computer files. Then in 1984, I “moved up” to a 2 floppy IBM PC with software like Word Perfect, Lotus 123, dBase III, and Harvard Graphics. My first networking experience was around 1986 when I exchanged files with my Air Force customer at Los Angeles Air Force Station in El Segundo, CA using a 300 baud modem and a software program called Crosstalk XVI. I remember “chatting” back and forth online and being able to type faster than the modem could transmit. My first experience with instant messaging was 23 years ago – I’ll bet not too many people can claim that…
From home, I started using various bulletin board systems (BBS) and dial-up services in the late 80s. I joined America Online in the very early days (1992?) and have been a member since.
As far as actually using the Internet, I had the good fortune to be an early user on an Air Force base in 1990. I had to learn Unix commands and a clunky email system where each line of text was submitted and you could not go back and edit the previous line. With the exception of some basic help from a coworker here and there and bad user manuals, everything I learned was self-taught.
Starting in 1989, I supported an Air Force customer developing electronic technical manual specifications and standards using SGML – the precursor to HTML and XML. From there, I became involved in a program initiated by the Air Force in 1991 to promote the use of the Internet by the U.S. Department of Defense and its supporting industrial base. That program lasted until 2001, when the Internet was no longer considered a “new” thing and most people had started to get on the bandwagon.
Long answer to an interesting question – no one “taught” me how to use the Internet. Most of it was a learn as you go experience. I remember my first experience trying to take a lesson in how to use new software. A secretary and I went to a computer store for a lesson in Word Perfect. The store owner tore open the shrink wrap from the software package and began reading from the manual. He inserted the 5 ¼” floppy disk in the computer and followed the instructions step-by-step. Obviously he had never used it and was learning as he read it to us. We never went back for another lesson. We learned it on our own – as I think most people do today…
Thanks for the trip down memory lane! (Yes, clearly I am over 40…)
Joe
In 1995, I became bedridden and housebound with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I was incredibly cutoff. An old friend came over one day and "hooked me up" to aol.com.
I knew about aol.com, because I worked production on the VERY FIRST COMMERCIAL for them! Something about a Dad being able to download information about dinosaurs for his son, instead of taking him to the library - and therefore freeing him up to watch the game on TV.
The truth is - the internet got me through those years. While there were only 36 channels on cable - and they were all showing the OJ trial or the Oklahoma bombing - I could get on the internet and find out how to get well and find other people who were dealing with what I was dealing with.
Thank the Gods for the internet.
I'm only 23, but I can't imagine how different my life would be without the internet. It's where I met a lot of the friends I have, found me my first job, found me the job I have now, allows me to pursue a music career in a new and interesting way, and I would also know a significantly less amount of information and facts.
We could have had technology a long time ago if not for the dark ages. Imagine, the internet in 1809 instead of 2009! Okay, maybe that's stretching it.
I was an early subscriber to Prodigy and had an IBM pc - when they made them for home use. I somehow ended up in a "chat room" (was that what they were called then?) and the next day my wife wanted to know who all those strange women were who were sending me e-mails. Thats' what happens when you get sucked into an innocent in-depth conversation about Joni Mitchell.
So many women, so little time.
I sold my IBM typewriter the next day.
I think they were called "Newsgroups" or "Usegroups" or "List-serves" back in the day.
I taught myself the Net. I read all the help files for all the applications, bought books when necessary.
Me!
While on active duty as an USAF officer, I supported the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). I was affiliated with the then Nuclear Monitoring Research office. Down the hall at ARPA was the technology offices that were developing the ARPAnet. The program that I managed provided the Telpack D network on which the initial bit-error rate measurements were conducted. The firm of Bolt, Beranek, and Newman was the organization that eventually built the Interface Message Processor (IMP), that connected main-frame computer centers with the prototype ARPAnet. So, I would say that I learned the internet while it was being developed!
