Welcome to Computers: Navigating the Internet Course!

Taught by Dilip Barman for the Durham Public Library

Goals

By the end of these 2 hours, you should be able to

• Understand what the internet and world-wide web (WWW or just "web") are
• Navigate ("surf") the web (we'll use Microsoft Internet Explorer, but you can use Netscape Navigator or other browser)
• Use an appropriate search engine to find relevant information
• Download programs from the internet

• Understand email and news
• Chat with other users
• Search the library collection

Assumptions

In this course, we assume basic familiarity with

• Keyboard skills on PC-like machine
• Use of Windows (95, 98, 2000, or later)

Agenda

Time	Subject
6:10-6:20	Quick Windows concept review
6:20-6:30	Overview Impact of the internet Notion of a browser Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs; also URLs)
6:30-7:15	Surfing the net Basics Downloading programs Sharing images Finding information (searching) Search exercises
7:15-7:20	Break (with neighbor)
7:20-7:35	Introduce your neighbor
7:35-7:50	Review searches Enhancing your web experience (optional) Customizing your browser Image loading Cookies The "push" model
Optional	Miscellaneous topics Using email Newsgroups Chatting with other users over IRC Software - free? Which version?
7:50-8	Summary, discussion, and follow-on Six-hour version of this class I have an online course on creating web pages Remember to visit the library's home page, http://ils.unc.edu/nclibs/durham/dclhome.htm You can browse and reserve from the library's collection There is a Training page

Introducing Myself

I love teaching and have taught children in third grade, designed and taught a graduate Artificial Intelligence class as an adjunct faculty member, love teaching an ethnic vegetarian cooking class through Wake Technical College, and served in many other teaching capacities. I am working on my Ph.D. at UNC's Computer Science Department in an area combining Hypertext with Artificial Intelligence, with a general goal of making information easier to access for general users. I work full-time as a software engineer for IBM, and have held various jobs in areas such as multimedia and large systems development, artificial intelligence, User-Centered Design, education, and software reuse.

I have many community interests. What keeps me most busy is leading the Triangle Vegetarian Society. I am also active with the Raleigh Rose Society, for which I was just nominated to be president in 2001. My hobbies include music, bicycle travelling, and cooking. Do visit my personal home page and feel free to drop me email!

Created September 30, 2000, last updated July 31, 2002

HTML by Dilip Barman, background courtesy of