Until yesterday, that was the sound of the Internet in the minds of my parents. After years of languishing in the frustrating world of dial-up internets (Are you online? I need to use the phone!), they've finally bitten the bullet and had broadband installed. They've gone from 56 kb/s to 10,000 kb/s, but aside from the massive speed increase, I have a feeling they're going to use the web in exactly the same way they did before, which would be a bit of a shame.
I've been trying to think of some links to send them in order to demonstrate the things they can do with broadband that would have been impossible on dial-up. As I've taken a fast connection for granted for so long, I'm struggling to think of very much (aside from BBC iPlayer and YouTube).
Any ideas then?
[ 18.04.2008, 05:36: Message edited by: MiscellaneousFiles ]
Posted by Ringo (Member # 47) on :
Maybe they could sign up for TMO?
Posted by Louche (Member # 450) on :
Yeah! And then when I eventually manage to get my mum online I could make her post, too! She can talk about Time Team. She's very fond of Time Team.
Posted by Jimmy Big Nuts (Member # 895) on :
they could torrent that new Ministry of Sound Garage Classic 3xcd mix.
Posted by sam (Member # 884) on :
How old are they? Are they retired or still working?
There are senior people's (50+) discussion boards that my older friends tell me are great. There are also local discussion boards.
Do they have email and relatives abroad or in different parts of the country? My aged Aunt Dorothy was a demon with email and forged links with all her younger relatives. They could get a web cam and keep in closer touch with grandparents or children.
My Aunt also used to use the email to campaign for stuff. She was a sod for writing to the PM.
There are on-line book clubs, or running book club threads on larger discussion boards if they like reading.
Maybe they could also take up games.
They could subscribe to all sorts of on-line mags and newspapers. The local library has on-line services, if they use the library, or if they don't yet.
They could subscribe to emails from local theatres and cinemas, and search the local service sites for activities.
look for cheap holidays they might not have been able to go on otherwise.
Book train tickets and buy books cheaper on-line, or sell stuff on e-bay for a hobby or to raise cash for a favourite charity or to buy stuff back. Some people scour jumble sales so they can resell it on ebay. If they are worried about internet fraud and credit cards, get them to do what I do. I have one internet-fraud covered credit card that I use solely for the internet. It is very easy to keep tabs on.
Get a TV card and have an extra free-view TV to watch for when dad wants to watch bloody football again on the main TV - and don't forget it isn't just the BBC does view-again TV.
You can listen to any amount of radio programmes on the internet
Look on the BBC, Guardian and main newspaper sites for their comments section and have their say. Sometimes they can be very funny.
do some on-line learning, some of which is free, although most good stuff isn't.
Buy a scanner and start storing their family pictures on-line on flickr or something for all the family to share.
Start blogging on a simple, free blogging page, or start a history of their life for the grandchildren or children
Join genes reunited and start researching their family history. There's a BBC site to start you off I think.
Join Amnesty International and start sending letters to prisoners of conscience.
Make their own, personalised birthday cards using DTP, family photos and images from google.
If they have hobbies or interests, join an on-line club or site for it - especially if it has local links and will lead to actual meetings and activities
Listen to Five Live in the morning and send in emails to be read out (or similar radio programmes during the day).
tmo needs newbies.
Do they know how to play their own music whilst they are browsing, so they are not sitting in silence? Also, half the problem in finding what is on the net is that people don't know how to do a search well because they can't think of useful search terms and how to vary them and they get pout off, so help them learn how to do that well and get them searching. google is good enough, once they know how to search.
Posted by sam (Member # 884) on :
Misc, perhaps if you get their computer linked up to one of those sites where you can access theirs, you can actually demonstrate sites for them from your distance away. I have a link with a mate who's a techy, but I have to enable it before he can get on, which I prefer, but he set it up in seconds, so it can't be hard to do. If you don't live with them, then perhaps you should get a web cam started between you and sign them up for live messenger.
Posted by MiscellaneousFiles (Member # 60) on :
quote:Originally posted by sam: How old are they? Are they retired or still working?
They're in their sixties. My dad's technically retired but still works as a Latin/French teacher at public schools, when he feels like it - mainly for the afternoon tea and cakes. My mum on the other hand works with the scum of the earth at a Pupil Referal Unit where she regularly gets threatened with knives, but she's retiring in the summer.