Newsgroups are still there in disguise. See Google groups as an example. What is seriously dented is the Usenet. Sigh.
http://groups.google.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet
My initial exposure to "The Net" was as Human Factors Laboratory Manager at Westinghouse Research. At that time, my eldest son, Matthew (then in 9th grade), had a sledding accident and broke his neck, and received a sever concussion, (he's fine now). BUT! First a little history. Somewhere back in the 1980s, a young PhD. student, from CMU, was working part time in the Human Factors Lab. His name; Michael Mauldin; (Fuzzy). Those of you who really know the early days, will recognize him as the founder of LYCOS, (But that was later!). In response to a customer's need, I invented and Mike fleshed out and coded, (mostly in one week), a "Web Browser", named WISH, (Westinghouse Information Systems Handler). It was a fully implemented hypermedia system with text and image-map links and interactive, data driven animation. It also linked to remote machines via our own "html" language to recover pre-formatted pages, gather information or interact with processes, including nuclear reactor simulators, via Unix RCP calls. That project was five years ahead of its time and in some respects, even current browsers lack native support for some of its capabilities. Since Westinghouse was "not a software company" we received pay checks and thanks and I received awards for the development, but we were never allowed to commercialize it beyond the demonstrations we developed for several Westinghouse divisions. Though we both recognized some of the marketability of such a product,(NOT REALLY), we were both young men with very young families, not willing or financially able to leave our jobs and venture out to push our ideas forward (apologies to the real entrepreneurs out there, as we all know this is just and excuse). Besides, WISH was developed by us as Westinghouse employees, so it belonged to Westinghouse, whether we liked it or not. (Oh 20/20 hindsight!)
BACK TO THE MAIN STORY!
When my son had his accident, Both Mike and I still were working in the Westinghouse Human Factors Lab. I was desperately looking for resources, to understand what our options were, as my son reentered school, after vertebrate replacement surgery, with significant additional effects showing from the head injury. Mike showed me email, Lynx and archie, and helped me to set up the first UUCP email accounts in Westinghouse Electric. If you do a Google search on: "westinghouse gary sherwin cognac", the entries for our early UUCP linkage will still come up at the top of the list! With these connections. With Mike's assistance, I was able to research and contact experts from around the world, so as to enable my wife and I to make informed decisions concerning our son's recovery. That was amazing. From that point on, Every morning and evening, I would use my Commodore 64 to log into a local Westinghouse modem connection and from there across the corporate network to my stable of Sun workstations, 35 miles away at the lab, and from there lynx my way around the developing www, though then it wasn't a www yet. Later, I used a Commodore UNIX Amiga to make the same connection. That was an amazing machine!
I remember being involved in corporate committees deciding whether TCPIP could function on the Westinghouse DECNET network. IT management couldn't get it into their heads that not only could it function, it already was functioning!
Our Sun Workstations had gigantic 150 MB disk drives that were the size of a full size laser printer!
I could go on and on....As if I haven't already.
Gary
Sometimes in life, you have the opportunity to work with really creative and innovative people. As a young general manager at HP, one of the memorable internet opportunities surfaced in the early 80s during a project called MCI mail in which we were trying to create, with MCI and DEC, a new, electronic post office- digitizing signatures and synching them remotely for laser printing at remote sites. The technical lead on this project was Vinton Cerf, then a SVP at MCI who had the vision that we would someday be able to send pictures and video over the net - almost in real time. Vint had been one of the key architects of ARPANET at DARPA and clearly had creative insight into what has since become reality - but hardly visible to those of us who were using 1200 baud dial up connections at the time with DOS commands rather than browsers
Al Gore
I am under the impression that you can't really teach someone to use the internet. You can give them a brief introduction, but then they have to want to explore and play around with it on their own to truly become competent and comfortable. I say this because I've been trying to teach my mother for years. We get nowhere, because she doesn't get back on there on her own after I'm gone. Next time I come back to visit, she doesn't even remember how to turn the computer on.
I've had a computer in my house since the late 1970's, or as I tell some people, before APPLE was a blossom. It was an ALTAIN 8800b that had to be built!
That being said, and based on Anna's comment about her mother, I think you need an inquisitive mind and have no fear of techonology for the "older" generation to use the Internet.
My grandfather was in his 70s when I introduced him to the TRS-80. Everytime he visited he wanted to know what else it could do. My mother got WebTV when she was in her 60s and quickly moved to a regular computer because she found it too limiting.
On the other hand, I work with people regularly who are in their 30s and 40s and do not want to use the computer for anything other than what their work mandates.
Can you teach someone to use it? Sure, but unless they see the value of it, they probably won't use it.
The internet was new and exciting and I accepted it and found out early on the benefit of being able to put together a decent search string to find the right metatag. I still remember the compuserve days, now I have switched to Google Chrome.
Where I have been mentored on the IT area is IM. I have younger mentors in IT as well as in the plant scheduling department that have helped me a great deal. I am lucky to work with a group that wants to learn from each other regardless of where they are on the org chart.
