Introduction to the Internet: Outline

1. What is the Internet?

An overview

How to get the most out of going online

2. E-mail: what, why, how

Demo:

how to send e-mail

3. Usenet and Listserv: what, why, how

Why lurking on a list is a great introduction to newcomers on net protocol

Demo:

Read news via INFO

** Break **

4. FTP/Telnet: what, why, how

Demo:

What is FTP? What can you get? What do you need to know to use it?

What is telnet? Why do you need to know about it?

Hands-on:

How to use telnet

5. Gopher: what, why, how

Hands-on:

gopher

Demo:

veronica

** Lunch **

6. World Wide Web: what, why, how

Demo:

lynx, Netscape

Hands-on:

AltaVista (indexer)

Yahoo (categorizer)

Rutgers University Libraries Web Guides (pathfinders)

Starting Points for Exploring the Internet

7. Getting connected to the Internet:

How to get connected, and questions to ask

Potential service providers

Types of connections:

Online services

E-mail accounts

Dial-up/Shell accounts

SLIP/PPP accounts (differences)

Direct access

8. Being Internet aware and other important issues:

Netiquette (Network etiquette)

Security and privacy issues

Why librarians need to understand the Internet