HANDBOOK
FOR
GRANDPARENTS
IL PRESENTE PROGETTO È FINANZIATO CON IL SOSTEGNO DELLA COMMISSIONE
EUROPEA. L’AUTORE È IL SOLO RESPONSABILE DI QUESTA PUBBLICAZIONE
(COMUNICAZIONE) E LA COMMISSIONE DECLINA OGNI RESPONSABILITÀ SULL’USO
CHE POTRÀ ESSERE FATTO DELLE INFORMAZIONI IN ESSA CONTENUTE.
w
u
e
.
e
e
g
n
e
ww.ge
PARTNERS »
ENAIP FVG [IT]
ACTIF CNT [FR]
APOPSI [EL]
CECOA [PT]
CE.RI.S. [IT]
COM. MORGIONGORI [IT]
CVO [BE]
EB-ONE [SW]
GEZINSBOND [BE]
GRAD BUJE [HR]
ILEU [DE]
LUJ [SL]
MOISELLE LE BLANC [IT]
OBSERVATOR [RO]
SAO [FI]
SCIENTER [IT]
SCIENTER ESPANA [ES]
SIOV [SK]
VISC [LV]
VDU [LT]
TALLINN UNIVERSITY [EE]
TNOIK [PL]
VOC. TRAINING S.A [EL]
ZAWIW [DE]
Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
HANDBOOK FOR GRANDPARENTS
Grandparents & Grandchildren Project
Authors
Gilberto Collinassi – Net Learning ENAIP FVG
Andrea Musi – Net Learning ENAIP FVG
Barbara Lavalle - Net Learning ENAIP FVG
Michela Biasutti - Net Learning ENAIP FVG
Mara Galmozzi - AIM/Associazione Interessi Metropolitani
Original version
************************************************************
Version 08
By Net Learning ENAIP FVG
Last update: february 2013
************************************************************
Copyright © 2007 - ENAIP Friuli Venezia Giulia
Via Leonardo da Vinci, 27
33037 Pasian di Prato (UD) – Italy
Telephone: 0432 693611 – FAX 0432 690686
E-mail : mailto:g.collinassi@enaip.fvg.it
Web : http://www.geengee.eu
1 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Table of contents History pag. 3 What is Internet? pag. 6 What is the aim of Internet? pag. 6 pag. 7 Surfing the Net pag. 9 How to switch off a computer pag. 12 Troubleshooting pag. 13 Exercises to surf the Internet pag. 14 Search engines pag. 15 Exercises to Search and Find information on the Internet pag. 18 E-­‐mail: a new communication tool pag. 19 Exercises to use e-­‐mail pag. 21 pag. 22 Skype pag. 25 Facebook pag. 28 Switch on a computer INTERNET BROWSING INTERNET SEARCHING E-­‐MAIL THE SOCIAL NETWORKS Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Myspace, Flickr COMMUNICATE THROUGH INTERNET 2 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
WORD PROCESSING SOFTWARE Open Office Writer pag. 32 pag. 34 GLOSSARY 3 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
History In the ‘50’s Americans were trying to
Quotation of Roberto Dadda (AIM) conquer new frontiers in space in
The 4th of October 1957 is maybe one of the first mornings of my childhood of which I have a clear memory. I attended the third year of elementary school and the teacher explained us that the Russians had sent an artificial satellite in the space for the first time ever. I remember that while exiting from the school we all watched the sky because in our childish ingenuity we thought it would have been possible to see some signal of the flying object whose launch had impressed us so much. I didn’t know that, even in an indirect way, that launch would have kicked up a series of events which would have influenced my life so much. competition with the Russians, but
the results were disastrous: most of
their missiles couldn’t leave the
ground, and those which could take
off lost control immediately after.
A huge scientific and technological
research project started and ARPA
(Advanced Research Projects Agency)
was established. It was a sort of
military research council and Wherner
Von Braun, the German scientist who
was brought to the United States
after the defeat of Germany, was invited to work in it. We all know what happened
next. NASA, not without hard work, could at last win against the Russian space agency
in a competition that ended in 1969 with the landing of the first man on the moon. A
“sub-product” of the space rush was Internet: in 1965 ARPA published a call for
proposals for the implementation of a system able to connect the calculators of
different universities, at that time completely separate, that were involved in military
research projects.
While the big information companies
tried to convince everyone of this
“madness”, a small company based in
the West coast of the United States
implemented the first interconnection
system.
The "Advanced Research Projects
Agency Network" (ARPANET) was studied and set up in 1969 by DARPA (Defence
Advanced Research Project Agency) of the U.S. Department of Defense. The connection
was established between the computers of two huge universities in the United States:
4 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
the University of California in Los Angeles (www.ucla.edu) and Stanford university
(www.stanford.edu) in Palo Alto, in the heart of Silicon Valley. It used a system which
was developed by the research institute of the latter, the Stanford Research Institute
(www.sri.com); the machines used were two old models of Xerox Data Systems. Yes,
you “heard” well, Xerox, the photocopier company, which was at that time a top level
company in the development of computing systems.
Internet has a precise date of birth: 29th October 1969 at 22.30, United states west
coast time.
The Net has a birth certificate too. It is the page of the log which records the first connection. The date appears in the top left corner, below the time and the writing: “Talked to SRI host to host". It is told that, once the connection was established, the two groups phoned each other.
The agreement was to transmit the word LOGIN, which in English means “access to the
system”:
“We transmitted a L, can you see it??”
“Yes we see it!”
“We transmitted a O”
“We see it…”
Then the connection went dead, but a new era was
starting. After a few weeks Utah and San Diego
universities were connected and the core of the Net
as we know it started expanding. The net soon
became the net of the nets and in fact could connect
every computer on earth.