Posted by ralph (Member # 773) on :
quote:Originally posted by MiscellaneousFiles: They've gone from 56 kb/s to 10,000 kb/s
56 kb/s is broadband. Posted by MiscellaneousFiles (Member # 60) on :
Thanks for the advice.
Believe it or not, they were already doing a lot of these things on dial-up. Obviously this will be a lot less painful on broadband, but I'm really looking for things that are broadband-specific. I'd like them to get the idea that the Internet isn't just about pages of text and images anymore.
The webcam/WLM idea's a good one as they've got various friends scattered across Europe.
I'm not sure they'd fit in on TMO really. My dad would just chastise Dance Marg for her refusal to use capital letters and correct punctuation. My mum would spend all her time trying to arrange meats, and asking all the (comparatively) young people what's considered "cool" these days.
Posted by herbs (Member # 101) on :
Surely pron?
Posted by MiscellaneousFiles (Member # 60) on :
I'm not going there, herbs...
:shudder:
Posted by sam (Member # 884) on :
I thought they could search the kids at these referral centres? I've been thinking of dropping back from teaching my subject speciality but didn't want to go into normal school SEN provision, and I've recently been to my Head to see if he would consider transferring me over to a similar unit he is thinking of starting within my school; with some re-training I hope. We'll see what provision he provides first though - if he goes ahead.
They'll have tons of time soon to surf the net. My Aunt Dorothy loved it. She lived in NZ so the population was a bit sparse and her relatives scattered so she loved the email, although she wouldn't have anything to do with web cams, which is a shame as I love them and they give so much pleasure with young relatives.
Your parents might find it interesting to keep up some of their specialist interests. For instance there are discussion boards out there for non-English speakers and scholars and teachers of all sorts. Often teachers become teachers because of an impulse to give and help, as well as a love of their specialist area, and these sites can be a good way of doing that without stress, even if just for a while, or just to keep their hand in.
I'm not saying your dad will find this interesting because it is for TEFL students and they want English explaining rather than French, but an example would be WordReference.com Language Forums I do know that there are sites for French teachers in English schools out there and your dad might enjoy sharing his expertise that way. Not sure if your mum 's skills are transferable over a computer since she has to deal very much hands-on with difficult students. Anyway, both might just want to forget teaching, eh?
ETA Forgot to quote your post Misc, but of course you know what post this applies to.
[ 18.04.2008, 07:01: Message edited by: sam ]
Posted by sam (Member # 884) on :
quote:Originally posted by MiscellaneousFiles: I'd like them to get the idea that the Internet isn't just about pages of text and images anymore.
I'd like to know this.
Posted by Tilde (Member # 1215) on :
Show your dad how to delete the history.
Posted by MiscellaneousFiles (Member # 60) on :
Lots of my dad's pupils (mainly terribly pawsh young ladies) have told him to add them as friends on Facebook!
Posted by mart (Member # 32) on :
quote:Originally posted by sam: WordReference.com
I use this all the time -- it's not just for students. I tend to use it as a quick bilingual reference as I don't actually own a general Spanish-English dictionary. In fact I use it more as a bilingual thesaurus, as it's very rarely I don't actually know what a word means of the kind I look up on WR, it's more a kind of "... oh how else could I say that in English... easier (quicker) to look it up rather than actually think about it..."
Posted by sam (Member # 884) on :
quote:Originally posted by mart:
quote:Originally posted by sam: WordReference.com
I use this all the time -- it's not just for students. I tend to use it as a quick bilingual reference as I don't actually own a general Spanish-English dictionary. In fact I use it more as a bilingual thesaurus, as it's very rarely I don't actually know what a word means of the kind I look up on WR, it's more a kind of "... oh how else could I say that in English... easier (quicker) to look it up rather than actually think about it..."
I have no talent for any language except English so only go on that part, and I assume our paths do not cross; but can't t'internet be a small place sometimes? Posted by sabian (Member # 6) on :
My grandpa is nearly 80 and he got broadband a few years ago specifically to keep in touch with me over here.
But, since then he has gotten back into photography (bought himself a 10D because he was tired of scanning in his 35mm) and now hangs out on places like Flickr and Betterphoto.
He is also a Youtube junkie and watches streaming media from our big channels (nbc and the like)...
I think that once they see what speed can actually afford them, they'll end up following links all over the place and will get quite involved... Just make sure you show them that the internet is more than Bukkake and let the evolution take hold.
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