Trainer's Outline for User Training 1

Handouts

  1. List of topics covered
  2. Registration form (for new users who don't have an account yet)

Instructions for Trainers

Be sensitive to level of trainees. If they are new to CFN and new to computers, allow plenty of time for them to get used to the system.

Time Limit: 1 hour

Suggested Narrative

Introduction

Let people introduce themselves and say why they are here at this training session. If any have any specific questions, make note of them and try to cover them during the training session if time permits.

Encourage people to ask questions and try things out as they go.

Background information

(keep this short, like 5 minutes, so we can get to the hands-on stuff sooner)

"What is Chebucto Freenet? Chebucto Freenet is a community computer network for Halifax/Dartmouth/Bedford and surrounding communities. Freenets are a community resource: they provide information about organizations in the community (give examples). They often also provide a connection to the Internet, which is a large worldwide network of networks. Freenets work on the principle of universal access, like libraries. Anyone should be able to access the Freenet, regardless of income level. They don't even have to own a computer. The Halifax Library has a public access terminal available for anyone to use to access Chebucto FreeNet."

"The Chebucto FreeNet is connected to the Internet. It is part of the World Wide Web, a collection of information on the Internet which connected by hypertext. We'll see what hypertext means after we log onto the FreeNet."

Log onto Freenet

Get the users to log on using their own accounts (if they have them). If they haven't registered or their account hasn't come through yet, have them log on as guest.

Basic Navigation

At the home page, point out the bolded phrases which are preceded by a number, explain that they are links to more information. This is "hypertext". Note that links can be anywhere, not just in a list, e.g. can be in the middle of a sentence.

Cursor movement
down arrow to move cursor to next link
up arrow to move cursor to previous link
Following links
right arrow or RETURN to follow link
left arrow to go back
Take a look at home page, comment on organization (topics available), follow the help desk link

Paging up and down in a document
space for forward
- or b for backward
< to go to top of document
> to go to end of document
(Let them practice moving around the Freenet for awhile.)

Alternatives to arrow keys (can be used if the arrow keys don't work on your computer setup):
^N or tab (instead of down-arrow) to move to next link on page
^P (instead of up-arrow) to move to previous link
[return] to follow link
^B instead of left-arrow to go back to previous document
Type link numbers (in square brackets) to follow a link; this is usually faster than using the arrow keys.

The Menu Bar

"Lynx is the name of the program that runs when you log onto Chebucto FreeNet. It's called a "browser" because it lets you browse around the information which is on the Chebucto FreeNet and also the World Wide Web (which CFN is part of). Lynx has some commands which can be useful..."

Point out the menu bar at the bottom of the screen; note that this is a summary of the one-letter commands that you can type while browsing in Chebucto FreeNet

O to rotate the menu and display the other commands

Some useful commands from the menu (let them try out these commands)
K for keymap
Y for history
A for add bookmark
V for view bookmark
C for comment
H for home page
G for go...try a few shortcuts like [go ip], [go who], mention the standard [go...] notation
Side note:

"These commands apply to Lynx (which is what you get when you log on by dial-up) If you go to the PAT (public access terminal) at the Halifax City Library, you may notice that it's running a program called Mosaic. This is also a browser, but it uses graphics as well as text. But it's all the same information, it's just displayed differently."

Fill-in forms

Where to find help

Getting registered

For people who don't yet have an account, go through the registration procedure.