My earliest recollection of sending text msgs to another computer was in 1991 using something called MCI Mail. It was strictly text, but nothing as limitied as today's text msging on phones. I also owned a computer that I used for work processing in about 1981, and used to call up bulletin boards, other computers accessible by a phone line to one person at a time using a 300 baud modem from Radio Shack.
A marketing services vendor that I used in the mid-to-late 1990's utilized the internet constantly for ongoing communication, file transfers, etc. I wouldn't say they taught me the internet, but they certainly caused me to embrace it, answering all of my silly questions throughout the course of my project. Beyond that, I pretty much sorted things out for myself, with valuable input from the occasional geek.
My husband and I explored the internet together. Back in 1986, we sat there with our Commadore 64 and a 180 baud modem and got online with -- would you believe it -- Compuserve and shopped at Sears online! It was our first introduction to the WWW.
As avid BBS managers, that is a Bulletine Board System to you youngins, the jump over to a BBS was natural and fun. We learned and after that we got involved with all of it in a deeper level with college. By then we had graduated to an 8088, 286 and eventually a 386.
My how time flies.
Does this mean I have to admit to 40?
John,
You'll appreciate this answer ... 3 people taught me the internet ... Me, Myself and I. However my knowledge has grown over the years and I must say it's a riot.
I had a passion for technology as soon as I got my first taste. I remember asking a colleague how to do something and HE replied that I didn't need to know. That was it--from there on I was committed to learning everything I possibly could. I'm still like that and pretty sure "HE" is serving fries somewhere!
Somewhere about 1984 a friend of my Technical University worked at CERN. He showed me.
He was communicating with another friend of ours about the fact that he had lost all his files just before he was going to make a presentation. What we found out later was that it was a joke ... the other guy moved all his files to another location ... a very early example of hacking you might say.
I started using it around 1990 in an aerospace company. But at the time its use was pretty restricted. A few years later I joined a consultancy company where everybody was a heavy (7 days per week) user. We worked on introducing internet based solutions to business
I've been on it since 1990. No one taught me. I learned. To be sure, others have given me a pointer or two over the years, but no one "taught" me how to use the internet. I'm 71 but I've been a technician for more than 50 years so, in my case, age doesn't matter.
I started playing around with the internet when it was strictly between mainframes on universities... around 1982 or 83. In 1988 I bough my first computer and was on Compuserve and GENIE. I think I learned like everyone did back then... on my own, by trial and error. Once it became the WWW and went graphic, it was actually pretty intuitive.
Self-taught. In fact, used the internet when it was internal to the government and contractors before going public. Engineers in Houston would send me digital files for our NASA simulation projects PC-to-PC (I was in upstate New York). Then I'd have to copy them to disk, plug them into a Mac, and clean up the anomalies for use in desktop publishing.
In the mid-90s, I developed a prototype internet research course for communications students at SMU. Some didn't even own a computer. Early lessons were basically walking them through a web navigation to find certain information, ie fill in the blanks I provided.
I am with those whoe were using the Internet when there was no World Wide Web. That hadn't happened yet. ;-) There was talk of it, but I was using listservs and "gopher" and other text-based Internet applications and services. I took apart a PC, and put it back together again; bought a book on MS DOS, learned it; tried e-mail, learned that; picked up a PFS database, learned that...got an Apple, learned that...LOL.
So I have found myself in the *mentor* position often, rather than *receiving* mentoring.
Speaking of that, when I was in the corporate world, I noticed just how much improvement we could look for in working habits that save keystrokes and screen changes and mouse-clicks, for almost every employee, at multiple levels, that I watched work.
Based on what I've seen, I'd venture that many employers could boost employee productivity and reduce fatigue with just a little bit of promotion of best practices in how the basic applications of their IT investment are used.
The closest thing I ever saw to an effort in this area, was the keystroke and hot-key training given to transactional employees in insurance companies. At the time, most other employees I observed were not even aware of the more powerful basic operating system conventions, let alone the more powerful application shortcuts. Those of us comfortable with tech can take for granted that employees will "self-train" or that they are already familiar enough with "everyday" applications to get their work done efficiently.
An effort in this area need not prove expensive. An e-mail tech-tip of the day mentoring program, for example could begin to work wonders. "Did you know that MS Outlook understands plain English dates? Go ahead, type "next Tuesday" into your calendar entry date field, and watch Outlook change it to "5/26/2009." ;-)
I've been getting online since it was just BBS's (Bulletin Board System) back in the 1980s, at that time the internet was considered a myth. I remember when telnet was a new thing, then WWW came about, and have watched it grow like an infant to the monster it is today.
