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How
Electronic Communications Are Changing Our Lives
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Question: What is more
impressive than the pyramids, more beautiful than Michelangelo's David and more
important to mankind than the wondrous inventions of the Industrial Revolution? (see Footnote 1 ) To the converted, there can
be only one answer: The Internet, that undisciplined radical electronic communications
network that is shaping our universe.
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This article will give a brief
outline of the history of electronic communications in general and the Internet in
particular, how to join in, and what you will find in this brave new world. I will also
describe ways in which electronic communications can be used for research and classroom
teaching so that you and your students can benefit from the wonders of "The
Net." And finally, I will hazard a few predictions on where we can expect our
"electronic superhighway" (as the Internet is also called) to take us in the
coming decade. However, what I cannot do, in this simple article, is impart the wonderment
and fun that can overtake the Internet voyager or even the novice. A complete and
exhaustive explanation of all of the possibilities for electronic enjoyment and
edification would take a book; and books on the Internet already abound. Thus, this
article presents for the beginner, a brief and simple overview of some of the most popular
functions of the Internet, and fills in the blanks with a bibliography.
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Electronic communications
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You already have experience with electronic
communications: Every time you make an airline reservation or use an automatic teller
machine or have your credit card verified, you are participating in an electronic
communications session. A remote computer is "talking" to another computer on
your behalf in order to perform some function for you. But what if computers could talk to
remote people? Or if you could "talk" to remote colleagues and libraries via
computer? Well, that is a reality-a virtual reality, as the saying goes. Not only
is it possible for us to communicate instantly with people and places via computer using
electronic mail (e-mail), it can also be inexpensive and simple to do. E-mail, which is
the essence of the Internet, is only one of many "tools" that are appearing
along the entire length of the "electronic superhighway." This highway, like
others, has its potholes and hazardous turns, but it is now the quickest way to get to the
people we want to "talk" to and the information we want to find. In short, while
e-mail is the simplest and most immediate function of the Internet for many people, there
are many other fascinating aspects of electronic communications, all of which revolve
around the acquisition and transfer of information.
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The industrial age has matured into the
information age, wherein the means to access, manipulate, and use information has become
crucial to our lives and success, both as teachers and citizens of the global village. The
electronic superhighway provides an entree to libraries, research institutions, databases,
art galleries, census bureaus, and myriad other sources of data; but for those of us
interested in intercultural communication, the best part about it all is that Cyberspace
is a universal community, with instant access not just to information everywhere, but also
to friends old and new around the globe.
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What exactly is the Internet? A clear definition
is incredibly hard to find, not least because Internet experts cannot agree among
themselves. Nevertheless, most netters (Internet participants) will agree that the
Internet is an amorphous global network of thousands of linked computers that pass
information back and forth. It is the prototype National Information Infrastructure (NRI)
that the Clinton administration has made the cornerstone of its technology policy for the
United States.
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While the Internet has no government, no owners,
no shareholders, no members, no time, no place, and no country, it definitely has a
culture, which frequently approaches anarchy; and it has a language, which is more or less
English. The Internet is the ultimate expression of democracy in its total freedom of
speech and its rule by the "people." There are still no police, censors, or
enforcers, so netters are the ones who, by force of opinion, determine what is or is not
acceptable behavior in Cyberspace.
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Like all new worlds, Cyberspace has its own
lingo, some of which you have already encountered in this article. For example, in
addition to Cyberspace and electronic superhighway, the net is also
increasingly referred to as the e-bahn and i-way . Other important words in
Cyber-lingo are words to describe people who roam the net; netters, e-surfers , internet
surfers are the most common. The Internet has its pejoratives, too, of course; there
is, for example, the dismissive term lurker for the person who hangs around the net
, reading what is there but not contributing any words. But the strongest electronic
pejoratives are hurled by those who flame . This wonderfully descriptive term flaming
refers to the public humiliation of another netter as punishment for a real or
imagined transgression against net culture. Transgressions in a public forum (not in
private e-mail, of course) include sending public mail that is off the given topic of the
forum, or holding unpopular views. The most scorching flames are reserved for people who
advertise a product or service for personal profit on the net; netters don't like
commercialism, and they express their distaste in quite caustic flames.
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E-mail and electronic communications in general
are not new. In fact, large-scale use of computer-to-computer transfer of information was
implemented by the United States military in the late 60s and early 70s--part of the
superpower competition of the cold war and the arms race. The U. S. military created an
electronic network (ARPANET) to use computers for handling the transfer of large amounts
of sensitive data over long distances at incredible speed;computer-to-computer virtual
connections, using satellites and fiberoptics, have distinct advantages over telephone or
radio communications in the event of a nuclear attack. Later, recognizing that shared
information among scientists and mathematicians was also of strategic value, the network
was made accessible to scholars and researchers in universities and colleges around the
world.