5 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Around 1973 e-mail came to life; nowadays it’s the most used application on the net. It
was invented by Ray Tomlinson of BBN. The year after, Arpanet was presented to the
public and Tomlinson adapted his programme. It immediately became popular thanks to
the contribution of Larry Roberts who had developed the first software for the
management of e-mails, RD. The first message he sent, and thus the first e-mail ever
sent, was "QWERTYUIOP".
For the second big revolution we needed to wait a
little while. It was only in 1991 that Tim BernersLee, an Englishman working in the Communitarian
Centre for Nuclear researches in Geneva, came up
with the idea to apply the concepts of hypertext to
the net. He developed a prototype: World Wide
Web (www) was born.
Actually, the idea of the World Wide Web was
thought up two years before, in 1989, by CERN of
Geneva (the most important Physics Laboratory in
It has been told also that...
... the idea came from an
American researcher who, while
going back home from a
congress, discovered he had
forgotten his shaver in the
university dormitory. To save the
money of a telephone call, which
was very expensive at that time,
he decided to send a message
through the net.
That message, primitive and not
particularly exciting, would have
unleashed a true revolution! Europe). At the heart of it, there was Berners-Lee and his colleague, Robert Cailliau’s,
intention to share the scientific papers in electronic format, thus improving
communication and cooperation. With this aim they started to define standards and
protocols to exchange documents on the data network: the HTML language and the http
protocol.
These standards and protocols could initially support only the management of text
pages enriched with format information and links which made it possible to navigate in
them using appropriate applications (web browser).
The simplicity and effectiveness of the technology led to immediate success, which
started in the academic and research environments, and then spread to the business
world, giving rise to what is nowadays “web era”. Today billions of pages connected
among them offer us the largest library ever thought of, everything in the comfort of
our home and at low cost.
And we are only getting started!
6 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Switch on a computer It is suggested to switch on the modem and then the computer. When you switch on the
machine the operating system, installed on the Hard Disk of the PC, is uploaded
automatically in the memory of the computer.
The upload takes some time. This operation is signalled by a hourglass on the screen;
when everything is ready the hourglass turns into an arrow (which is the mouse pointer
and moves if you use it)
The screen appears as a desktop, with some drawings (icons) which represent the
different objects lying on it. On a desktop generally there are documents (files), folders
containing documents (folders), work tools (programmes).
On our virtual desk icons can correspond to a programme, an archive (file) containing
data (texts, drawings, pictures, videos, etc) or a folder (collecting different files).
The quantity and the type of “icons” you can see on the screen depend on the type of
computer and operating system you chose: in this section we are interested in
identifying the browser’s icon.
A browser is a basic software to access at informations in Internet. This software allows
you to view the informations like images, texts, audios and videos in Internet.
More exactly, a browser is a page viewer that allows you to:
•
find a page in Internet
•
display informations in an orderly way
•
quickly switch from page to page, according to your preferences.
7 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
If you use Windows operating systems the browser is called “Explorer”. The
icon you need to find then click to and open the programme for Internet
connection, is the one in the image shown on the left.
If you have a Macintosh with a MacOSX operating system, the browser is
called “Safari” and the icon looks like the one shown on the left.
There is another browser, downloadable for free, for both operating systems
called "Firefox" and the icon is like the one on the left side.
By clicking on these icons you will launch the programme which, if the modem works
and the line is active, allows you to surf the web.
8 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
INTERNET BROWSING To practice and study
the concepts illustrated in this chapter
in greater detail visit the website www.geengee.eu,
go to the gym and use the exercises of the first training unit.
Surfing the net: Once you are connected to the Internet, the Home Page, a default web page chosen by
the user, opens.
To surf within any Internet website, you need to “explore” its contents with the mouse
pointer, which normally looks like an arrow. When the arrow is positioned on a word, a
symbol, or an image which allows access to new pages in the same website (link) the
pointer turns into a “hand”.
At this point, in order to access the new page you need to double-click the left mouse
button on the link.
Website pages don’t have a fixed vertical or horizontal size. The more the webdesigner
has written, the more the page stretches out or broadens, depending on the case. If the
screen in which you are surfing is not large enough, the page will be partly displayed.
To see the other part of the page you are visiting you need to move up or down, right
and left on the web page by using the arrow shaped cursors you can see at the right
bottom end of the browser window (in the scroll bar).
It will be possible to move to other websites or pages from the first page as follows:
-
move the arrow with the mouse on the box on the top of the browser’s window
(next to the writing “Address”)
-
click once on the writing you can see in the box, which is the address of the
webpage in which you are at the moment; the writing will become blue and it will
be possible to “write over it” thus deleting and overwriting it with another address
-
type the address of the website you would like to visit
-
push the button “Enter” to upload the page requested
9 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Attention: all Internet addresses are structured as follows:
www.geengee.eu
www.name.TLDextension
where the “name” is the name of the website, and “extension” is the two or threeletter code that indicates the type of website (i.e. .org, .com where org means
“organization” and com “company”) or the organization’s or company’s country (i.e. .it
for Italian websites, .uk for British websites...).
The words composing a website address must always be typed without any spaces
between one and the other, while full stop (dot), dash and underscore (-, _) and “slash”
(/) have to be typed as they appear in the addresses.
Let see now the basic functions of the navigation on the “tools bar” (which you can find
in the top of the browser’s window):
Forward and Back: These two buttons allow you to go backwards or
forwards in the “navigation” path you already did (it opens web pages already
opened before);
Stop: it stops the “downloading” of a page (it is useful when there are
problems in opening a page, for example when it takes too long to open a page);
Refresh: it allows to download (“refresh”) the page you are visiting again (it is
useful when there are problems with downloading or displaying a web page’s
contents, or when you need the latest data);
Home Page: allows you to return to the first page appearing in Internet
navigation;
Search: a bar on the left hand of the screen in which there is a simplified
search engine, opens.
