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What Should a Community Computer Lab Offer?
Ballresin asks: "A local computer company is expanding and including a computer lab in their setup, and they want me to come in as its Administrator. I am supposed to be giving them input on what to teach/host. What does Slashdot think a medium sized tourist town (Okoboji, Spirit Lake, Arnolds Park, Iowa) should have to offer to the locals? I was thinking something along the lines of 'How to Use Windows 101' and 'How to Use Office 101'. My compatriots want to offer some off-the-wall classes such as 'Hacker Ethics: Why and How' and a few other odd classes. I have polled people in the area, which resulted the discovery that 80% of them are from out of town, so don't really care. What you guys think; What kind of classes or what games/LAN party setups should a new, small business offer? Any ideas/input is greatly appreciated."
The most effective way to get porno on the internet. Heck, you might as well teach people something they want to know.
Maybe a basic, semi-techy discussion of how the internet works, so that the users can protect themselves.
They don't need to know how to configure a DNS server, but understanding basic concepts like cookies, HTTPS (and when it is safe to use your credit card), SPAM, etc. could be very useful for Joe User.
Also, creating some kind of list of common acronyms & buzzwords would be helpful to the same folks. When I say that to 'connect you Win2K box to the ISP with a CAT-5 cable w/PCMCIA NIC', I might as well be speaking martian to some folks.
"Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.