December 1993
It is a well-accepted phenomenon that there has been a tremendous growth of the telematic network known as "The Internet." Nevertheless, the actual magnitude of the indicators depends on hat are we referring to as "Growth."
Historically, the first telematic networks were set in place by selected groups of experts, basically coming from the computer sciences. At those times, the Computer Industry contributed heavily in financing the key element that made those networks grow: the computers. It is not surprising that the criterion used then to measure the degree of growth of any particular network was the number and capacity of the linked computers (or "nodes"). The community served was closely related to computer centers, we could therefore presume that it was not so difficult to count the number of users per node.
Later on, another sector became eagerly interested in promoting the expansion of the telematic services to be provided: the Communication Industry. It became fashionable to talk about "connectivity", even in a sense rather like an acquired Civil Right. Newer and more traffic intensive services have been developed and more user communities have seen the potential of networking. The growth indicators became the number and capacity of links and the degree of inter networking as a result of the protocols adopted. The number and mix of actual users became progressively harder to figure out.
As the Information Industry comes in to play, there is a natural shift towards the user community as the focus of analysis. At this point in time we are presented with plenty of data compiled over the past, showing a clear-cut tendency to increasing both the number of "nodes" and the number of users of The Internet. In fact the tendency is such that by the first quarter of the XXI Century the whole World population would be using the network..! The authors hold the opinion that a variety of barriers will render such forecasting highly unlikely. In order to develop a network, the setting in place of computers and links are necessary but not sufficient requirements to be met. We do think that the real development of any network is measured by the number (quantity) of active, effective and efficient (quality) users of Computer Mediated Communication, CMC. Fortunately, many technical barriers have been or are about to be solved. Even financial barriers seem to be creatively addressed with some success. A great number of the initial users were already familiar with computer and communications specifics. Quite on the contrary, the overwhelming proportion of people to become users of The Internet are poorly, if at all, literate in these disciplines. Adding this to the increasing amount and diversity (complexity) of resources representing the potential benefit of the network, it seems pretty obvious that the main bottleneck for The Internet to: a) keep growing and b) for its user community to fully exploit its capabilities, is to provide the proper training to the newcomers and indeed to improve the degree of expertise displayed by many current users.
In fact the above mentioned variety is such that, in order to support both the potential and actual users of The Internet, some sort of characterization or segmental approach is needed. The authors have participated in the development of a conceptual model that depicts the universe of those users in a segmented fashion. The initial groups identified were:
The model also considers a variety of actors which, in order to keep the net working, interact either individually or as organizational entities. Some of these actors are :
In order to be comprehensive in our analysis we consider the following categories:
Based on type of use and perspective:
Based on exposure to CMC specifics and motivation:
Based on type of barrier:
Based on participation:
The Cartesian product of the above listed categories gives a total of 1080 combinations! So, although we feel it is a comprehensive and nice segmental approach, for the purposes of this paper: end user training, let us confine ourselves to the following two variables:
Trainee Segment:
Informational Content of training:
That leads us to the final following matrix: CMC Illiterate (potential user) Not
motivated (potential user) Motivated (potential user) Not proficient
(actual user)
Introductory A1 B1 C1 D1
Basic Services N/A B2 C2 D2
Advanced Services N/A B3, N/A N/A D3
Information Offering N/A B4, N/A N/A D4, N/A, �
Organizational Skills N/A N/A N/A D5, N/A, �
[N/A] = Not applicable
[�] = Pertinent to information providers
[�] = Pertinent to User Groups, Joint Network Management, etc.
It is important to state that we are addressing the problem of empowering end users of The Internet through training. It is by no means enough. A lot of effort needs to be applied to make some actors sensitive to these themes, in order to ask for their adequate participation to the growth of the network. Some of these efforts include:
To provide a basic understanding of the implications and needs of the setting in place and operation of this kind of networks, addressed to those people who can alleviate the identified barriers. To provide a basic understanding of the impact of CMC on social development, addressed to sociologist, mass media, industrial sector, etc. To provide the background technical contents needed for the specialists to develop teaching materials on the diverse but related topics of the CMC To negotiate with PPTs to become partners of the integral growth of the network To promote the badly needed interaction among actors coming from computer related fields and the rest of users. It should make the former familiar with the justifiable limitations of the later. In some instances it requires going all the way down the details of some manual procedures to explore possible automatic processes as support.
