US/ND-3: Re: Content - text vs gui

Re: Content - text vs gui

Betty Dawn Hamilton (bhamilt@tenet.edu)
Thu, 12 Sep 1996 18:25:53 -0500 (CDT) 

Betty Hamilton wrote:
> >I happen to enjoy text-only because I find it efficient for mail
> >management and moderating educational discussion groups on Tenet.
> >I also understand that text-only is not *glamourous* enough to get
> >much attention from beginners.

Ken Hammer wrote:
> I like that and feel that initial subsidies might be limited to text.
> There is so much there that can be done with less system expense than
> full graphic that there is reason to wonder whether the *glamour*
> should be the attraction.  Let the real workers/users graduate to gui
> for the stuff that benefits from it.

I understand your reasoning, and getting to use gui might be incentive to 
work to master text-only connections first. However, if we want students 
and the public in general to be *attracted* to the internet as a source of 
information and to participate in a democracy, I'm afraid we will have to 
offer web searching via gui.

When I attended the CoSN/FARNET meeting in Washington about 4 years ago,
the talk was then of making online access so easy that it can be used the
same way we use a telephone -- we don't have to know *how* it works --
just that it does with a few key punches and we're there!  Of course, I
know that internet use is not the sole purpose of this discussion, but
unless access is as user-friendly as a voice telephone, we may have a hard
time getting a marjority of people to be interested even if it is free in
a library or some other public place.  

One of the beauties of having universal access in schools is that
assignments can *require* that a student obtain information from certain
sources.  Yes, I know that *inspiration* is the best method for getting
students to learn, but we can also introduce them to it as a mandate. 
THEN they will be ready to use computer mediated communications in the
public places when they need or want to.  Ready access needs to be both 
in schools AND public libraries -- but then, I don't think anyone 
disagrees with that.  

As for how the funds should be distributed, etc., I just haven't figured 
out how I feel about that yet. I'm still mulling that over.
                                .----. 
Betty Hamilton, LRS             |    |                701 Cub Drive
bhamilt@tenet.edu           ____|*    ~~~~~~.         Brownfield TX 79316
Brownfield High School      \               |         (806) 637-4523
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