Slashdot Mirror
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."
No explanation needed....
Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
How many tourists (80% out of towners) are going to take a Windows 101 class on vacation?
I know that the post asked about courses, but I would have some good policies setup if you allow public internet use.
I would set up a system of prerequisites, like they have in colleges or something, where the one main prerequisite to everything else is Computers 101: Assembly Programming with the Zilog z80 Microprocessor. After that, you can teach them how to use Windows XP; you know, things like how to move a mouse cursor, how to minimize and maximize windows on the display, etc.
You can get to theoretical stuff eventually as you guage community interest and expertise distribution. But the practical classes are the ones grandma and junior will find the most helpful. You'll get more potential teachers and students that way, and it will be easy to pass off the classes to other people if necessary.
Give them meaningful titles though. Don't title it "Excel 101". Title it "Using spreadsheets to make your life easier". People will come to classes in order to do things better, not to learn a specific app (well, most people at least). In the description, say "this uses iMovie, and we'll touch on moviemaker", but for the title, something like "making home movies that last forever".
good luck with your project!
There's just 2 things that most users will want - the same 2 that made the internet what it is today:
Email
WWW
Email do's and don'ts would be good - including handling of spam and crap (the junk your father-in-law sends you that is either urban legend, or ancient, or both).
Web browsing, security (don't tell folks your passwords), and virii are all important things to know about.
Most people, especially in small communities, probably don't realize that they don't have to buy M$ Windows to do 90% of what they want to do (e-mail, surf the web, download pr0n). The other things like "Windows 101" they could get at the library or various adult education centers.
Not really an idea for a course, per se, but I wouldn't let users install any software onto PCs. Good luck!
C - A language that combines the speed of assembly with the ease of use of assembly.
Whatever you do, don't name your subjects "blah blah 101" the 101 just makes you look like a tosser. Everyone knows its not a university :P
'Finding Information 101' -- GOOGLE. There are too many people that still haven't figured out how to use Google.
We offer our locals a variety of courses and are always taking suggestions. When an interesting idea is submitted we usually set up a sign-up sheet and post a notice in the paper to test the interest levels. Our regular classes include:
Building a Webpage
Intro. to Windows
Intro to Macs
Office 101
Using E-Mail
Finances and Bills with Your Computer
An Introduction to Digital Photography
And depending on your community...We have a lot of immigrants in ours and we offer a lot of computer-based ESL programs/courses
Good Luck!
But before you decide what to do with the lab, you've got to know why the computer shop wants to open one. If it's to drive up sales by pushing the shop's good directly, then tailor classes towards Making The Most Of The SB-Live! Audigy Card.
If it's to be an uber-cyber-cafe and hope that business picks up based on your civic contribution, then teach Using The Internet For Research and Homework Help, or maybe How To Install Filtering Software To Keep The Kids From Porn.
Whatever it is, it's got to jive with your employer's reason for doin' it!
--
How about offering a class on computer self-defense? How to set-up a firewall, the importance of keeping your favorite anti-virus up to date, how to document your browser and e-mail client settings, for instance. As for frills - how about an introduction to eBay - might as well let them earn while they learn :)
If you're thinking of Windows 101 and Office 101, then I'd suggest Internet 101, and go over email, browser basics, Usenet, FTP, etc. It's remarkable to me how so many people think the Web, email, and IM make up the entirety of the Internet.
:)
A more advanced class on WWW usage would be good - teach people how to use search engines effectively, etc. That would be a short one-day thing that a lot of people could get a great deal of benefit from.
Another good idea would be 'Privacy & Security 101'. Teach people about software firewalls and hardware NAT routers, how to keep their privacy on the internet, and how to avoid spam, etc. Definitely a lot of value there.
Perhaps something about how to use digital cameras with photoshop to do photo editing / printing. And maybe another one for an intro to video editing. Lots of people take pictures & home movies. It'd be good to show them how to get that stuff off their cameras and onto CD-Rs and DVD+/-R(/W)s.
Basic home repair & upgrades, though that may cut into your business.
How to set up a (wireless?) home network, perhaps?
Connecting your TiVo to your home network.
Intro to Linux & the BSDs.
Considering that it sounds like a small town which probably doesn't have a lot of connectivity, teaching people how to set up or connect to a wireless network would be a great idea. That way, the city's inhabitants could share any connectivity (even between neighbors) it gets very efficiently and happily. Wireless also makes the tourists happy and might make them want to vacation there more!
;)
This of course, presupposes courses on Microsoft 101 and the Internet 101.
Don't forget Linux 101 for those who like a challenge!
-6d
Tourist town, you say? You will make them happy by providing every digital media reader known to man, and the means to burn and e-mail the photos back home. They can burn a CD full of photos and empty their camera, and they can e-mail a few photos home to family/friends. This, in addition to "the usual" public kiosks that aren't annoyingly locked down, printing services, internet access for people with laptops, etc.
Also, get in touch with your local public library/libraries. See if they have a computer lab. See what they offer. Look into working together, if only from the standpoint of "oh, we don't offer that service, but they do". If you can refer people to each other, you will both benefit.