10 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Favorities: it allows you to save and archives the web pages addresses which
interest you the most and pages you may want to return to in the future;
Mail: it allows you to open directly the e-mail client or to send a friend the
webpage you are visiting (or its address) via an e-mail;
Print: it is used to print the page you are visiting.
To save a website address you need to:
-
Be in the home page of the website you want to save;
-
Click on the button “Favorities”; a column on the left
hand of the screen appears;
-
Click on “add” which can be found at the top of the
column;
-
In the previous window the programme asks you what you
Attention: the button “Favorities” is one of the most useful because it allows you to save the addresses you often visit. want to name this address;
-
If this is the case, modify the name, automatically suggested by Internet with
another one that can easily be associated to the website;
-
Click on “ok”.
To use the “Favorities” bookmark you need to:
-
click on “Favorities” (in the column on the left is not already open and displayed);
-
click on the name of the website you wish to visit: the page will be automatically
searched and downloaded.
11 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
How to switch off a computer To properly switch off a computer you need to undertake the following steps:
1. Close all programmes used during the working session, by checking that no icons
with the name of the programmes, files or Internet pages are displayed on the
bottom bar (next to the writing “Start” of Windows). Should there still be
programmes or documents open, click on the icon as you would to open it and
then close the page displayed by clicking on the X (close button) on the top right
hand.
2. Click on “Start” and then on “Close session” (it’s weird to click on “Start” to
switch the computer off, but that’s Windows!)
3. A window called “End of work session”, which shows different options, appears.
Make sure that a black dot appears in the white circle next to the writing “Shut
down the system”.
4. Click on “Ok” or “Yes”.
N.B.: even when the computer has not been switched off properly (because of a power
cut or because the power button was switched off instead of using the Windows
command) this does no harm to the machine: the risk is loosing the last data which had
not been stored on the computer’s disks yet.
The next time you start up the machine it will inform you that it wasn’t switched off
properly and it will resolve possible troubles and reload the operating system.
Sometimes you may have to shut down the computer the “hard way” (especially with
Windows) because the system gets completely stuck and it doesn’t respond to the
keyboard and mouse. In that case switch it off without fear of possible damages.
12 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Troubleshooting for the most common problems The browser doesn’t download the page and displays a message “page not found”
There can be different reasons:
1. The website address is not written correctly. In this case you have to check the
address carefully and re-type it if needed. In particular, you need to verify that
the address is written in a complete and correct way. You must type it
accurately and with no spaces between a words!
2. While you are trying to access the website, someone is working to update single
pages or the computer where the website is hosted. In this case you just have to
try again later: as soon as the provider stops working the pages will be available
again.
3. There is a lot of traffic on the net and the provider (the computer ensuring your
access to Internet) is not able to satisfy all incoming requests. You need to try
again later.
In the window displaying the webpage the close button (
) in the top right
doesn’t appear, how can I close it?
If the window appears on a side of the monitor and it doesn’t show the three buttons in
the top right follow this procedure:
-
move and position the arrow of the mouse on the blue bar on top;
-
click and keep the right button of the mouse pressed;
-
a command menu appears, on a white background;
-
select the command CLOSE.
You can obtain the same result by pressing the keys ALT+F4 simultaneously.
I can’t see the window with the page even if downloading did not signal errors
The browser may have different windows open at the same time. Sometimes the
webpage opened can be downloaded “behind” the one currently displayed. You can
search the one you are interested in and bring it “to the surface” by using the buttons
to change window in the command bar of Windows (the one where you can find the
START button) or by minimizing the windows displayed by using the proper buttons (the
ones with the symbol “_” on the top right).
13 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
In the latest versions of Explorer there is the possibility to view multiple sites in a
single browser window. In that case you have to click on the tabs of the Explorer menu
showing the names of the pages downloaded.
14 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Exercises for Internet surfing The mouse
explore the mouse
Exercise with the mouse
learn how to position the cursor correctly
How to surf in a website
exercise on how to browse a website [www.geengee.eu] with Explorer
Access a typical website (newspapers)
read an on-line newspaper [ www.timesonline.co.uk ]
Access a typical website (institutions)
visit the European Union website
Access a typical website (commercial)
visit the largest Library of the world
Save documents and webpages on your PC’s disk
archive in the disk of your PC the information you don’t want to loose
15 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
INTERNET SEARCHING To practice and study
the concepts illustrated in this chapter
in greater detail visit the website www.geengee.eu,
go to the gym and use the exercises of the second training unit.
Search engines Internet is a boundless world which is continuously evolving. Finding the piece of
information you need (web addresses, thematic searches, etc.) can be a long and
complex operation.
To make it easier search engines have been created: they are websites structured as
huge archives of indexed web pages which, in a few seconds, can select and list
according to your query, all the material the engine has “collected” from the net.
A search engine is useful when you don’t know which site contains the informations you
need, or when you are looking for informations on sites which you don’t know. It
provides a list of websites containing a specific word or phrase. The result of the
research is a list of links to Internet pages.
To help you to find the pages more useful for you, next to the link the search engine
shows a short text of the pages found.
Sometimes search engines allow you to search the images (drawings, photographs, and
so on) on a given topic. The images are selected according to the texts of the sites
which contain them.
Some search engines also allow you to search locations and addresses on the world
map.
There are several search engines, each with some twists. The most used search engine
in the world today is Google (www.google.it).
