Internet 101: Tutorial for Beginners

December, 2008

80% of the cyber world uses the Internet without formal training. By using the trial-and-error technique of "fumbling successfully", so many people fumble their way through searching, emailing, downloading, blogging, chatting, and posting.

Granted, many self-taught users manage to fumble through email and Web page searching using trial-and-error, but they are destined to have five negative experiences every time they go online:

1. Self-taught users spend their online time without a feeling of true confidence or clear direction. Like watching television without a TV guide, people will find Internet destinations that interest them, but more through random chance than through directed choice.

2. Self-taught users cultivate bad Internet user habits.Unnecessary URL typing, cluttered bookmarks, confining oneself to a single search tool, using only one browser window, failing to install the latest plug- ins, mistakenly trusting spam email... all of these lead to inefficient browsing and wasted hours of searching and fumbling.

3. Self-taught users will unwittingly misrepresent themselves in email and online conversations. Obscure cultural points like "Netiquette", "emoticons", "flaming", use of abbreviations like "RTFM", lack of non-verbal cues, and blind carbon copy are some of the important nuances that elude most self-taught users.

4. Self-taught users experience frustration when the unknown overwhelms them. They don't understand things like pop-ups, unsubscribing, acronyms, Zip, peer-sharing, and URLs. As a result, a feeling of "being left out" festers, and confidence evaporates.

5. Worst of all: self-taught users miss out on so many Internet experiences because they do not know the full scope of available choices. Often called "unknown-unknowns", these are the great discoveries that are sitting at your fingertips, but are hidden from you because of ignorance. Things like dynamic data-driven news pages, Push- and Pull-Technology, mailing lists, special interest forums, online financial trading, trip planning, FTP, freeware, consumer reviews, peer sharing, academic archives, and online communities... these are tremendous opportunities that are hidden beneath a thin veil of obscurity.

Sadly, these five experiences are daily for 80% of the Internet public.

Page 2: "So how do I get started learning the Internet? Is this going to take months of study?"