I'd definately focus at least half the machines towards basic Internet access, and would probably prefer using old junker (donated?) machines and Linux Terminal Server Project to host it. The other half should be quite a bit more powerful to run games and an "Office" suite. Quite a bit depends on what your target audience is, which currently seems vaguely defined.
Jonah Hex
Horror & SciFi Erotic Nudes
Free. Gratis. Libre.
Software y Libertad!
La computadora es de quien la trabaja!
By definition, SlashDotters are here because they're deeper into the community, the practices, and either the hobby or profession (for many, both) of computing.
We are going to have no idea whatsoever what Joe Average will want from a set of computer classes. Hey, we don't even know if you're dealing with residents, which won't want the same classes every year, or transients, which will want brief and to the point classes.
I suggest you take all the ideas that SlashDot comes up with, cull at least half of them, put them in a list, and put that list up in the business. Print it on flyers with five or so entries. Ask people to check which ones they would be interested in - maybe let them say sorta interested or very interested - and allow them to write in suggestions. Given that they'll be looking at other things of scale, they'll be able to input what's germane to them.
When you're writing down what you'd present, don't just come up with a topic and go. Think about it: what would Office 101 be? It's not going to be enough time to cover the whole suite. Some people will want document layout and setup in Word, like it was a publisher; some will want Excel and Access, for their small business (maybe tax stuff too.) Some will want to learn how to use Outlook, or Exchange, so that they can function in their corporate environment. Some will want to learn to make PowerPoint presentations.
You've got to remember that most people do not learn computer topics at the rate of a slashdotter. This isn't because they're dumb, or clueless, or any other such geek slander; it's because they have less context to bind to. I'm not stupid, but a mechanic is gonna pick up the specifics of fixing a foreign car way, way faster than I will, even though I likely have a better grasp of the underlying physics. You're going to need to allow a lot of time for basic cluestickery.
Maybe, here's a thought. Every month or so, offer a 101 course on one Office suite app. See how it goes, and have a second one prepared. If it goes well, do your second one while you prepare a sequel to the first.
Above all, don't get stuck in plans. The people that show up won't always be the same ones and they won't always want the same things. Some things (word) you'll be able to repeat. Prepare occasional side-tracks into the weird for geeks if you find them; if you don't, get ready to explain MS Project.
Basically, it's all about your audience, and we aren't your audience. What you get here is nothing better than a starting point.
StoneCypher is Full of BS
So back in the day my roomates and I designed an Operating System for the 21st Century, it was called: WEPOS.
WEPOS is the Warcraft, E-Mail, Porn Operating System.
I think that an off-the-shelf WEPOS system should facilitate all needs of the locals.
First - assess age and experience. If very low, basics such as using the mouse and what is the internet. Introduce email and chatting to them.
Second - assess local business needs: spreadsheets and document writing. Basic desktop publishing. Also, give out certificates so people can take classes and have something to add to resumes.
Third - student and school needs. More than likely you have student classes needing access to computers. These range from low to high, but I'd start out w/ computer basic and hit the Gifted and Talented teachers to give you some nerds to work with linux and open source.
Fourth - Ecommerce classes: yeah, that's so five years ago, but you're not in San Francisco so maybe the dot-com is about happen there. Explain that a good website can boost mail order sales and supplement income for niche markets, primarily small vendors/manufacturers.
Fifth - programming courses. All this net stuff don't mean jack without programmers. Download perl and get people started with scripting - then build from there.
Invite members of the community to teach your courses (as long as they have a lesson plan), and if there's a local geneologist and/or historian, invite them in to teach about the local history.
-NJ
Intro to the PC, Internet I, Searching the Web, E-mail (free web-based), [MS Office stuff], Creating Web Pages.
At least that's part of what we offer at the local library (grant from Gates Learning Foundation)
For our demographic, we keep things simple. You figure people who frequent a computer lab don't have a machine at home with internet access...so we gear towards the basic stuff.
I'd have loved to do more OSS stuff like maybe some Linux or OpenOffice.org (again, the demographic...let them know they don't have to shell serious $$ to get decent apps) -- and if at all possible (unlike here) show them Mozilla and compare it to IE.
Any chance to let people know of the "alternatives" should be taken.
That's great if you want job security, I guess. It'd be nice if there was a course that could teach people how to apply what they learn about one program to another, even if it doesn't do the same things. For example, that the "print" menus are almost always under "file" or that "properties" are usually to be found in "file" or "edit." Simple things like that that will make them actually functional when they are faced with something novel.
I suppose that's really placing too much of a demand on the students rather than too much on the teachers, though. Sigh...
(Worked in computer labs for 2 years...has stories)
Out of town? Tourists or snowbirds? You mean your typical camera toting crowd? Teach them digital photography, a few types of image compression, and the best ways to e-mail photos to the family back home. And throw in a little Gimp/Photoshop to show how to remove the wrinkles from their faces, brighten the Oregon skies, and in general make the stay-at-homes jealous. I'll be happy to sell them the cameras....