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Thus, mathematicians and scientists (and their
universities) have been linked and electronically exchanging information over the Internet
since the mid-70s. However, e-mail and the Internet are too wonderful to remain in the
hands of just a few academics or the military, and in the last few years, important
developments in electronic communications have begun to affect the lives of all of us.
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France was first to recognize the human value of
this technology and implemented its Minitel program in 1980. With a small, simple terminal
in each user's home, Minitel allows electronic access to databases of necessary consumer
information, such as residential and business phone numbers and train and airline
schedules. Minitel remains a monument to the proposition that science can serve society in
friendly ways; however, its technology has now been overtaken by advances outside France.
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In the United States, the end of the coldwar
brought with it an end to the virtual monopoly of the military and scientists over the
Internet. Several things then changed:
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- The Internet has become commercialized, with private and public companies offering
access to it. The best-known of these international commercial electronic access
providers, but by no means the only one, is Compuserve.
- Teachers in the humanities have recognized the benefits of the Internet as a research
and teaching tool, and have begun to clamor for some of the electronic communications
services enjoyed by their colleagues in the sciences.
- The current U.S. administration has made the development of the
"National Information Infrastructure" a cornerstone
of its domestic technology policy. The Internet is to be expanded
and improved so that every home, every school, every institution,
can be linked to share data, information, music, video, and
other resources. The U.S. administration's position on this
reflects a global awareness that the Postindustrial Age will
require different thinking, different education, and a different
work culture.
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The Postindustrial Age is the
information age, and the means to acquire, store, manipulate,
and use information will lead to success and power. That is why
electronic transfer of information is so important to education.
Moreover, since electronic communications are global and the Internet
has no borders, this technology creates many opportunities for
cultural and linguistic exchange, impacting on language education
and our roles as language teachers and cultural ambassadors.
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How to use electronic communications
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While it is not hard to see that electronic
communications are the wave of the future, riding this wave is more problematic. What is
sure, however, is that today, you essentially need three things: a computer or a computer
terminal, some kind of connection (probably modem and telephone line) to the Internet, and
some kind of Internet service provider. It is also sure that learning to use these things
will present some frustrating times before they open the brave new world of the Internet.
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1. Your computer: The good news is
that for the purposes of electronic mail your computer does not need to be new, fancy,
powerful, or expensive. And you do not need to be a computer expert to surf on the net. In
fact, using a computer for electronic communication is considerably less complicated than
programming a video cassette recorder (VCR). To use the Internet successfully (though
perhaps not fully), it does not matter if you are using an IBM Personal Computer, a PC
"clone," a MAC, or another kind of machine; all personal computers can be made
to connect to the Internet. And whatever type of computer you use for the Internet can
communicate with any other computerlarge or smallno matter what make, type,
style, or age.
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2. A modem: For most people,
getting "on-line" requires a connection to a central computer elsewhere that
will actually open the Internet door for you. If you can connect from your school, you
will not have to worry about how the connection is made, although you might have to be
concerned with sharing the equipment with several colleagues. Many universities around the
world provide personal computers and terminals that are directly connected (hardwired) to
a central institutional computer which hooks into the Internet. But people who become
accustomed to using electronic communications, who learn how to use libraries in many
countries, who join electronic discussion forums, or who correspond with friends by
e-mail, find that they prefer to connect to the Internet from home. If this is the case,
you need a modem, which is a small device that persuades your computer to "talk"
on the phone to other computers and thus to the Internet.
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Many people ask whether this means long-distance
phone charges to send messages to the other side of the world. Fortunately, the user's
charge is only the cost of making the call to the local computer that is
Internet-connected. Regardless of where one's electronic messages are going, there is no
long-distance charge for the e-mail itself.
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CompuServe and other commercial
services make it possible for users to access their service with
local phone calls, regardless of where they are located. The costs
of local connection can vary wildly, not only among countries,
but also within countries, and it is important to be aware of
the costs of connecting to the Internet.
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3. An Internet address or provider:
Even with a computer and a modem, however, the would-be Internet surfer still cannot get
to the heart of things without his or her own personal Internet address or authorization
to use the net. An Internet provider will supply the address; a university will provide it
to teachers and students, or one can turn to a commercial provider. The telecommunications
companies in many countries are working on developing Internet access for the public.
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Naturally, cities are better
served than rural areas, but teachers near universities (even
in rural areas) can encourage the university to share their Internet
access with the surrounding schools and colleges that do not yet
subscribe. Electronic mail costs a university almost nothing,
and the cost does not increase in proportion to the volume of
use; so, asking for electronic mail access through a local university
is not an outrageous request. On the other hand, the main computer
at some universities is already overloaded and any more users
may slow down the system for other purposes, making the university
reluctant to provide electronic mail access to teachers not on
its faculty.