16 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
The work of search engines is divided mainly in three phases:
-
analysis of the field of action (thanks to the use of dedicated automatic
programmes, called crawler, which “surf” in the net and collect and classify
information);
-
classification of the material obtained in the database of the search engine;
-
scanning the database and providing answer to the users starting from the key
words they typed to guide the search;
The first operation to be carried out is to type the address of the search engine desired
in the address box of the browser (in the list below we provide you with the most
popular):
Italian search engines
International engines
www.google.it
www.yahoo.it
www.altavista.it
www.libero.it
www.virgilio.it
www.yahoo.com
www.altavista.com
www.lycos.com
www.google.com
Once you get to the search engine, write the word or phrase and press "Search" (it can
also have other names).
This is the most widely used method, it is the search for keywords. It is carried out by
typing the key words that define what you are looking for, in the rectangular box you
can find in the page of the search engine.
This modality uses a syntax which enables the user to search for documents which
contain specific sentences, searching within a specific website, excluding results which
contain specific instructions, displaying only the results in selected languages, etc...
The syntax varies depending on the search engine. Usually every website has a page
explaining the syntax to be used or an “advanced search” section which allows the
users to fill in the different fields according to filters they would like to apply. Using
correct syntax for searching is fundamental because search engines are based on
17 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
complex algorithms which assign to every page a “score” for every key word. These
algorithms are not always appropriate to elaborate the queries of the users.
This method can give excellent results when you can define precisely and with a few
words what you are looking for (for example Grandparents Web ).
After typing these words in the white box of the search engine (next to the writing
“search”; not to be confused with the address box on the top of the screen where you
type the website address), you need to confirm your request by clicking on “search” or
by pressing “Enter” on the keyboard.
The search engine will look through all its database to search the websites containing
the words typed; this is why it is really important to write the words with spaces and
without www or dots (which, on the other hand, are necessary when typing a website
address in the address box).
When the search engine finishes its work, a page displaying a list of the websites
containing the key words appears. Each website is generally accompanied by a brief
description of its contents.
By clicking on the title of the website which corresponds to your request you will find
all the information you were looking for.
18 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Practice Searching and Finding information in the Web Search for information in the world wide web
how to combine search keywords to identify what I am interested in
Seek and you shall find
try the “I’m feeling lucky” Google’s function
Wikipedia and wikipedians
the largest (and more spontaneous) encyclopaedia of the world
19 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
E-­‐MAIL To practice and study
the concepts illustrated in this chapter
in greater detail visit the website www.geengee.eu,
go to the gym and use the exercises of the third training unit.
E-­‐mail: a new communication tool Electronic mail (e-mail) is by sure the most used
application on the net. It allows users to send messages
all over the world at the cost of a local telephone call
(the one required to connect to the Internet).
Every user can have one or several e-mail accounts
where they can receive messages which are stored in email servers. You can check the content of your
mailbox, read messages, reply to messages, delete,
organize and send messages to one or more users
whenever you want. You can also attach files, such as
texts, images, videos, music, and so on...
The birth of e-mail
dates back to 1972,
when Ray
Tomlinson installed
a system able to
exchange messages
among different
universities on
ARPANET. The
person who really
defined its
functioning was Jon
Postel, a destiny in
the name!
In this case access to the service is asynchronous, i.e. to transmit a message sender
and recipient do not need to be on line at the same time. The sender does not know
when the message will be delivered and if the recipient will read it, just as in the
traditional post service (we can receive envelopes and decide how and when to open
them). Thus, there is no certainty in the delivery. When an e-mail server can’t deliver a
message sent, normally tries to send a notification to the sender to inform him/her of
the impossibility of delivery, but this message is an e-mail too (automatically generated
by the server) and its delivery is not ensured either.
The sender can ask for a delivery notification (as in the case of recorded delivery) or
of a notification if the email has been read, but the recipient decides if he/she wants
to send this confirmation and therefore may decide not to.
20 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
The meaning of confirmation can therefore be ambiguous, because viewing a message
for a few seconds in the e-mail client doesn’t necessarily mean it has really been read
or understood.
Transmission is very fast. Messages will be “delivered” to the recipient in a few minutes
(or seconds) regardless of the physical/geographical distance; should you mis-spell an email address, a message informing you that the message didn’t reach the recipient will
be sent to you.
With e-mail you can send a simple text or attach documents, images, and music files.
All this is possible only if the recipient has an e-mail account and a mailbox by a
provider!
Access to the mailbox is generally controlled by a password or other forms of
authentication which allow the user to prevent others using their email and reading the
messages.
Every e-mail account has its own and unambiguous address. It is made up as follows
username@ISPname_domain.TLDExtension
where username is the name chosen by the user or the administrator of the server,
which unambiguously identifies a user (or a group of users), while ISPname_domain
identifies the Internet Service Provider (ISP) and the server which manages the mail.
The symbol
@ characterises all e-mail addresses. When you see a @ you are dealing
100% with an e-mail address. The e-mail address can have every alphabetical and
numerical symbol (symbols with accents excluded) and some symbols such as
underscore(_) and full stop (.).
The e-mail account can be for free (for example in exchange of advertisements or as
part of the subscription for internet connection offered by the provider) or for a fee,
usually when many e-mails are used or a particular address is requested.
21 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Practice using the e-­‐mail E-mail: a new communication tool
what it is, how does it work, for what can I use it?
Create an e-mail account with Gmail
how can I access the e-mail service? how can I have an e-mail address?
Write and read e-mail messages
who wrote the message? How can I read it? How can I find old messages?
Manage the Contacts index book
how to create and manage the index book of e-mail addresses?
Labels and filters to manage conversations in Gmail
ow choose which messages I want to receive and which not
Sort the messages
how to manage your personal e-mail folders
The network language and communication habits
the "netiquette" and how to use the “emoticons” in e-mail messages
22 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
The Social Networks
The term "social network" identifies very recent softwares. They allow, like main
feature, to create and maintain contacts with other people with whom is possible to
communicate quickly, but also share contents like images, videos, links for work and for
fun. It is possible also to create groups, for example groups of friends, relatives,
colleagues, or people with a common interest with whom you talk about topics in
common.