Not a big deal to most users yet, but they are catching on. I'm a big fan of them personally - more reliable than floppies and easy to carry around ie. your keychain. Drives me nuts when I'm using a public lab or work computers and I'm not supposed to use one because I'm not allowed to install a new device. Yes there are ways around that ;), but most normal users wouldn't know that.
Anyway, if you're gonna restrict people from installing a new device on your windows machine, go ahead and install the USB flash drive ahead a time for everyone...i'm betting it'll pay off eventually.
puck
I've found that I almost always get blank stares when I start to explain to folks why they need memory, storage or processor upgrades. They especially have a hard time understanding the concept of disk space. "How can you run out of space in that big white box?"
Perhaps a class called "How Your Computer Works" would be in order. The class would have gentle, simplified explanations of all the tech "mumbo-jumbo". And how it all fits together.
People aren't stupid (well most aren't). Sometimes they're just overwhelmed by information and lingo. A guiding hand could make all the difference in the world and actually help make them computer literate.
wbs.
Huh?
I have consistently found that most people are clueless when it comes to buying a computer. Because of this, I think one of the classes you should teach is "Fundamentals of buying a computer". You should go over the basics, like what to look for in a computer, what brands to avoid, what brands to look for, the laptop/desktop option, the PC/Mac option, the building-from-parts option, etc. etc... The more you teach this class, the more feedback you will get from students about their purchasing experiences -- this will be great for you and your students.
Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
call them "certifications" and make stupid little "certificates" for them to hang on their walls. maybe then a local business will try to get all their employees "certified". it seems to make the people in my office think they're competent... you may also want to offer testing.
Since wireless cards and base stations are cheap, it might be good to show people they can use the cable modem/dsl from anywhere/any computer in the house without hardwiring.
First part of the class is how to put in the card and attach the router to the modem. Then to get to the internet with the wireless setup. Then how to run a peer to peer local network using the DHCP sever on a wireless router.
WEP and security are good topics for later. If you had people that wanted to share but were a little distance away from each other, you could even do Yagi 101, but that's a little much.
Have everyone bring a can of Pringles. You could have snacks for the class and materials for an antenna.
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain with all your metadata.
Maybe you should do some research about Iowa. The 1st state to have an all optic fiber state network. Iowa set the trend for other states to follow.
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
Part of that is advocy. That involves teaching and listening. There are plenty of people here with a clue.
I've been teaching a newbies class for the last four or five months. I've worked in large and small companies and have some idea of what people want and what software can reasonably offer them.
Set up multiple OS for demonstration. This is the hardest thing for a newbie to do, so it's the best service to offer. Windows 101? Sure, teach it on KDE and give them a reasonable notion of why there's a log on, what it protects them from and what it gives them. Games, OK, windoze wins there for now. For everything else, free software is easier to use and maintain. "Sheilding" newbies from the "complexity" of different OS and desktop environments does them a disservice. They quickly master basic concepts of files and GUI. Giving them more makes them happier and lets them make up their own mind down the road.
Visit the, admittedly windoze heavy, Cajun Clickers Computer Club for an idea of what a community, all volunteer computer club teaches and people want to know.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Sure, you want to help the locals get there feet wet.
But you also need to allow tourist a place to get email. You might be able to offer thema temp email account and call them if it gets an email from a specific person(for a fee, naturally)
If ypour a sking town, you could offer the tourist a place to go to check the price and availability of things inside the town. make it a free service, then get your money from the merchants, either paying to be listed, or a finders fee.
Offer a WiFI account.
Not a lot of people go on vacation so they can learn Word. yes, some do and I know of geek cruises, but I'm talking about MOST people.
You could offer to send an email at a latter date, so a person boss thinks they are working, when they're on the slopes!
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Are you going after tourist? If so, why not have a class for people who travel --> "Making the most of your computer while traveling" Some topics could include "finding great rates (air/hotels/cruises/etc) online, wireless connections, tech saavy hotels, etc" as well as how to allow them to be the "mobile techie" -- ie getting connected to the internet from various locations, using webmail, gps & computers, etc. If you want to gear toward the locals, decide on what YOU want to do -- if your looking for larger classes, then you will probably need to stick with the basics "Intro to the Internet, email, computers" with perhaps a few lan parties for the kiddies every few weeks :)
I've been tempted to get back into teaching classes such as this. One of my previous employers, an ISP, held such sessions for its customers to teach all sorts of interesting things, and they were generally well attended and well received.
To get people to show up, however, you have to teach them stuff they're not going to just be able to fumble their way through on their own (or with their neighbours kids help :) ). So, some of the ideas I can think up off the top of my head include:
Some thoughts, FWIW.
Yaz.
I runned a cybercafe myself for 2 years and quitted because it took too much of my time. It was in Europe so maybe the data will not be accurate in the US. It may go beyond the scope of your question but many issues in the success of such a place comes from marketing and such.
I suggest that you advertise some around the schools/universities (schools will give you more casual customers because they will not have probably already a computer)
I will divide the games market in 3 categories:
Action games: they work really good, it will attract many customers mostly during the day and week-ends, this category is the only one which will attract young children
Examples: Counter-Strike (the HL mod), UT2K3, Quake 3, and many others.