I learned from the IMP manual when I got a KSR-33 in my house around the corner from CMU. I'd been working on the IBM-360, UNIVAC-1108 in the Comp Center, the PDP-8 in EE and the DEC10's and DEC11's in CS as a grad student but my first really serious realization of the internet was when I logged in via a shoebox sized acoustic coupled modem to the CS machines... and could not recognize the operating system I'd landed in because someone had left a connection open to Berkeley and I got their session. Dave Fisher, who shared the house and worked with me at Compuguard were both puzzled and we finally got hold of the operator there in Berkeley and got help in logging out the job there (it may have been a Multics system) so we could get 'back home'.
Correction: that should have read 'phone bill' not 'electric bill',
Wow,this brought back memories.My dad taught me how to use it and I remember trying to figure out what was "clickable" and what was just plain text.It took a while....)))
We used a collaborative tool in graduate school in the late 70's that posted engineering questions on a network eliciting responses from around the nation. Shortly thereafter we used the ARPANET when I was stationed at Fort Huachuca. It seemed clunky even then. In contrast, we also communicated via PC modem with colleagues at JPL in Pasadena at the screaming rate of 300 bps (or baud as it was called then). Lightning storms down the line prevented us from using 1200 baud because of the line hits. Since I've had to contend with computers and networks since 1969, I've always considered it a challenge to personally teach myself what I've needed to know. I've always been willing to help others, but I normally sort out my own problems with the Internet.
Learnt it from a subordinate about 12 years back. He came over to see what I was doing with the Computer ,newly installed in my room. He slowly chatted me into learning to start the computer, use the mouse , type the words, give a few lessons and giving me tips and ,as I staggered along ,complementing me. So what was once a forbidden territory became a pleasant hangout ,almost like taking residience in a new world .
Once I overcame the intial embarassment typical of adult learners ,I experienced a surge of excitement to explore and learning all the other applications became easy .Most of the learning happened from my colleagues and juniors( never a senior) and even my son. Internet learning is almost mystical. Once I had to help my son with a Project work on Tangrams. I was awed with the unique puzzle, its structure of seven exotic geometric patterns and a welter of information on a hitherto unknown subject. I found that the younger the tutor is , the less encumbered the mind is , and better the quality and joy of learning is.
I agree with Linda, students have to see the value before they will learn. I routinely teach digital literacy to raw beginners (skill wise - not age wise). If someone has a desire to learn it is very easy to get them comfortable with the computer and bring them "up to speed". For many it is simply a technophobia which can often be overcome with good encouragement, practice, and a solid training in the basics.
The number of people coming in for training at the digital literacy level has been growing as the displaced workers who never needed skills before realize they stand little chance in today's work world without basic computer competence.
Back in the late 1980's I used to haul one of those suitcase-sized "luggable" computers home from work. I used to play around with writing my own programs for my own use and occasionally dial up bulletin boards, in addition to continuing work from the office (as a young controls engineer, there always seemed to be more programming work to do).
Largely, my internet use was self-taught. It didn't seem to be a big leap from using dial-up bulletin boards, and back in those days AOL made getting online really easy. I learned HTML simply by seeing what others had done, and playing around with it.
My interest in the "Information Super Highway" drove my learning as I learned as I went. Of course, this was after I moved past the fear of breaking the darn computer. In addition to the many hours of pointing and clicking I talked with co-workers and friends to build my knowledge and confidence.
One virtue of the early luggables (self-contained, suitcase size computers) was that they came with software. My Kaypro computer came with 10 software disks--remember 5 1/4" floppies?--and provided me with a spreadsheet, word processor, and a crude database. It had a 9" green monochrome screen. I could sort a 100 item database in several minutes. But the coolest part was that it did the magic while I sipped my coffee. My own robot slave, doing my bidding while I marveled at its speed.
Discovering and playing with all this magic at home, early on Sat mornings was reward enough. It never seemed like work to me. It was an adventure, and my neighbors looked at me like I was Disney's Absent-Minded Professor. I was. It was 1981 for heaven's sake.
Well, as I was in the class of '85, and a BSEE major, I was one of the students who was "experimented" on by having to purchase a Zenith, Z-100 computer from the college (this was fall 83 I think) - used the "Galahad" word processor and some of the bulletin boards on campus, not to mention the rn news reader, ftp, and email on the mainframe (called Magic). I had already purchased a TRS-80 and expanded it to it's maximum of 16K bytes (wow!), so the Z100 was like a revolution in power. My earliest computer experience was on a Commadore Pet with the calculator keypads and a tape-recorder data storage. Wow - that brings back a few memories.
