INTRODUCTION

SYLLABUS: COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND POLICIES

ASSIGNMENTS AND DUE DATES!

PEOPLE: MEET YOUR INSTRUCTORS AND CLASSMATES

Almost any internet-capable system will work for this class, but as always, the bigger the memory and the faster the machine, the better. At the minimum you will need access to a Macintosh (256 color, LC or better), or an IBM compatible (SVGA 486 or better); a CD ROM and printer is recommended but not absolutely necessary. Although a printer is not a requirement for the class, you will probably want access to one if you want to keep hard copies of any of the material you obtain from the internet. Your hard drive should have enough capacity to maintain your files - be forewarned that many of the images you will want to work with can take up a tremendous amount of space.

Web pages will look different on different machines, depending upon several factors, chief of which is the resolution of your monitor. Most web pages are written so that the lowest resolution monitor (640 pixels wide X 480 pixels high) can display the information without scrolling laterally; you may still need to scroll vertically in order to see the entire screen. If your monitor is set at this resolution, you may run into images that need to be scrolled both laterally and vertically in order to be seen.

You will also need a modem to connect with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) unless you have direct access from your place of business or another locality. In any case, you will need a direct Internet access (SLIP or PPP) connection. Although you may get by with a slow modem (such as a 14.4) it is advisable to get the fastest one you can afford that is supported by your ISP. Remember that what seems fast today will be slow tomorrow, and what is not supported by your ISP today will be in a few weeks!

The bottom line as far as equipment goes is to obtain the fastest, largest, best system you can possibly afford, because changes happen so fast.

Some of you may be familiar with national service providers such as America On Line (AOL) and some may know about local service providers. I have tried most of the national providers and my preference is for the local provider - these can be found in the yellow pages of your phone book or by doing an on-line search. Typically, access runs about $20 per month. Local providers are often able to help you more with connection and other problems more quickly than the national service providers. National providers such as AOL are somewhat difficult to work with when sending attachments, using "mailto:" commands, or filling out on-line forms, but people have gotten by with them before. AOL has come out with a new version recently, and they may have solved some of these problems. The best advice is to get to know your ISP or someone else in your community who can help with technical questions. Modern systems are easy to set up, but there is always the chance of something going wrong.

You should get to know your own individual computer systems and your local area networks, where applicable. I will try to help as much as possible, but it is nearly impossible from a distance to help with many hardware and software issues - there are just too many possible configurations. You should get to know your computer support people, if you are lucky enough to have someone! Otherwise try to develop a support system among friends, computer sales and repair specialists, and colleagues. Please read all the information that came with your system so that you know it inside and out!

You will need standard word processing, spreadsheet, and up to date browsing software. Most of your work will involve using an internet browser (for example, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Gold or Communicator). The value in using browsers and web sites for most of our work is that they are platform independent.

Montana State University will provide telecommunications (FirstClass) software for all participants in the class. They should also include contact information for their support staff. FirstClass software is generally easy to install, but if you experience problems, contact the MSU support staff; send me a message also, in case it is something easy that I can handle. Please practice with this software, and make sure you are able to use it. We will do most of our discussions and communications via FirstClass, but do not hesitate to email me directly. As an example, one problem that has come up several times is loosing folder icons. MSULink windows come as an upper and lower part, and the relative sizes are adjustable. If the horizontal line is moved all the way to the top, it will hide the folder icons and make them appear to be lost. It is relatively easy to find the horizontal line with the mouse (the pointer turns into a double-headed arrow) and readjust until the icon window is visible.

From time to time I will make suggestions for software that can be downloaded and used for specific purposes. You do not have to do this in order to finish the class, but it is an important aspect of getting to know how to use the technology.

Please be aware that, as educators, you can download up-to-date versions of browsers for free from

Netscape

http://home.netscape.com/smartupdate/su1_40.html

or

Microsoft

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/download/all.htm

Electronic formats are confusing for people unfamiliar with the internet and e-mail. Most of it is far less mysterious than it appears at first. The first thing to remember is save your work in the appropriate format to a disk (floppy or hard drive). Read your manuals, practice a bit, and become familiar with your system. Anything posted to the MSU FirstClass site will be readable, but if you attach files (such as assignments) to your messages, make sure they are readable by the instructor! Formatting, colors, columns, and tables that look good on your machine with your software, but they can be impossible to open up on our end, depending upon the format. I use MS Word - Office 97 running on Windows 98. MS word can open most common word processing files, but has trouble with some Mac formats.