Strategy games: they will attract less people but these customers will probably return if they were satisfied, and the games requirements are quite low. ...
Examples: SC/BW, Warcraft 3, Cossacks, Rise of Nations, Age of Mythology,
MMORPG: although you may not think to these games, if you can attract some people relatively well known in the games, it can attract more customers, they will probably fill the holes in the hours where you do not have many clients, because they usually play late. Most of these customes will come with their own game and cdkey.
Examples: Asheron's Call 2, Planetside, StarWars Galaxies, FF Online, Everquest and many others.
How to improve efficiency
You can get top comps, in order to get the customers who always want top-notch comps with fastest hardware, but it will cost you really much more. I think the best solution is to find a rent contract where it is specified that equipment can be replaced each year. I dunno if you can get this kind of rent service in the US but here it saved our business. Hardware changes very fast.
Creating a community is really important. Customers will probably return if they find nice people to hang with in your cybercafe. So you may want to hire someone who has some charisma in your cybercafe. You may organize some events, weekly contests (best fraggers in the cybercafe get X free hours or anything else)
For the payment system, we used shiva, and it had many backdoors, security issues. So you should watch out for people who will try to get some free hours.
Keyboards, headphones, and mice will not last long, so buy cheap keyboards, headphones and mice. Get a decent quality but not the very expensive ones. After 1 month, you will see that many disappear, and have been stolen.
You may want to install a shared printer ro a printing service on the comp which will host permanent servers. Forums too may be a good addition, although it may be better to host them outside of your network so it will not decrease pings for customers playing on the net.
Don't you know it is now both immoral and criminal to think beyond the next quarterly report?
I teach classes for a training company, so I can suggest classes that are successful for us:
1. CD Burning. We teach using Nero, since it comes with the drives we buy, but the major topics are the different kinds of CDs (audio vs. data, CD-R vs. CD-RW). We just added ripping and burning DVDs (using DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink). VERY few people actually understand the filesystem; a substantial portion of the class is explaining that, say, "My Shared Folder" lives under the Program Files Folder on the C: drive. In real life, I've found most home users just don't do very much with files. Maybe that's another class?
2. Internet Security. The "anti-Spam class". We demonstrate pop-up blocking, programs like adaware, manipulating the hosts file, antivirus software, anti-spam techniques. All this is predicated on reasonably advanced internet users.
3. Troubleshooting. Break a bunch of computers in a thematically appropriate and easily fixable way (sound issues, network problems whatever). Let folks pound their heads against the display for awhile. A decent tech can have a lot of fun with this.
4. Internet Searching. Hard as it is to believe, many people click the search button in IE, that takes them to MSN search, which may very well be the worst search site on the internet. Teach google, refining searches, choosing keywords etc.
5. Shopping Online. Goes over magically in oh, October or November. Teach safety habits, finding product reviews and lowest prices (simpler now that there's froogle, but show differences between say mysimon and dealtime).
6. Digital photography. Many, many people buy a camera and never change the settings from the defaults. Showing things like color and white balance controls, basic photography (when to use a flash, whatever), and how to make things look good when you print 'em out.
Those are things that get decent numbers of sign-ups every time we offer them. Maybe you can do something similar.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
the basics of privacy, and securing yourself to go online 101. It should be a REQUIREMENT to get your community lab drivers license so to speak...
Things like DO NOT INSTALL COMET CURSOR, YOU DON'T REALLY HAVE A URGENT MESSAGE even though that popup says you do, Broadcasting an IP address is NOT A BAD THING even though the OTHER popup says it is, How NOT TO respond to spam, what a GOOD password is, and the survival tools needed, such as a popup blocker, purging histories and the implications of using a SHARED computer. In a similar situation in Yuma, AZ, the snowbirds like email, you could not get an ID until you passed their very basic course, and the heightened awareness gets things reported.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Just a thought...
--
If I actually could spell I'd have spelled it right in the first place.
Foreign language and English improvement labs are great applications for community centers, libraries, etc. We have sold them to hundreds of organizations and people love them and actually learn something useful. What's more, they are quite affordable.
For more information email me or visit www.esl.net
One topic that I've always thought would help your average user:
:)
Effectively using a search engine (or how to use Google
My mother works at a library and part of the staff has been taught how to work the system, etc (her half). However, whenever they type up any sort of bulletin or flyer (done frequently) they NEVER use tabs. They space everything out with spaces, or occasionally the default tabs. So I deeply sugget you, in your office explanation, show them the basic tabs. Be sure to include all types of tabs (left, right, justified) and how you can put them wherever you want instead of relying on the default half inch.
Live life to the fullest. It's not that life is short, but that you are dead for so long.
The community lab needs to provide a lot more than just courses. In fact, I would think that its best buisiness would come from being an internet cafe catered to a non-tech community.