Clarkson College issued a Zenith luggable Z-100 computer to all incoming freshmen around that time. Did you attend Clarkson? I graduated from Clarkson in 1975. Cut my computer teeth on an IBM 360 mainframe. Remember punchcards? I also had a Commodore 64 and built a memory expansion card from Radio Shack parts.
I graduated in 1985 (81 - 85) and just missed the punch cards by one year (although at my first job I did use punched tapes). They had just replaced the mainframe with a new one named "Music" with some sort of unix like OS as I recall. The manuals still called lines of code "cards" however. Lived in the Pit, Moore, Olson, and the Townhouses. A lot has changed, but as far as I am concerned it is, and always will be "Tech" to me - as I was one of the last flannel shirt, sh*t-kicker wearing techies.
I was taught computer use by the husband of a contract worker I had hired. They had a computer set up in their house and invited me over any time I wanted to use it. This was in 1984. In the late 80's early 90's, I was taught more about computer usage by two co-workers, one a microbiologist and the other a mathematics guru.
I was taught the internet by my ISP, Earthlink, through very helpful hints and invitations to explore exotic URL's and absolutely great customer service that answered all my questions completely. I supplemented that with a subscription to a magazine for intermediate users.
My introduction came from Tad Guy, a president of development in Symantec. At the time I joined NASA in 1990 as a contractor, Tad was a system administrator and he exposed me to emacs, e-mail within emacs written by a close firend of his, usenet, and other pre-internet tools. When the internet finally came on for NASA, I was one of the first couple of 1000 that posted websites for software I had developed for NASA ( http://aaac.larc.nassa.gov/3DMAGGS/ ). It is still there and receiving clicks routinely.
I did, and it's still a work in progress as I learn things like Twitter... I love Twitter btw... with the continuous learning required to keep up, I'll never get alzheimers :)
Like many. self taught and I started with BBS's and Compuserve 20 years ago this year. Started Twittering 3 weeks ago and currently redoing several websites with a CMS.
I have a feeling there wasn't so much to learn then or perhaps my IT horizons have been broadened, but then I am under 40, just ;-)
This question is interesting and makes me think way back.
My first home computer was an Apple II plus with two floppy drives and an acoustic modem. I believe it was purchased in Dec of 1980. The first connections to the outside world were to various bulletin boards just for fun. After a move to Somerset KY and the addition of a PC at work I used the work computer with an internal modem to transfer data to the home office and the home computer to share information and comments on a local BB.
It wasn’t until around 1990 that the real internet became available, first at home and then at work. (GTE – Sylvania) There was no real training, except for help from my then 15 year old son who had become somewhat of a computer geek. Due to his interest, we stayed near the leading edge of the curve with fast connections and the latest equipment. Our home has been thru the wired and wireless revolutions and many of us are now connected to the internet thru black berries.
There are now two hard wired computers in our home and it is not uncommon to have at lease one wireless computer online at any given time. The wired computers are for my two grandchildren (5 and 7) and the wireless connections are usually a combination of my wife’s, daughter’s or my laptops. Sometimes I think it is easier to communicate with everyone with instant Messenger even when they are sitting in the next room.
The internet is an integral part of our lives – research for my wife’s doctoral thesis (now completed YEA!!), games and home work for my grandchildren, various college activities for my daughter (paper submittal, tests, research, etc.), and daily activities such as news, weather, sports, purchasing decisions, communicating with friends, movie schedules, etc. for all of us.
My son is now in LA and owns a web hosing business among other exciting adventures. We correspond almost daily via the internet and I think we communicate more than when he was at home.
I currently use the internet to help me with the internet at home and a very good IT department to get me through problems at work, but most of their help is with hardware issues, not the internet itself.
As long as the internet remains user friendly it will be a part of our lives.
I can’t imagine what it will be like in another 5 (2) years.
I had heard about DARPA and the internet in the mid-80's. I began using FTP to peruse different internet sites and then one day, a savvy AF Captain whom I worked with said, "Hey, have you heard about this new thing call Netscape"?
Well, it was all downhill from there, and I can claim, “I was using the interne before there were browsers!”
I was first exposed to the internet at work and was quickly turned on to the amount of information I could get at my fingertips. It was the same feeling I got when I returned to academia to pursue my Masters and discovered that card catalogues had been replaced by computers! Sadly though, there was no training available so I learned the adventurers way -- trial and error. And asking more knowledgeable people lots of questions. Unfortunately not all learners are comfortable with that approach and it is not very efficient.
