About Internet Web Text

WWC snapshot of http://www.rpi.edu/Internet/Guides/decemj/about.html taken on Wed May 31 0:57:00 1995

The Internet Web Text:

is a hypertext guide to Internet resources, a partial substitute for a paper-based text about the Internet.
links you to Internet resources: orientation, guides, reference materials, browsing and exploring tools, subject and word-oriented searching tools, and information about connecting with people.
employs a variety of ways to present information:
- The front page of Internet Web Text shows the seven major categories, each marked with . Thanks to Chuck Musciano (chuck.musciano@harris.com), for this category icon image.
- The narrative version gives background and places the seven major categories in context. Links from categories are to the narrative pages for each category.
- a category list is a one-page list, with no narrative, of the (up to seven) major items in each category. This is useful if you are familiar with the resources for this category and just want a quick list of the major ones.
- a category narrative explains the resources available in each category and pointers to contextual and further information. This narrative may include links to more than seven major items; each major item is marked with a . Thanks to Richard P. Bocker (bocker@ebony.nosc.mil) of Planet Earth Home Page for the item icon image, .
- a no-icons version lists the major resources in each category without icons
- an icons-only version is a single panel of images of the major resources in each category; useful to those who can best remember the resources by image. This requires quite a bit of image transfer; this is the only page that contains these images.
links the versions together so you can encounter the information using multiple paths:
- You can go from any category list to its corresponding category narrative by clicking on the category title at the top of the page to the right of the category icon, .
- You can go from any category narrative to its corresponding category list by clicking on the category icon at the top of the page.
- You can go from any category list or category narrative to any other category through the links at the top of the page.
- You can go from any of the pages to the front page through the Internet Web Text icon at the top of the page. If you are in a category narrative, you'll go to the front page of the narrative version.
is offered at global sites.

I created Internet Web Text for a course in Computer-Mediated Communication at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute that I helped teach in the spring of 1994. My goal was to create an interface students could use to familiarize themselves with the Internet, how to use it, how to find information, and how to connect with people. I used icons to create memory-aids to remembering the resources---I find I can remember the resources through images better than by resource name. In a revision of this guide in July, 1994, based on an anlysis of use patterns, I reduced the icons used within the pages. Only the icons-only version has different icons for each resource, and I'll continue to monitor the use of the icons-only page. The images take a while to load using Mosaic or other interfaces, but once the images are loaded, you can skip from page to page fairly rapidly.

If you are using Internet Web Text for a course, send me an email note. I'd like to hear about your course, and I'd be glad to coordinate the use of my text or give you ideas about lessons. The Computer-Mediated Communication course I helped teach was aimed at CMC Theory. Thus, these lessons I prepared (the practicum portion of the course) are aimed at giving the students a quick overview of the Internet and some starting points, not an exhaustive mastery.

This text might also be helpful in any general situation where you are providing links for users to find out more information about the Internet. You are welcome to link to any of the versions for educational or non-profit purposes. Ask me about any other use of this text.

Let me know of any comments you have. I've worked in Mosaic in developing this, but I want to make it useful for users of lynx. I will continue to develop this text---the current students are still using it, I use it for workshops that I teach, and I plan to use it in my future teaching.

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