Get some of the local kids onto LAN gaming and encourage it in your lab. In addition to weekly classes (in the evenings or whatever), make it clear that it is a place where people can come to check their email, type up something in word, or whatever. The most important part though is to always have someone friendly and knowledgable staffing the place so that people know if they come in at a slow time they can get personal help with whatever they're working on. This help shouldn't cost them above and beyond what the computer time is costing them, nor should it be the only reason they come there. They should come there to get stuff done, knowing that if they get stuck someone will be there to help them out.
I work at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in downtown Baltimore and spend a lot of time signing people up to use our public terminals. In this position we mostly get questions relating to basic computer and Internet skills, followed by questions about applications like word processors and questions about how to design and host a web page. The web page questions is very common.
You might want to target classes to different groups in the community, maybe divided by general interest areas and age group. Let the gamers and the senior citizens learn skills they want with people who're interested in the same things.
It's important to remember that we take a lot of our skills for granted. I just helped a woman figure out how to use a Hotmail account (logging in, reading, composing, and responding to mail) and in the process needed to spend some time explaining conventions like case sensitivity, how to type in a URL, etc. We get questions like these all of the time from people of every age, ethnicity, and level of affluence. It's not uncommon for us to work with people who have no idea how to use a search engine or even a mouse. You'll want to make more advanced offerings available, but don't forget to provide a lot of offerings covering the basics.
I'd imagine you'd get a fair degree of interest in a course teaching people about what the bits of computers are, and how to decypher the local computer stores' advertisements to choose the system that suits their needs best. So many people will go out and buy a high end gaming machine with a super video card they'll never use, to check email and use Word. Alternately people whose kids want to play Star Wars Galaxies need to know they should ask for a better video card upgrade than is included in the basic word processing machine. So many people don't even understand the difference between hard drive and memory, and what affects what. I had a part time job selling computers a while back and the number one type of question was "so what does memory do?" "so how do I know which system I need?"
A more advanced course on how to build your own computer might be something to consider in the future if you see interest.
I also definitely agree you don't want to call your courses things like "Internet Basics 101", instead call them something more user friendly and descriptive.
All I ask is a warm bed, a kind word, and UNLIMITED POWER
1) How to avoid identity theft on the web (don't sign up for stuff using your real info)
2) How to combat spam (don't sign up for stuff using your real info; use filters)
3) How to avoid spyware (don't click on banner ads; use ad-filtering software; don't install file sharing or useless stuff like cursor/theme changers)
You could offer stuff like "How to pirate software and not get caught" but hopefully people would have enough of a clue to not sign up for a class about that...
Kallahar
If you found 80% of the people don't care I'd say seriuosly rethink classes.
you could make a cybercafe style setup. But with a few perks such as: card readers, scanners, web, e-mail, etc. Allowing users e-mail photos to loved ones where ever they may be. Games are never bad either for the kids who dont want to go see some sites with mom and dad all day or go shopping all day let them game all day until mom and dad get back.
If you absoulty must do technical classes do more research to find out what people will want or use. What about appealing to other local businesses to train their people to use word, outlook, excel, acces etc?
Why not spend $0 and install an operating system that doesn't need to be reimaged (network boot), or locked down because of proper user permissions. KDE actually includes a "kiosk" mode, that does not permit any desktop configuration changes. Administration is about 100x easier because you can do it remotely in your underwear at home.
I work in Chicago's housing projects and have taught lots of little and big courses on computer skills.
What I've learned is that teaching a class in any given application is 1% of the work of teaching people how to use computers. What's most important, in my experience, is providing space and time for motivated people to just keeping banging away and learning new things. The great fallacy of many computer technology centers is that they are closed to the possibility of letting people goof around for a couple hours, when that's exactly what teaches folks.
When I started working on resume writing with some folks in the projects I work at, I was really disappointed that they couldn't remember anything I'd told them, etc. Now, three years later, a couple of those folks have home computers, write lots of email, are good typists, know how to use spreadsheets, etc. Persistence, time, and self-exploration and discovery are what teach lasting technology skills.
Lastly, it's important to remember that you should be trying to teach computing principles. One of my aforementioned buddies has been able to quickly pick up all sorts of other computing skills because he digs on the principles of how computers work, networking works, etc. I think that should be a goal.
Online citizen journalism from the inner city: The View From The Ground
The question most folks who havn't used a computer before will have is: What can I do with it an why is that better?
For the Internet part, cover things like:
Read the local newspaper
Check the weather report
Use Google to find the complaint address for the company that made your shoes
and so on
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
A class that taught people how to assess their needs, order parts individually, and then assemble them into a computer would probably be very useful.
I think it would help a lot of beginners to lose their fear of computers and give them a better idea of what the different components do and why they do them.
Not only that, but part of the curriculum might invole leaving with your own PC that you built yourself. And then once you have it, knowing what to do when a fan fails, or if you wish to add more memory.
As my dad always told me, everyone who drives a car should know how to change a tire, change the oil, and get a jumpstart. In my opinion, computers should be looked at the same way.