Social networks are, therefore, programs that serve primarily to create and maintain
personal relationships. It is a very recent phenomenon, but within a few years has
involved millions of people across the planet.
Social networks are in fact web platforms, which provide tools to manage online
contents (such as texts, images, video, audio) and especially tools for managing
relationships between people (such as rapid messaging systems, chat, and so on). The
operating mechanism of a social network is very simple and reflects what happens in
reality when we make new friendships or maintain our relationships. In the physical
reality we present ourselves to other people with our name, with our image (the face,
the clothes), with what we do, our work, our passions, with what we say.
It takes part of us even the people we know, our friends, that is the social group we
belong to.
Also our friends, as us, have a name, their own face, their own interests and
friendships, which sometimes coincide with ours and other times not.
This is a social network, in which relations between people are symbolically
represented by the connecting lines.
Within the same network there are people we know well, as our friends, people we
don’t know very well, some friends of our friends, and people who we don’t know at
all.
23 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Each social network allows to manage a personal profile, that is a kind of personal
page, in which you:
1) insert your own name,
2) insert your own image,
3) insert a description of your own interests.
Everyone can have his own profile on a social network, so it’s possibile to create
relationships with other profiles, communicate with them, exchange and share things.
In the profile page we introduce and describe our interests.
It will be a page that can be seen and read by others, as well as we can see those of the
others and discover their interests. If we want, through these pages, we can start to
communicate and exchange messages.
A social network is a virtual space in which you can manage social relationships. The
space is enormous, some social networks contain millions of profiles, but the space of a
social network is a closed space which is accessible only to those who are registered.
Social networks are also a tool to communicate and inform millions of people in real
time.
Of course there are also differences between the various social networks in Internet.
There are those which are based on relationships, fun and friendships, the professional
ones and those for multimedia content sharing.
24 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Let’s take a look on the most popular social networks available online:
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn are social networks based on relationships between
people.
Other platforms focus more on the contents. YouTube, Flickr, My space were
created to allow anyone to publish his works on the web. YouTube is dedicated to
movies and videos, Flickr to photos, My space to music.
These social networks allow, first of all, to create a profile in which we publish our
works and make them visible: for all the people or only for them we want. In
addition, if we wish, we can also find our friends, our favorite artists, their works and
become their friends.
25 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
COMMUNICATE THROUGH INTERNET Skype The VoIP "Voice over Internet protocol" or "Voice over the Internet" is the system to use
the computer as a phone.
Skype is the most famous and most used program that allows you to chat, call and also
video-call our friends, anywhere in the world.
There are several advantages, first of all you can communicate quickly by sending not
only texts but also your voice and images. With Skype you can call at the same time
more people. Moreover, the services are often free or they have very cheap rates.
Skype is a program that you have to install on your computer and you can use it only if
you are connected to Internet. It 'a commercial product that offers many services, we
will present only free services usable by everyone.
We can easily find the download of the program doing a search in Internet or visiting
the page for downloading the program on the website www.skype.com.
The installation may take a few minutes.
The new users have to fill in the form with their informations for being able to use
Skype. If we want to chat with our friends we will need only a computer connected to
Internet and of course the program installed. If we want to use the voice call we must
have a microphone (usually already built into your computer). If we want to make
video-calls we have to install also a web cam.
The first thing to do is create your own Skype address book. We can also add all the
people we know who have their own Skype account.
We can search contacts by knowing or their names, their Skype names, their phone
numbers or better their e-mail-addresses.
26 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
When we find the person who interests us, we can add this person to our contacts,
sending a personal request for permission to put this person in our address book.
Once the request is accepted, the person is added to our address book and now we will
be able to contact this person.
The contacts of our address book, who are using Skype at the same time like us, appear
in the top positions. These are the people with whom you can chat or make calls and
video-calls.
The other contacts are still visible but we are unable to contact them because they
aren’t online.
If we select a person from our address book, on the right side will appear all the
informations and tools to communicate with this person.
The contact information.
The key to initiate a call.
The key to start a video call.
The area for a chat session.
You can find all the informations in the official directory of Skype at the following
address: http://www.skype.com/intl/en/support/user-guides
27 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Practice Social Networking: Skype -­‐ Unit D Use Skype for having a talk
What is Skype and for what may it be used?
Create a Skype account
It is like receiving a telephone number
Download Skype
How to install the Skype software on your computer
Prepare your start at Skype (1)
Sign in and check the settings
Prepare your start at Skype (2)
Create an address book
Telephone and video calls by Skype
Try your first calls!
Exercises with Skype
Try out Skype in the G&G group!
28 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Facebook Without any doubt Facebook is nowadays one of the most appreciated social networks
in the world.
It was originally employed as an experimental online tool to easily look for old
schoolmates and friends around the world, whose tracks and contacts were lost in the
course of the years. Today it has become a powerful multimedia tool which allows us
to stay always in touch with our friends.
Facebook’s name comes from a list containing names and photographs of students
provided by some American Universities at the begin of the academic year to favour
socialization among students. The Facebook social network was founded in 2004 by
Mark Zuckerberg in the USA.
On Facebook you can easily:
•
find old schoolmates or old acquaintances or simply make new friends;
•
share interesting news that you find in the Internet and open new discussions;
•
upload photos and videos to share only with your friends (or make them
available to the whole community);
•
see when your friends are connected on Facebook and ask them to chat
together;
•
see the names of the friends of your friends and contact them;
•
create and join groups, and access to some famous people’s pages.
In this introduction we will discover the principal features of the technological platform
and of the user interface of Facebook in order to exploit the potentialities of the
multimedia communication and online social relationships.
