Netiquette: Do’s, Don’ts

Still need to copy this one over…

Doggie-Paddling the World Wide Web

“Ring!” – It all started with a call.

It was a dark and stormy November evening. The stars were out and Mr. Full Moon was staring at me.

I placed the call on a highly confidential line. A high, sweet voice greets me at the other end. With her soprano-pitched whisper, she exhales this sweet nothing into my ear, “Hello, Hamilton Library?”

Ok, so it didn’t exactly happen like that. Well, not at all like that. It was a hot and humid February afternoon with Mr. Smiley burning a hole in my skin. I did actually place a call though. And there was a woman who did say, “Hello, Hamilton Library” … honest.

If I haven’t already lost you by now, let me explain myself before you move on to the next article.

A World Wide Web workshop, entitled “Career Surfing and the World Wide Web,” was recently held at Hamilton Library as part of the “Spring Into Careers” series. This event, sponsored by Career Services and funded by ASUH, was the first of many workshops helping expose the university community to many career opportunities and issues.

This “call” I was referring to was the call that was necessary to reserve a seat for my “booty” since advance sign-ups were required. Advance seating for something school-related? That’s a first. I felt like I was making reservations for dinner. This was, of course, because of the limited number of computer terminals, and I was thankful for that. I got to ignore the instructor and act like I knew it all … kind of like what I do in class … just kidding.

The day comes and I appear on the scene (oh no … here I go with the Columbo talk again). Anyway, I checked in and my waitress, er, instructor saw me to my table. The first thing I noticed was the number of computers. I was expecting a presentation-type workshop where we would listen and take notes, ala History 152, but instead, I found myself seated in front of over a dozen terminals.

Finally, the workshop commenced. The whole purpose of the event was to use the Web to find career-related sites and information, but I soon found out that this was more of a Netscape tutorial for beginners.

We were taught, step by step, what each button in Netscape was used for and the functions of other selected tools. They didn’t cover anything in enough depth, while quickly breezing through internet concepts.

Finally, after learning how to open up Netscape, type in a Web page address, and use the back and forward buttons, we were then pointed in the direction to search for job related sites. A little bit of freedom was given here, as far as personal choices went. We were taught how to go to the Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com/) site, as well as how to use the Net Search button on Netscape to search for career sites of interest to us. They also pointed us to a site called “Jobweb” (http://www.jobweb.org/) for more job explorations.

Overall, it was a ground-level introduction to the Internet via Netscape … hardly any career advice or in-depth World Wide Web information here.

They should have spent less time on Netscape and concentrated more on the finding and utilization of job and career-related information on the Internet.

When the class first began, the instructor asked us who had used Netscape before, and everybody raised their hand. That should have been a sign for him to spend more time on trying to stick with the name of the course: “Career Surfing and the World Wide Web” and not so much to background information that most of us knew already.

This workshop is not for you if you are looking for some in-depth World Wide Web wisdom in job hunting. You are better off reading and Internet book, or better yet … place a call to a sweet-talking Internet pro … “Ring!“