I'd have to go with the me, myself and I checkbox. When the Internet was coming about, I was a freelance writer working at home--mostly writing fiction. At that point, I didn't need the Internet too much, as I primarily utilized Word and email. When I did need to do research, I'd go to the library and read books and periodicals. As I moved into writing nonfiction, and then copywriting, I began to need the Internet for faster access to information. There was nobody at home to teach me, except my kids, who had no patience with their "techno zero" mom, so I had teach myself. I couldn't imagine now trying to write without using the Internet. Although, I still prefer my ragged hard copy of the Thesaurus. It's more complete than online ones.
Leslie Kohler
TheSeminarCopywriter.com
My reverse-mentorer on all things digital--starting with Netiquette and now Twitter--is Annie Heckenberger, now the "Community Trailblazer" at ad-PR-branding-digial-integrated media Red Tettemer in Phila. You can follow her hysterical, ironic, all-knowing Tweets @anniemal
Me, myself, and I for internet. If I look at my entire experience with computer systems I have had some formal coursework but mostly self-taught with help from colleagues and direct reports.
I remember first dialing into BBS's. I don't know what they were except some kind of server for usenet type posting and maybe some kind of chat and chess. With in a few years came Prodigy and AOL of course. (pretty confusing times! I could barely get a page loaded let alone surf! ;) I think this is where I learned the internet mostly in the so called early years. But now not surprising I'm sure, the younger people in my life have become my mentors and coaches on the whats up...and low down of the internet these days. lol!
Wow! I'm impressed by your comments. Although I worked as a software engineer developing digital communications and embedded real-time software for military systems since 1976, I didn't get involved in the internet until 1995, when I got an AOL account and started playing around at home. I bought three books by W. Richard Stevens: TCP/IP Illustrated Vol. 1, Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment, and UNIX Network Programming. I started programming internet software and learned UNIX systems administration, ATM, and DSL. Now, I'm a systems engineer and don't write software anymore, but I have a good understanding of the internet at all levels.
Mr. Bishop,
Isn't there some saying that as we grow old we grow wise or something to that effect. With the younger generation coming into the Procurement/Supply Chain fields there are all sorts of uses for the internet and it's minions today. Supplier relationship building is about communications and within 6 months you will probably need to read your primary suppliers twitter to know how to keep up with you order.
It doesn't matter who teaches as long as we all learn.
Guy Haddix
I learned computing back in the DOS days before Windows existed. I haven't had to keep up with computers... they've had to keep up with me. College classes have helped but I'm mostly self-taught by my thirst for knowledge.
I've enjoyed having a group of peers with whom we shared new tricks and tips to make everything more efficient and productive in less time. I've mentored lunch-n-learn classes and been mentored by others at all levels.
I'm advancing my education in Internet Security this year. The more I know, the more there is to know. It's good to meet others for whom the computer is more than a glorified typewriter (remember those?).
I am auto-didact (self-learner and self-motivator). I started back in 1995/6 by learning the websitemanual of the famous Altavista searchengine by heart.
The rest cam naturally to me, as my carreer evolved into the internet business. Height of my carreer was being in the first class of directory server architecture at Banyan World wide Service
I still follow - on a monthly basis - the new and evolving internet technologies to keep up to date with this fantastic medium
Regards,
Ronald
though this is not entirely relevant, i would like to recommend anyone go to archive.org -- its a web archive ... you can see how websites evolved ( a famous amazon.com was once a cheap no-thing site...look at big river now..!)
i would also welcome anyone who have questions on how the internet itself works to send me a line! i will try to explain!
dave
Hi John! I first was shown the 'net in 1975 (I'm sure it wasn't called that then.....) on a 300 baud accoustic coupling modem when at Edinburgh University. You had to dial, listen for the handshake then place the handset into a couple of rubber cups. Then at McDonnell Douglas in about 1987 I was re-introduced to the internet by a couple of engineers to look for bulletin boards/chatrooms etc. to research some technical issues. Then in 1996 I learned HTML and created my first web pages..........
Internet 1.0 'cause I was in the Navy.
On one desk we had the internet (BBSs were coming to life!)
On the desk beside it we were running glass at 10G and getting faster daily transferring live radar video.
In 1989.
Later a CPM driven terminal/computer from Heath Zenith and The Well and Compuserve Special Interest Groups
Post a Comment