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One unexpected obstacle to getting on-line is
that it is sometimes hard to find out who in a university or department is responsible for
assigning e-mail addresses to eligible staff and faculty. It is worth being persistent
until you find someone who knows what e-mail is and who is a user. If no one in the
humanities seems to have the information you seek, try the physics or math departments of
the university. You will undoubtedly find that they have been "connected" for
quite a while. Ask them how they got connected and follow their lead.
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The Internet Society says
that Internet connectivity is available in every country of the
world, no matter how remote. However, "available" is
not always the same as "easily available" or "inexpensive."
It is worth looking into commercial services, which will provide
excellent service for a fee. Each country has its own e-mail service
provider, and new ones are appearing daily. CompuServe is one
provider that is international, but others such as Delphi, MCImail,
Minitel, etc., are excellent and should be considered.
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Another important point about choosing an
Internet provider is the question of COMPLETE Internet access. When you first start out on
the net, e-mail is generally what you are most interested in. But as you get to feel at
home in Cyberspace, you will probably want to access and retrieve information housed in
libraries and other sources. In order to do that, you will need Internet options known as USENET,
telnet, file transfer protocol(ftp.), gopher, and World Wide Web (WWW), which are
described later in this article.
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A word about electronic addresses
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E-mail addresses are very interesting. At first
glance, they are indecipherable to a novice, but these short sets of numbers, letters, and
symbols can assure their owners of e-mail from anywhere in the world. The most important
symbol in an e-mail address is the @ sign, which separates the personal user's
identification (user ID) on the left, from the domain, or machine address, on the right.
Here's my own address as an example:
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The part to the left of the
@ is my personal user ID ( ABTHC ), which stands for Anthea
B. Tillyer, Hunter College. The part immediately after the @ shows
the "node" or machine. My university uses a VM machine
(VM=virtual machine), so the machine address is CUNYVM
, which means "City University of New York Virtual Machine."
Then there is a dot to separate the different "domains"
or "subdomains" within the address. After the dot, we
have the name of the institution, City University of New York
( CUNY ), and finally we have the domain EDU which
stands for "education." Domains can be EDU or GOV (for
government) or COM (for commercial) or MIL (for military) or NET
(for Internet or related network service provider) or ORG (for
organization, probably non-profit). CompuServe addresses are all
@compuserve.com.
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Once our intrepid new net-surfer gets his/her
e-mail address or user ID, then what? How does s/he join the fun? The best way to start
surfing is to use private e-mail, sending electronic messages to friends and colleagues,
across the room or across the world. One thing is sure: There will be plenty of
frustration and confusion at first. Cyberspace is a new language and culture, and everyone
suffers from culture-shock when they first find out that their cherished and familiar
traditions do not apply in this new world. One of the most effective ways to combat
Internet culture-shock and confusion is to have a friend who has gone before you into this
new world and who can reply to your messages asking for help. As long as you can send
messages and read the replies you receive, help is always available.
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After a few sorties in the protected area of
electronic mail with friends and colleagues, a foray into a newsgroup might be a good
idea. Newsgroups are bulletin boards collections of messages from all over the
world, unedited and unexpurgated, divided up by topic. There are literally thousands of
newsgroups, several of which will be of at least some interest to any new user. The whole
system is known as USENET or NETNEWS. USENET is one of the original Internet fun-houses,
but it is not particularly easy to use or friendly to "newbies." On the other
hand, USENET is a good place for the novice to start because it does not put any strain on
your personal electronic mailbox with a lot of unsolicited electronic mail, because no
mail comes to you. For newsgroups, the reader has to go to the group_nothing comes to the
mailbox.
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To access USENET or NETNEWS newsgroups on many
electronic systems, a new user can simply type whichever of these two names his system
uses. However, each system is different, and the new user should ask the people who run
the system at his site for details on what services are available and how to access them.
Unfortunately, some commercial services do not yet include NETNEWS or USENET in their
offerings, but subscribers are asking for the opportunity to belong to newsgroups, and
more and more commercial services are obliging.
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After a time of reading newsgroups, the netter
might well yearn for a more active or organized participation in the net, at which point
lists are a good idea. Lists (also known as LISTSERVERS) are electronic discussion
groups that bring together like-minded individuals to "discuss" a given topic.
It is necessary for would-be readers of lists to "join" the list and become a
subscriber since the mail generated by the forum (or list) only goes to members. There are
lists to satisfy every taste, and if you find that there is a field without a discussion
list, you are free to start your own. When you join a list, you join an international
group to discuss whatever topic the list is about. If you are an English teacher, for
example, you will want to join TESL-L for ESL/ EFL teachers, described in more
detail on the next page.