Before presenting the specific features and functions of Facebook it is necessary to
make a brief interpretative preface on social networking phenomenon.
Unlike most other social networks that are usually focused on specific topics or issues
shared by members of a community, Facebook is more centred on people than on
specific subjects.
Facebook’s members, unlike other social networks, have the possibility to build a
network of contacts also with people who do not share a specific interest or passion.
29 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Your Facebook network of contacts can be made up by some sport fans who support
your favourite team, by some people who like the same music you do, by some old
schoolmate, by some colleague, by someone who visited the same cities you did, or
more simply by some friend of yours who does not share with you any specific interest!
Once you signed up (for free) to start with adding friends in Facebook (lots of them
might be already present in the system), you can import your contacts from your e-mail
account (for example Hotmail, Yahoo etc.), and the friends that are already present in
Facebook will be automatically displayed.
Once you added the people you know, one of the first steps to be made is to create
your profile. The two most important things to do are uploading your personal image
and the contact information. You do not need to insert all your personal information.
Facebook gives its users the possibility to protect their privacy, and this is precisely one
of the features that differentiates Facebook from other social networking services.
Facebook gives you the possibility to control what other users can see, for instance,
your photo album or other personal information like address, telephone number etc. .
To control or to limit the personal information you want to share with other users,
Facebook has established some simple controls to protect your privacy and that of your
friends.
If you want to know more about privacy, click the privacy link at the top right of
Facebook where you can find the advanced settings. Some people are happy to let
everybody know what they do, but if you don’t want to share this information with
other users, it is worth wasting a minute to secure your privacy.
Once you have set your profile and created the links with some friends, there are
different ways to communicate with others. The easiest and fastest way is the Facebook
timeline, where you can leave messages to anyone in the page of your profile. This
place is completely public so that everything you write here can be read by anybody.
Here you can add attachments like photos, videos, and all multimedia objects that can
be integrated with Facebook applications.
30 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Practice Social Networking: Facebook -­‐ Unit D Share your life with friends by Facebook
Meet your friends online
Create a Facebook account
Your way to start on Facebook
Settings
Adapt your Facebook account according to your wishes
Finding friends on Facebook
Getting in contact with friends – a precondition to communicate and share information
Communicate with your friends
Write personal messages to single friends or several
This was only the beginning
Facebook offers much more than these basic applications
Exercises with Facebook
Try out Facebook in the G&G group! Form an opinion about Facebook in the G&G group!
Word Processing Software Open Office Writer OpenOffice represents a good alternative to the Microsoft Office package. It is an open
source software completely free and easy to use.
The software can be freely downloaded by the Internet at the following URL:
www.openoffice.org or it.openoffice.org.
OpenOffice writer is the word processing software of the OpenOffice Suite that allows
us to create quickly letters, reminders, reports and other written documents. The
most important advantage of a word processing application (also called word processor)
is the possibility to create well formatted word documents – with fonts of different size
and type – which can include other elements as well, like tables, pictures and graphs.
Furthermore, the word processor allows to print, correct and reuse texts already
31 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
written. The word processing software is the most used application with the PC. People
who know how to make good use of a word processing software are able to write better
and faster.
The word processor helps you write better, by controlling and correcting automatically
orthographic mistakes, word repetitions etc. .
Writer offers all traditional functions of word processors (orthographic
control,
synonyms, spellcheck, autocorrect functions, “find and substitute” function, automatic
inserting of indexes or analytic indexes, serial printing) and moreover:
• Templates and styles
• Elegant page layouts, including frames, columns and tables
• Inclusion of images or connections with spreadsheets and other objects
• Integrated drawing tools
• Export in pdf format, including bookmarks
• And also much more ……
By making exercises you will learn how to use the different menus and basic functions.
At the end you’ll be able to create a perfect document and exploit all the potentialities
of this application.
Practice Writing programs: Open Office Writer -­‐ Unit E What is WRITER, how to recognize text files
Open - Create a WRITER file
How to save
Writer’s toolbar
How to manage the text: selection and formatting
How to manage the text: Copying/Cutting and Pasting text
Printing
32 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
GLOSSARY REMOTE ACCESS
Connection to another computer connected to the net.
ACCOUNT
Identification, associated to a User-Id and a password, which allows displaying
data or receiving and reading e-mail.
ADSL
Acronym of Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, is a type of DSL used for fast
Internet connections (up to 9Mbit towards the user and 640Kbps for downloads).
DESKTOP AREA
The desktop, is the screen on which you can find the links to the programmes
and their windows open when you launch them.
ATTACHMENT
File sent along with an e-mail message.
BACKEND
Application that in e-commerce, manages the “warehouse”.
BROWSER
A web browser (sometimes called navigator) is a programme which is able to
interpret the HTML code (more recently called XHTML) and display it as
hypertext. HTML is a code with which most web pages are built: the web
browser allows navigation in the web.
CARBON COPY
It is a function of the e-mail clients (Outlook for example) which allows to send
the same message to different recipients. This function is codified as "Cc".
DOWNLOAD
Transfer of one or more files from a PC to another thanks to the net, by using
the Ftp protocol. If you send a document the exact word is “upload”, if you
receive it is “download”.
FOLDER
Is the element that contains the document. It is known also as Directory.
CHAT
It is a server side programme used to allow many users to “talk” at the same
time in Internet. Chats can be public (free discussions) or private (in that case
they are hosted in particular “rooms”).
33 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
CLIENT
The client is the computer making the requests of data to a remote server. The
most common interface of a client is the browser (Netscape, Internet Explorer).
DATABASE
A database is a collection of information concerning a particular object or
purpose, inserted in records and tables and saved on a disk.