Everyone else seems to be giving you the usual "teach them windows and office and wwww and e-mail", so I'm going to take a different spin. People need to learn those things, but they also need to learn that the internet is built ontop of a set of established protocols. People don't know what http means, or why you even have "http://" in front of a URL (assuming they know what a URL is too). Explaining to people that web pages are actually composed of plain-text and pictures that tell your web-browser to display something in some fashion will enlighten a ton of people and possibly get several of them interested in how plain ASCII text causes a picture to appear in my web-browser. Moreover, now that they understand that HTTP is a protocol, you can teach them that they can use any program that speaks HTTP to browse the internet HTTP servers. Many people only know of IE's existance. That would be a great opportunity to explain to them about netscape, mozilla, or opera (assuming an all windows environment). You can explain the differences between each, and what each can and cannot do, and why.
Building on that, you can teach people about other internet protocols like POP, IMAP, SMTP, and FTP. You can teach them that there are many different e-mail clients, mail servers, ftp servers, and ftp clients. When people start to see that there is choice and that computers are logical, well-thought out devices running well-thought out protocols, they will stop seeing computers as some magical box that they can't comprehend, and rather something composed of modular pieces. This breaks computers down into (relatively) easily digestible pieces.
Assuming that interest in these classes becomes and remains high, you'll likely have people asking more about computers. How do I protect my computer at home? How do all these computers here connect to one another? Before long, you could possibly start a class on basic netowrking and IP. How are networks sub-netted? How do firewalls work? How do bridges and switched and hubs work?
Perhaps people will start asking wuestions like "How do I setup an FTP server for my two machines at home to share files?" or "What can I do to protect both of my computers from hackers?". Then you can introduce them in how to setup Linux or BSD and run services on their own.
I really think the trick to teaching people about comptuers and getting people interested in computers is to break things down into pieces like this so they can understand one part of the puzzle before building the next piece.
Slackware, what else when it must be secure, stable, and easy?
You might have a class titled, "Linux: operating system of the future?"
You can make it just as easy as the Winblowzzee courses. Show them OpenOffice, Evolution, Mozilla; if nothing else, it could raise awareness. Enrollement will probably be small, but I think you'll get a few people interested in seeing what a free operating system has to offer (slip 'free' into the description somewhere). You'll need to warn them that Win programs won't work, however at the same time you can counter that by saying Linux is not susceptible to Windows virii and worms (of course, it has its own worms). But, if all they do is type up papers and surf the web, then it could be for them.
I would like suggest preparing handouts for the classes you hold. This will also help you organize and structure your course. In my experience of attending classes, I learn more when I have material to go home with and study. Often times in classes where professor do not have handouts, I have to take notes on everything they write on the board and miss most of what is being said. Bottom line is a lot of people learn at a different pace than you teach, so giving handouts with details can really help.
Good luck!
having installed and admin'd a few community labs, my current opinion is that they should offer the kitchen sink. anything less is a disservice to the community. providing opportunities should be the name of the game. not just "office productivity" apps (geez, are these the things that attracted us to computers?!!?) install games, audio apps (headphones for public spaces), cd-burners, video editing apps, programming tools, network utilities, DTP apps, etc.
configure the machines to be easily rebuilt. if you don't know how to do this run all the machines off Knoppix CDs.
and that segues into the last but not least most important point. install some free *nix on the machines. community labs should be enabling NOT disabling. if you install all kinds of proprietary software you are making people dependent on tools that are by and large poorly supported. imagine installing Knoppix on all the systems and then making Knoppix CDs available to the users so that they can use the same tools at home! that's the cherry on top of a community lab sundae.
Many parents of the 50's-70's generation have no idea what their kids are doing on the internet, and would like to know.
Download all the popular chat clients, some irc clients, and install all the common browsers.
Offer clases teaching parents how to find browser history, change their security and ratings settings. Show them how to review chat history and url history for IM clients. How to check file sharing folders and search their computer for images, movies, etc.
You'll find that (80%) disinterest or not, you'll draw quite a few attendees, especially if you repeat the course and offer a basic and advanced course.
...because you have two audiences.
First, you need your tourist side. Very simple stuff. Web browsing, email, a scanner for photos, a color printer for stuff they get from home. This can be on any OS, and might as well be on something robust (*nix) if you can get the right drivers. If you can afford credit-card reader setups, do that... if people can walk in, stick in a card, do their thing, get their total, and click ok and walk out without ever talking to you, they'll be very happy. (Just make sure there's someone easily available to talk to if something comes up... don't *rely* on the no-interaction setup.)
But your locals need something very different. I've done a lot of support and teaching in some pretty wacky environments, and I have a pretty different idea of how it should be done. So these are the kinds of classes I'd offer:
- What is the Internet? This is not a class on how to use Outlook to check your email. This class, if someone's paying attention and taking notes, will after several hours allow someone to get on the phone with their ISP and actually get their internet connection fixed. Learn the general topography of the Internet, insofar as data turns into packets and hops from server to server. Learn how to do and read a traceroute. What a DNS server does. Why email and web are not the same thing. Why they might be able to get to one website, but not another. People use the internet hours and hours a day without having the slightest idea what's going on... and when there's inevitably a problem, they are completely at the mercy of a $9/hr tech in Texas who has a script, but no brain. (Not a comment on Texas... that just seems to be where companies go for cheap tech labor. We have the same brainless idiots here in Los Angeles, but they cost $11/hr.)