The safest and easiest is the text, ".txt" ("dot - t - x - t") file extension, the plain vanilla format understood by most every computer and word processing program. You cannot do fancy formatting (bold, color, italics and so on) with plain text format, but your files can be understood by all. If you want to preserve the formatting, save as the ".rtf" extension (rich text format). Investigate your word processing software to see if it will write and save files in .html or .htm (hypertext markup language) format, the common language of browsers. This will preserve all of your fancy formatting, colors, hyperlinks, and graphics. Generally, files saved in txt, rtf, and html (or htm) on any system can be attached and transferred without problem.

If you are using software such as First Class conferencing software, keep in mind that many systems will strip away long file names, leaving anything over 8 characters represented by a tilde (~). Windows 95 and Macintosh systems will allow long file names and/or periods in the file name, but don't do this! If two of you send me assignments as attachments such as "my_first_assignment_smith" and "my_first_assignment_jones", they may both download to my hard drive as "my_firs~" a total of 8 characters each, and impossible to distinguish from each other.

Long file names becomes a major problem if you send several html files that are hot linked together. The First Class software will change the long file names and your links will no longer work. For example, if you send two files, one the written portion of you project and one a graphic file named "mypicture.extension2.pct" which has been hot linked in your written portion, it may transfer as "mypictu~". The hot link will not work because it is calling for "mypicture.extension2.pct" which no longer exists because it has been shortened to "mypictu~". In these cases I have to go through your document manually and change all of your links.

The biggest problem students have had in the past is in attaching a file that is in some format unreadable by the instructor, in other words, none of the above file formats. Remember to keep file names 8 characters or less (even if you ARE using Windows 98!) and specify the file format when you save your work and again when you attach it. Become very familiar with your system and don't hesitate to send me practice files.

A very helpful hint for sending short papers is to just include them in the body of an e-mail. You can write the short paper in your word processor, check it over for spelling errors, then copy and paste it into the E-mail. A shortcut for doing this works with all Windows-based programs, even if they do not have copy and paste commands showing on the tool bar. First, highlight the material you want to copy, then simultaneously press the control key "Ctrl" and the "c" key; this will place the highlighted material onto your clipboard. Then open your mail program and put the cursor in the message space, and then simultaneously press the control key "Ctrl" and the "v" key - this will paste the highlighted material into the body of the mail message. There may be a similar convention for MAC systems.

Expect to spend 3-4 hours per week at a minimum. You may spend more or less time, but it has been my experience that the more time you plan for, the better off you will be. The first two or three weeks in particular will seem somewhat hectic and confusing - don't let this discourage you! There will be an initial period of learning the ropes, adjusting to equipment, phone connections, software, and getting used to my expectations and how they correspond with yours. After this initial period, things will go more quickly and smoothly!

One of the more trying aspects of time and time management will be the slowness with which some systems work. This is not anything to get too terribly despondent about, it is just something that you need to be aware of so that you can adjust to it. I often download software in the middle of the night, for example, so that I can take advantage of less busy times on phone lines and servers. You will know in advance all of the materials you will need for the NMP-ESS exercises, these can also be downloaded late at night or while you are busy doing something else.

The WWW and Internet systems have a tremendous load placed on them, resulting in slow response at times. Many files, particularly graphics, are very large. I will work with you in this by trying to keep to a minimum the very large files. I have purposefully kept the material on our web site as simple as possible so as to load as quickly as possible. Please be aware that images, in particular, may load very slowly.

Patience is key! Keep in mind that systems vary widely in their speed, convenience, and other factors. You may be connected through your work place or through an internet service provider. Some systems and providers are fast; others are slow. There are busy times and slow times.

If you are unfamiliar with searching methods, practice with search strategies and tools on the internet. Check out a few of the search engines.

MetaCrawler http://www.metacrawler.com/index.html

Alta Vista http://altavista.digital.com/

Lycos http://www.lycos.com/

HotBot http://www.hotbot.com/

InfoSeek Ultra http://ultra.infoseek.com/

WebCrawler http://webcrawler.com/

Yahoo! http://yahoo.com/

Infoseek http://www.infoseek.com/

Savvy Search http://www.savvysearch.com/search

Magellan http://www.mckinley.com/

Excite http://www.excite.com/

Choose a key word or two, and play around with a few searches just to become familiar with the peculiarities of each. If you have any problems, please contact your instructor. It is worth it to take some time and practice with searchers. Keep in mind, however, that it is easy to get lost and wander far from the original target. Most of the time this wandering is fun and provides some interesting and useful prizes. If you are working on a deadline, however, it can be a time waster. Pace yourself! If you have to, tape a note to the screen to remind yourself of what it was you were looking for.