DEBUG
Operation aimed at verifying a programme, to test it and identify possible
malfunctioning.
DESKTOP
It can mean: if related to hardware, a desktop computer, i.e. a computer which
can stand on a desk (in English desktop); if related to software, the desktop
environment, i.e. a graphics environment characterized by the metaphor of the
virtual desktop.
DIRECTORY
Area of the Hard Disk, called folder, which contains (or can contain) files and
documents.
DOMAIN
Alphanumeric name which identifies an Ip address.
DRIVE
Peripheral used to read or write memory appliances, both magnetic and optical.
E-COMMERCE
Term used to refer to electronic commerce, i.e. the possibility to buy products
on the net thanks to the use of credit card or prepaid cards.
E-MAIL
Acronym of "Electronic mail".
FAQ
The acronym means Frequently Asked Questions, and it refers to collections of
common inquiries, listed with the relevant answers. They prevent users in a
newsgroup having to reply to over again to the same questions, especially the
most trivial, and to update new users regarding problems and issues already
discussed (and solved).
FILE
(English word for “archive”) in information technology it means a group of
codified information organized in a sequence of bytes, stored as a single
34 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
element on a mass memory (within the File System existing in that particular
mass memory).
FILE SYSTEM
It is the way in which the files are stored and organized on a filing device, like a
Hard disk or a CD-ROM. Different types of file systems exist: they are created for
different operating systems, for different memory units and different usages.
FIREWALL
Computer and/or programme controlling the access to a local network and
allowing it only to machines and users having particular characteristics.
DIGITAL SIGNATURE
It is an electronic signature that can be used to authenticate the identity of the
sender of a message or the person “signing” a document, and possibly to ensure
that the original content of the message or document that has been sent is
unchanged.
FLAME
An insulting criticism or remark meant to incite anger used in a newsgroup or on
a computer network.
FONT
Graphic representation of letters, number and symbols.
FORWARD
Function which allows a message received to be sent to other recipients.
FRAME
Internet page containing different document. For example: a part in the top
containing the heading of the site or a commercial banner, a part on the left
with a menu and one on the right displaying the content of the document chosen
in the menu.
FREEWARE
English term used to indicate a way of distributing software and applications.
Programmes with this type of licence can be copied, duplicated, distributed and
used freely and without charge.
FTP
A protocol that enables a user to move files from a distant computer to a local
computer using a network like the Internet.
GATEWAY
Device used to connect different computers in a network to allow the user
connected to access data stored in a remote computer.
35 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
GB
Abbreviation of Gigabyte. 1GB corresponds to 1.024 MB, i.e. 1.073.741.824
bytes.
GIF
Acronym of Graphic interchange format: it is the standard for graphic images,
developed by Compuserve to compress images. These files have .gif extension.
HARD DISK
It is a device used for the long-term memorization and data storage on a
computer.
HARDWARE
The term is composed by two words: hard and ware and it means appliance or
tool. It refers to the physic part of a personal computer, i.e. all magnetic,
optical, mechanical or electronic parts that make it work. It generally refers to
the physical part of a device or electronic equipment.
HOME PAGE
Generally it is the first page of a website. It is used in every website in the
world and it is the one which is opened when a URL (website address) is typed in
the address box without indicating a specific page. It can be called “default
page” as well.
HOST
It is the network’s computer which hosts resources an other services available
for other clients.
HOSTING
Availability of space on a server for the visualization of a website on the net.
HTML
Hypertext Markup Language, it is the standard language to create hypertexts for
display in the World Wide Web.
HTTP
The set of rules and standards that govern how information is transmitted on the
World Wide Web. It is the main protocol used in Internet.
ICON
It is a small image (generally a stylized drawing) which represents a programme,
an action or a type of file, or, generally, to transmit information in a very
synthetic way.
IP ADDRESS
36 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
IP address is a 12-number code assigned to each computer connected to the
Internet. The number is written as follows 194.244.86.2 and identifies every Pc
with an unambiguous address (there are no two identical IPs in Internet) to
enable the right addressing of data.
INTRANET
Local network which, even though not accessible from outside, uses Internet
technologies.
IT
Abbreviation of Information technology.
JAVA
Programming language developed by Sun Microsystems, ideal for Web pages.
JPEG
Acronym of Joint Photographic Expert Group, is a standard for the compression
of photographic images allowing high resolution and shades. Compressed files
have .jpg as extension.
KEYWORD
It refers to the key word used to search information within a database.
KERNEL
It is the core of an operating system. It is a software whose purpose is to provide
to processes in execution on the computer a safe and controlled access to
hardware.
LAN
Acronym of Local Area Network, it is a network connecting computers and
devices located in the same place which don’t need therefore transmission
services of data with the outside.
LINK
It can be associated to an image or to text and leads the user from a page to any
other file.
LINUX
Operating system conceived by Linus Torvalds and derived from Unix. Born as a
bet, it is now one of the operating systems international programmers love the
most. Different distributions exist and the most popular are: Redhat, Corel,
Mandrake, Caldera, Slackware, Debian e Suse.
LOGIN
Page from which it is possible to access protected sections.
LOGOUT
37 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
Operation made to get out of a page protected with User-Id and password.
MAILBOX
In Internet it identifies the mailbox in which e-mails are delivered.
MAILING LIST
It consists in the use of a programme able to send the same e-mail to different
e-mail addresses.
CD BURNER
It is a device used to create or copy compact discs (CD) or DVDs containing data,
audio and/or video.
MB
Megabyte, made by 1.024 KB (and more precisely by 1.048.576 byte), it is the
standard to measue the size of files.
MHZ
Mega hertz: indicates the speed of a processor. The standard now spreading is
GHZ (Giga hertz).