- Computer structure. Open up the case. Here's your memory... this is what it does. This is the hard drive, and this is how it's different from memory. That over there is your processor, and it performs this function. People won't necessarily come out knowing how to build a computer, but they'll be able to buy one without being dizzied by the gigahertz and gigabytes. The difference between RAM and drive space is crucial, and very difficult, mostly because it's measured in the same units. Actually showing them the parts may help to make the distinction. It will also help with a surprising number of error messages... I can't tell you how many people I've talked to who were very dissapointed that the "low memory, close programs" message didn't go away after they deleted a bunch of documents.
- Databases. Sure, teach SQL, Filemaker Pro, or even *retch* MS Access. But offer a class on what a database *is* and how it works. One-to-many relationships. Fields and records. Just try to get across the three-dimensional nature of database information. That way, once they learn a database program, whether it's Postgre SQL with PHP or MS Access with VBA, they'll actually be able to *use* it as more than a glorified spreadsheet.
- Microsoft Word productivity. Lots of people have been using Word for years, but they will spend hours and hours trying to make a somewhat complex document print out correctly because they don't really know how to use tabs, tab leaders, tables, etc. A couple hours of the "tips and tricks" can save people cumulative days on typing up their simple-seeming menus, brochures, flyers, and resumes.
Teach them what they ask you to. Listen to the questions they have. Maybe offer "office hours" where people can just come in with their questions and others can sit in and (hopefully) learn from them. Make it a community thing. You've got a heck of an opportunity to empower people (yes, I used that word... but it's appropriate here) with technology, and you can do a lot with it. Make it your goal to put yourself half out of business, because when people know the fundamentals of computers, they won't need your expertise nearly so much anymore.
Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?
And guess who's going to have to help them? There's more to running a publicly-accessible computer lab than administration.
And no, RTFM is not an adequate response to user questions.
There's a Mercedes gap too. I want one and can't afford one, but it's not government's job to do anything about it.
Good question. I teach "Adult Continuing Education" (non-credit) computer stuff part-time at my local community college. My student's LOVE anything that saves them money... e.g.... . StarOffice/OpenOffice (instead of MS Office)... . using a free service such as MyDomain.com to "alias" their email and/or web space... . student discounts at sites such as www.academicsuperstore.com ...
. shareware and freeware offerings at www.shareware.com ...
. PopUp ad blockers such as www.webwasher.com ... ...and so on. See http://eselgroth.com/computers.html (Not exactly a stand-alone page... it's designed to support my classes).
_Very _basic newbies are enthralled by "tips" such as keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl-X = 'Cut'), Line Returns (Ctrl-Return), "Tab" to jump to the next whatever, email using "bcc", exploiting "phrase quotes" and "+" or "-" in search engines, and so on.
--TE
At the lab in which I teach, we have the usual Intro and Advanced levels of Windows and Office, as well as a few others like HTML.
We also do two other popular courses;
-How to buy a computer, which is a vendor neutral description of the latest hardware technology and what people should look for to suite thier particular needs when they are box shopping, and
-Using the Internet, where we talk about all things internet, including browsers and searching, firewalls and viruses, file sharing, messaging, online gaming, home LANs, and ISPs as well as many other things.
I'd like to convince the commitee to add an Intro to Linux course in the future, but I doubt the administrators will consent to partitioning all the labs HDDs and installing Linux, so I'm hoping I can use something like Knoppix or Suse Live for starters.
[You have a stable society when some nut guns down a schoolyard and the law doesn't change.]
There are many suggestions here for the basics (win 101, excel, photography, internet)
How about a ground rules class?
Brief overview of computing today. Platforms, types of computers, and the very general reasons people use them. Perhaps a bit about where we came from, where we are today, and where we could be going.
Then a bit of positioning for them. The sort of thing that helps them place themselves in charge of their experience. Let them know they have choices and how those choices can potentially affect their computing future.
Then expand by area.
The computer itself. What does save really mean? Does it mean "keep this for later?" or does it mean to "toss what I had in exchange for what I have now?" Continue with that sort of general sort of knowledge that will help them to make sense of what they are doing no matter what the application.
The Internet. Putting new people on the Internet without some basic cultural guidence is like walking around in the worst part of town with no clue. Use scenarios to illustrate how things like e-mail, IM, web forums and such work. Let them know what others expect. Let them learn by interactive example. Make sure they can e-mail you and others in the class. Be sure they have a forum to use both in class and away from it. Privacy on the Internet. (Read: what privacy?) USENET in the form of google groups would be nice as would be the rules.
One thing about e-mail in particular to illustrate and allow them to work with is the fact that things can easily come across far differently than intended. Tell them why and help them with creative and funny examples they can remember. Same goes with forums. Tell them what a troll is...
Their Data vs other peoples data. What are backups and how best to perform them. What needs to be archived for later and why?
Software and data. Let them know the difference between Open Standards and Closed ones.
