Introduction to Networking and Online Services

Background Information

This class is one of many offered by the Senior Computer Center of Santa Cruz. In addition to over 20 classes per quarter, the Center houses a computer lab with 15 computers and access to the Internet. Over 500 seniors (55 and over) are affiliated with the Center. The Center is located at the Louden Nelson Community Center in Downtown Santa Cruz. For more information about the center, call 831-420-6180 or send email to learn@seniorcomputer.org. For more information about this web site or the class, send email to alan@cats.ucsc.edu.

This web site includes class notes for each of the six days of the class plus lots of extras. The class notes include much of the material covered in the class and is intended to minimize note taking for the student.

Course Description

If you are already a Macintosh user and want to know what is behind all the hype about the Internet, this is a good place to start. We will learn about modems, networking, getting files and software off the net, and browsing the net. The emphasis will be on demystifying the technology and giving the students lots of "hands-on" experience. Pre-requisite: basic working knowledge of the Macintosh.

You will receive the knowledge to decide whether you want to invest more time and money into using the Internet. You could just use it here at the Senior Computer Center or you could get a connection to your home computer.

Class Outline

The outline was updated for the December 2003 class.

Introductory Internet Notes -- What is a network, what is the Internet, ISPs, modems, bits and bytes, connect to the Public Library

DAY 1 -- World Wide Web, Netscape Navigator

DAY 1 -- World Wide Web, Internet Explorer

DAY 2 -- search engines, Yahoo,

DAY 3 -- email

DAY 4 -- email

DAY 5 -- newspapers, libraries, amazon.com, cnet, investments, elderhostel, IRS, more

DAY 6 -- summary and a lot of interesting Web sites -- government, online art, health, recipes