MetaCrawler is useful because it searches several databases at the same time and returns a collated list; it is my personal favorite. Give it a try - select a topic of your choice, and see what comes back!

Here is a helpful hint if you find a link that is broken (not working): try removing the end of the URL and hit the return key. You can often "back up" through a web address until you get to a directory that does work, and from there try to find the information you were looking for. For example, if you have a URL such as:

Remove the "importantdocument.html" and see if you can find a higher level directory in case the information you need has been moved. It may have been totally removed, but that is valuable information also. If the first step does not work, try the next level by removing "third/" and so on until you find a "live" link.

There are many sources of information that will help you this semester and beyond. Some of the material is accessible via the web and some is not. I will be sending URLs (Universal Resource Locators, i.e. web page addresses) to you on occasion, but we also cannot forget books! It would be very useful to you to have some old textbooks in the earth sciences, physical geography, physical geology, meteorology, ecology and so on. These can be picked up quite reasonably in used bookstores, garage sales, and so on. The information in even older textbooks is fairly accurate, and when in doubt, you can check with a more up to date source.

A handy pocket guide to using internet resources, including finding resources, evaluating web sites, and citing document sources is the booklet

"Online!" (http://www.smpcollege.com/online-4styles~help/) by Andrew Harnack and Eugene Kleppinger, is published by St. Martins Press, New York. This is a very handy reference, and quite inexpensive; at the least you should go to their web site and look it over carefully - it is a storehouse of good information.

I will try my best to help you with all hardware and software issues, but be forewarned that it is difficult to help with all of the possible software and hardware configurations. You should develop a close working relationship with a computer guru in your area, if at all possible. With all of the different configurations, it is nearly impossible to diagnose a problem from a distance. That said, please feel free to contact me with your problems. Some really ARE simple, and others I may have had experience with. You should also consider posting a question to the group at large, many of whom have had lots of experience with computers. I am nearly MAC illiterate, but it is possible to get connected to someone familiar with your particular setup.

The best friends you have will be your "help" button on your tool bars (by whatever name it goes by, Mac or PC, they all have help utilities!) and your documentation that came with your equipment. This is not to say that you should solve all of your own problems! The technical staff at MSU and I are glad to help when we can, we are just saying become familiar with your set-up, use the manuals and the help functions, then get in touch. If you are in the fortunate minority that has access to an in-house computer support person, by all means, buy that person some cookies and milk and get to know them!

There are numerous guides to writing on the internet. Here are a few; you can use the search engines to find more.

"Elements of Style" by Strunk, 1918 version, but still in wide use. (http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/strunk/)

The "National Writing Centers Association" has a site with numerous links to on-line writing resources. (http://departments.colgate.edu/diw/NWCA.html)

"Websters" on-line dictionary. (http://work.ucsd.edu:5141/cgi-bin/http_webster)

Some university guides to citation styles:

Emory University (http://www.cc.emory.edu/WHSCL/citation.formats.html)

University of Berkeley (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/MLAStyleSheet.html)

University of Buffalo (http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/sel/general/cite.htm)

Here are several resources you may find useful. Explore the sites and bookmark specific ones that you may find useful.

Microsoft's introductory guide to the internet and the World Wide Web. If you are unfamiliar with the internet, this is a good place to start. (http://www.msn.com/tutorial/default.html)

Purdue University's electronic reference desk . This site has links to dozens of resources in sciences, social sciences, writing, and other areas. It is well worth the time it take to explore.(http://thorplus.lib.purdue.edu/reference/)

The University of Michigan maintains a guide to Internet resources with numerous useful and interesting links. (http://www.si.umich.edu/facilities/computing/resources.html)

Evaluating Internet Resources is a very helpful paper worth downloading for future reference. (http://www.sccu.edu/faculty/R_Harris/evalu8it.htm)

A very good online guide to using the internet can be found at Microsoft. (http://www.microsoft.com/magazine/guides/internet/)

Finally, with consideration of all the above, the best source of high quality information is still the library. Because of advances in technology you may no longer have to physically go to the library to access these sources as often in the past.

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This Page Last Modified on 1/22/99. © by G. E. Nelson