Getting help. If you have framed the discussion right and managed their expectations, they should be able to make use of USENET, web-forums (Your own in particular with volunteer help from the smarter ones helping along), friends, and books.
Lay out the rules for technical support. Let them know exactly what they can expect for a few common situations. They should know enough to decide what is worth the money and what is not.
All of these suggestions are directed toward empowering these people to help themselves as much as possible.
Computing today is really easy if one has the right expectations. It all can be done one simple question at a time. Everyone getting started should somehow know that.
A lot of things would be a lot better if they did.
Good luck with your project.
Blogging because I can...
The article lists several more sources for information:
I hate call waitin`~+~~~
NO CARRIER
Apple gets this. Microsoft gets it but has a business-model problem with it. The Linux community doesn't get it at all.
I work at a public library, and part of my job is teaching introductory computer classes. Our most common _request_ is for "Basic Computer", but the people requesting this have no clue what they want to learn how to do, so you have to probe them a bit to see what they really want. Usually if you offer them some options ("Do you want to learn to type letters and papers and print them? Learn to surf the internet? Learn about email?") they'll be able to make a selection (or else they'll sign up for all of them, which is okay too). Once in a while you'll get somebody who insists those things are all too advanced, and they just want basic computer. This is a symptom that what they really want is help solving a specific problem or question they have and are embarrassed to ask about, because they don't know how to explain it.
Our most popular class is Introduction to the Internet, which mostly covers the www. My course materiels are here (though the materiel there is intended mainly as handouts, and since I try to make the classes at least somewhat interactive, so not everything can be covered in the handouts). These materiels won't be directly usable for your purposes, but you can use them as examples. I get positive comments from our patrons, and this is a fairly technophobic community. The Windows Basics and Introduction to Word Processing courses are also very popular. Surprisingly, the Searching the Internet class is much less popular; either my Introduction to the Internet gives them all they need in that direction, or else they're just scared off by the idea that it has a prerequisite and therefore must be advanced. (NOTE: under no circumstances offer a computer course with the word "Advanced" in the title, unless your target market consists of computer geeks. If you want to establish a series, go with Part A and Part B, or something like that.)
On a side note, you can win MAJOR brownie points with users by treating them as if they were intelligent, but maybe just computers aren't they're field of expertise. They're so accustomed to computer people treating them like dirt, they will almost worship you if you treat them well. You'll get free word-of-mouth advertising this way. We put announcements in several local papers, signs all over the library, and advertise on the radio, but over half of the people taking my courses were encouraged to do so by someone else who did previously.
One more piece of advice: Make a survey that fits easily on a single half-page, with multiple choice questions about what other courses people would be interested in taking if you offered them. Also have an "Other" choice where they can write something in (but most people won't). Encourage everyone who takes any of your courses to fill one out. This will help you know if there's a demand for something. We added the email class due to write-in votes on our eval forms, and it's been more popular than we otherwise would have imagined.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
Set up a membership scheme that gives locals cheap access to the whole works, but charges visitors more for cybercafe facilities. Then get your business customers to give you free advertising pitched at visitors.
Paul.
You are lost in a twisty maze of little standards, all different.
Lots of good suggestions above, so rather than add to them I'll throw in my 2 cents on layout: I used to teach high school computer science, and I ended up rethinking the traditional computer lab layout (i.e. parallel rows of tables with computers lined up facing the front of the room). The problems with this layout are: 1) It's hard to move around so collaboration is limited. 2) Screens are too distracting when the instructor is trying to demonstrate something. Instead, I put the computers around the periphery of the room, then put a table in the middle with one more computer, a keyboard and mouse on an extra long cord, and an LCD projector. When students were at their own computers it was easier for me to wander around the room, and they also would move around quite a bit to help each other or just show off their programs. When it was time to demonsrate something I would say "Table!" and they'd all spin around and roll their chairs to the center table (even though it was crowded). Often I would want a student to demonstrate his/her work, and the single keyboard/mouse would get passed around. Best of luck with your project, --David
Actually, I was trying to be Insightful, not Funny.
* What directories are and how to use them. Again, the number of people who just save to a default directory and then can't find the file later is surprising * How to use Office or similar - word processing using your favourite package, etc. By default this tends to be MS Office because that's what they'll face when they hit the real world. You can push OO or similar which may be ethically nice but it's less useful.
*Use of the internet. This includes web searching, email and *usenet*! There are kids today who think "Google Groups" is news!
*Run options in things you think they'll be interested in: DTP, graphics, etc etc
*Anyone who runs a "hacking 101" will be rebuilding their community PCs every few hours and fending off enquiries from their ISP. Why give yourself the hassle?
At a local Junior College where I work we had some summer classes for older women. IT was highly successful. It was just basic usage, but women in general were found to be uncomfortable outside their peer group.
Another class would be technical skills for younger girls- Networking and the like. You could probably get money from Cisco for this, they are forever trying to attract women into the field with their Cisco Academy program- just look at the frontpage of cisco.netacad.net.
Even better if you can get a women to teach this. Go find a local college girl to do it.