Particular consideration require both the financial aspects of the setting in place and operation of networks and the coming in of the commercial sector. Much interaction is needed in order to take into consideration so many variables involved in the emergent field of the CMC. In fact one has to face the fact that it represents a true new Neoculture not to be taken lightly.
First of all there should be a kind of "core curriculum" which is aimed at providing a general but sound understanding of the characteristics of the Computer Mediated Communication, CMC, in general and its actual realizations within The Internet in particular. The following is a list of topics to be addressed at this introductory level:
Human information processing (basics of data, information and knowledge) Man as Cybernetic Action Agent ("goal seeking" system) Roll of communication (quality of process and of product) Man - man communication Man - machine communication (interface) Machine - machine communication (ABC of telematic network infrastructure) Briefing on the telematic services most commonly used : electronic mail, file transferring (FTP) and remote computer use (Telnet) The Internet in a few words, figures and diagrams Concrete references to the systems locally available (access, cost, limitations) Characteristics of the "Telematic Neoculture" Practical listing of the requirements to become an Internaut Human contacts to further pursue the apprenticeship about The Internet Bibliography for further reading By definition this core curriculum should be applied to all four trainee segments considered.
Next comes the detailed training on basic services provided by the Internet. The following is a list of topics to be addressed at this basic curriculum:
General review of the material covered at the introductory level Basics of the local operating system (as related to the subject) Communication software interaction File transferring software interaction Message administration software interaction Basics of the MODEM (what it is and basic commands) Transport network interaction Node interaction (user validation, terminal emulation, services selection) Electronic mail (characteristics, addressing/routing, aliases, writing, sending, receiving, replying, forwarding, bouncing, saving, printing, deleting) Mailing lists (listing of topics and locations, subscribing, contributing, listing their members, listing their archives, getting back postings, unsubscribing) Bulletin Board Services (listing of topics and locations, writing, reading) Bibliography for further reading This basic curriculum should be applied to the potential user and the actual but unskilled user. It should be also considered to those potential users not motivated, providing that the examples been carefully selected for the interests of the group. Next comes the detailed training on interactive information delivery systems, directory services and indexing services provided by The Internet. The following is a list of topics to be mastered at this Advanced curriculum:
General review of the material covered at the core and basic
levels
Gopher (description, locations, navigating, typical
interaction)
World Wide Web,WWW (description, strength and limitations,
interaction)
WHOIS (description, locations, interaction)
Netfind (description, interaction)
X500 (general specifications)
Archie (description, selecting, connecting, searching,
reading, saving)
WAIS (description, selecting, searching)
Veronica (description, interaction)
On-line library catalogues (options, listing locations,
typical interactions)
Bibliography for further reading This advanced curriculum should be applied to the actual but unskilled user. It should be also considered to those potential users not motivated, providing that the examples been carefully selected for the interests of the group. Some specific curriculum is needed for training people to enable them to provide information systems through The Internet. The following is a list of topics to be reviewed at this information provider curriculum: General review of the material covered at the core, basic and intermediate levels Different perspectives (source, editor, transcriptor, operator, end user, broker) Input load volume and human limitations Selective dissemination Briefing on mediatic techniques applied to interfaces Multimedia CD-ROM (remote access) Briefing on database systems (design, updating, remote access, searching, saving results, printouts) Administration techniques (access control, billing, security, integrity, privacy) End-user support Financing Bibliography for further reading This information provider curriculum should be applied to some actual but unskilled user, and it could also be considered to those potential users not motivated, providing that the examples been carefully selected for the interests of the group.
Some specific curriculum is needed for training people to enable them to get organized to run user groups and information services related to The Internet. The following is a list of topics to be addressed at this Organizational curriculum:
General review of the material covered at the core, basic and intermediate levels Overview of the actors related to The Internet (listing and roles) Definition of organizational coverage of each entity (User Group, Node, National Network, etc.) Dealing with the public Dealing with the policy makers and authorities Dealing with the information providers Dealing with the mass media Dealing with the technical staff Dealing with the International Organizations Dealing with other groups and networks This organizational curriculum should be applied to some actual but unskilled user.