RE: [TCLUG:17423] short description of the Internet

["Eric Hillman" <ehillman@cccu.com>]

> > I want to distribute a document throughout the company that gives a basic
> > description of how the Internet works. I'm trying to make it as simple as
> > possible, because the target audience is non-users who still think that 'The
> > Internet' is an icon on your desktop. My basic goal is to dissuade them of
> > that notion, so they don't say things like "I need the Internet on my
> > computer!!"

Just a comment on this thread...

For the most part, I don't think your coworkers are going to understand the
Internet, no matter how plainly you explain it to them, or how compelling a
metaphor you use.

In general, when trying to explain something technical to a non-techie, your
success is going to depend on a few factors --

1: The information has to be parcelled out in small enough quantities for them
to digest.

2: You should give them some kind of familiar phenomenon to relate it to -- try
to anthropomorphize the processes you're describing, while striving not to
suggest innacurate connotations (as I'm afraid the "telephone" metaphor might --
while there may be internet analogs to voice mail, busy signals and call
waiting, it gets pretty stretchy)

3: Most importantly, the recipient has to have some interest in understanding
what you're trying to explain.

For example, if I have a user who's repeatedly getting mail returned to her and
thinks something's wrong with our mail server, I can often make some headway by
explaining the logical process by which I deduce that it is her friend's ISP's
mail server that is down, and not our own, peppered with helpful descriptions
like "then, our firewall looks up the post office address for your friend,
connects to it, and politely asks if it may deliver your message.  This is the
point where your friend's post office is saying 'No', and we get our error."
Eventually, my user will understand, or at least pretend to, and leave me alone.
On the other hand, if I were just to send out a treatise on "How E-Mail Works"
to everybody here, it would most surely get ignored by pretty much everybody and
misunderstood by the rest.  (at least, that's what happened last time).

Think of it this way -- if I take my car in for repairs, I expect the mechanic
to be able to explain my car's problem to me in a general way.  I don't want or
need a breakdown of the workings of my oxygen sensors and catalytic convertor if
the trouble is a faulty thermostat.  I certainly don't want to be lectured on
the general principles of internal combustion *before* I've described my problem
to them.

In other words, I believe that if you're just trying to break people of the
irritating habit of referring to the Internet in sentences like "my internet is
broken", you'd do better to just correct their usage to "my internet *access* is
broken" and leave it at that.

Remember, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.  If you think you're bugged
by people asking to have the Internet installed on their PC, wait until you get
people asking if their TCP/IP socket has come unplugged...


--
Eric Hillman
UNIX Sysadmin/Webmaster
City & County Credit Union
ehillman@cccu.com