MICROPROCESSOR
It is an digital electronic device made up by a transistor included in one or more
integrated circuits. One or more processors are used as CPU by a system of
digital elaboration as a computer, a palm PC, a mobile phone or any other
digital device.
MOTHERBOARD
The motherboard (or mainboard-MB or System board) is a fundamental part of a
modern personal computer: it gathers all electronic circuits which interface the
main components and these and the expansion buses and external interfaces. It
is responsible for the transmission and proper temporisation of hundreds of
different high frequency signals very sensitive to disturbs: for this reason its
good construction is a key factor for the quality and reliability of the whole
computer.
SEARCH ENGINE
It is an automatic system which analyses a group of data, generally collected by
the same engine, and provides an index of available contents rating them thanks
to mathematic formulas that show the relevance compared to a determined
search key.
MOUSE
It is a device which sends inputs to a computer, thus making it possibile that a
movement it makes corresponds to a similar movement of a pointer on the
screen.
38 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
MP3
The Acronym stands for Mpeg1 Layer 3. It is the standard used to share music
files on the Internet. The great advantage of MP3 is that audio quality is similar
to a CD but it takes only a few MB space.
MPEG
Motion Picture Experts Group: it is a committee established in 1998 by the Iso
and IEc members for the definition of new digital audio and video standards.
MODEM
A device that enables computers to interact with each other via telephone lines
by converting digital signals to analog for transmitting and back to digital for
receiving.
NAME SERVER
Server which transforms network names in numerical addresses.
NETIQUETTE
Net etiquette. It regulates the behaviour in the message areas of Usenet ( the
newsgroups).
NEWSGROUP
Conferences or Usenet boards which gather messages exchanged among users on
different topics.
NICKNAME
This word refers to the familiar name assigned to a person and it is often
abbreviated with Nick. It is often used in chats or newsgroups.
OFF LINE
Indicates that a machine is not connected to the Network.
.ORG
Suffix of Internet domains used to identify associations and non governmental
organizations.
PACKAGE
Unit of data used to communicate, thanks to a network, between two
computers.
39 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
PASSWORD
Word which enables to access a protected area of a network or of a website. It
is generally associated with a User-Id and is case sensitive (it is able to recognise
lower and capital case letters).
PDF
Acronym of Portable Document Format, it is the graphic format owned by
Adobe.
PIXEL
Is the single dot which combined with others composes an image.
PLUG-IN
Additional software that, if installed, improves the functionality of software. For
example, in a browser the Flash plug-in allows to visualize graphic videos
produced in Macromedia Flash.
POP
It has two meanings: one, Point Of Presence, is used by Internet service
providers to ensure to the customer the telephone number of his/her district
(which allows to connect at the price of a urban call rate); the other means Post
Office Protocol, and is the protocol for e-mails. The most advanced protocol is
Imap. The e-mail Pop server stores the incoming e-mail.
POST
E-mail message.
PROTOCOL
Standard references to which software houses and hardware companies have to
respect to release any product.
PROVIDER
It is a company or an organization providing a service. The term can be used in
particular for: Internet Service Provider, television provider, telecommunication
provider.
QUERY
Operation to extrapolate, update or modify data stored in a database.
QUICKTIME
Apple Computer programme for the visualisation of video and multimedia
contents both on Pc and Mac.
40 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
RAM
Acronym standing for Random Access Memory. It is a temporary storage built
into a computer system that functions as a "workspace" for data and program
instructions.
RESET
Operation which shuts down and starts again a programme or the computer.
RESOLUTION
It refers to the maximum number of pixels which can be displayed on a monitor.
NET
many computers connected to each other. The smallest are called LAN or “local
networks” (for example among computers in the same building, or attached,
connected together) with the largest, named WAN or “geographical networks”
cover a larger area. Internet is a group of networks.
ROUTER
It is an electronic device (sometimes a real computer) which handles the
connection between 2 or more local networks. The router controls the address
of every single package it receives and decides where it comes from and
forwards it to the correct network.
SCRIPT
Piece of code written in the appropriate language (Javascript, Perl, PHP,
JScript) used within web pages to create animations or reactions otherwise not
available with simple Html.
SERVER
Computer connected to Internet 24 hours a day hosting the files of different
users and making them available in the net to those enabled to access them.
OPERATING SYSTEM
Abbreviated in OS it is the programme responsible for the control and
management of the hardware which constitutes a computer and its basic
operations.
SPAMMING
(said also “to do spam”) is the delivery of a large number of undesired messages
(generally commercial ones). It can be done through any media but the most
common is Internet and e-mail.
41 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
STREAMING VIDEO
It is one-way video transmission over a data network. Video files are played as
they are being downloaded over the Internet instead of users having to wait for
the entire file to download first.
TCP/IP
Acronym of Transmission control protocol/Internet protocol: it is the standard
protocol for the Internet connection and data transfer.
UNIX
Operating system for the computer. It is the most used system for Internet
servers.
UPGRADE
It is an improvement, update or installation of modifications to a specific
software.
UPLOAD
Copy and send a file from your computer to a remote system.
URL
Acronym of Uniform Resource Locator, it is the tool which gives a representation
of the location of a website or of an information available on the Internet
USERNAME
It is a word which identifies a user. It can be made by any combination of letters
and numbers. Username is a synonym of User-Id.
VIRUS
Programme able to damage data and applications of a computer.
WEBCAM
It is a small camera used only (or mainly) as an input device for the computer.
WEBCASTING
The term links the words “web” and “casting” and means the real-time
transmission of sounds and video (with streaming technology).
WEBMASTER
It is the person responsible for the design and the development of a website.
WWW (WORD WIDE WEB)
System of information distribution based on hypertexts created by CERN’s
researchers.
42 Granparents & Grandchildren Project – Handbook for Grandparents
43