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It is good to join lists slowly, though, one at
a time, because lists send mail to your personal mailbox (unlike newsgroups) and the mail
can add up. Some, like TESL-L generate 50 or more messages a day. How to join lists is
outlined in more detail below.
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What else is on the Internet?
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The essence of the Internet lies in two broad
categories of communication: person-to-person; and person-to-data:
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1. Person-to-person electronic
communication: This can be a one-to-one format, as in private messaging via
electronic mail. If I have a question about style or content for this article, I can send
off a quick message to the FORUM editor without ever leaving my Windows program. If
I am not here when his message arrives, it will simply wait in my "electronic
mailbox" until I pick it up.
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TESL-L (Teachers of English as a Second
Language Electronic List) is an electronic discussion forum that unites teachers and
researchers in our profession giving them the chance to exchange ideas and challenges. As
of this writing (April, 1995) TESL-L has about 7000 members in 79 countries and is growing
daily. The teachers in the group communicate by e-mail, and they can choose whether their
message will be sent to one or two other people or to the whole group.
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Members of TESL-L liken it to a huge
international teachers' lounge in that it is a community of teachers who support, help,
inform, and amuse each other. If, for example, I wanted a reference for the bibliography
at the end of this article, I could send out a message on the net asking for help. Within
minutes, even seconds, I would have several helpful and informed replies to speed my
bibliography on its way. In addition to the daily "talk" on the Net, TESL-L
has an extensive archive of TEFL/TESL materials and articles, all of which can be
downloaded (retrieved) remotely 24 hours a day through your computer. The Internet has
thousands of groups or lists like TESL-L , each focusing on some vocation or
avocation of interest. All these groups are run at no cost to members through the
volunteer efforts of the founders and the donated machine time of their institutions. Some
of the professional discussion forums like TESL-L are supported by grants from
public and private institutions. To get a list of all the available lists, send electronic
mail to:
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As the entire text of your message, type:
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You will then receive the complete (and long!)
list of lists by electronic mail. If you prefer to receive a more focused list,
then you can ask for a list of only those forums that deal with the topics you are
interested in. The message that you send to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.NET will then look like
this:
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For example : LIST GLOBAL/language
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To join any of the lists that appeal to you, you
send an electronic message to the LISTSERV at the address of the list. For example,
the address of TESL-L is
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so @CUNYVM.EDU is the address of the LISTSERV
to which one must write in order to join TESL-L . After addressing the message to
the LISTSERV , the would-be subscriber types four words:
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SUB TESL-L first-name last-name
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For example : SUB TESL-L John Doe
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Because "lists" are essentially just
e-mail, they are accessible to commercial service users as well as more
"traditional" Internet surfers.
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2. Person-to-data electronic
communication: The Internet is a veritable storehouse of data; the amount of
information available is quite extraordinary and growing every day. Some of it is
practical and time-sensitive, and some is more conventional and timeless. For example, you
can arrange for the day's transcripts of CNN broadcasts to be "delivered" to
your electronic mailbox daily, together with timely classroom ideas and exercises. In
seconds, you can access any of the great libraries in universities to create
bibliographies, check references, or obtain articles. Or, for another example, you can
retrieve the complete text of Rip Van Winkle from Colorado, language teaching
software from Australia and Hong Kong, crime or hunger statistics from the United Nations.
And, using advanced equipment, you can see true-motion video of a remote art museum or
heart surgery. And all of this is done in seconds.
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The information you need is there, and the
Internet has the tools to help you locate what you want and then retrieve it. For locating
entries in information storage centers around the world, one of the easiest and more
interesting "tools" is GOPHER . This handy little fellow will happily
offer you the data that you are looking for, or tell you where to find it. Certain
"gopher holes" (universities) specialize in particular kinds of information. For
example, if you are interested in materials related to teaching English, you will want to
check out the TESL/TEFL gopher at the City University of New York. When you have acquired
some confidence and skills on the Internet, find gopher CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU; then select
Subject Specifics Gophers; and then Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language.
After that, make your own selections. If you are not sure that you have access to gopher,
try typing the word GOPHER at your e-mail system prompt, you might be pleasantly surprised
to find that you can just step into gophering.
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Another data-retrieval tool on the Internet is ftp
(file transfer protocol), which is one of the original Internet tools and therefore not
particularly user-friendly. It is worth learning to use this method of obtaining articles,
data, and even whole books (in plain text) from the Internet, but ftp takes time and
patience to learn and you need special access to it.
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The newer Internet tools like Mosaic and World
Wide Web are easier to use than the older methods (such as ftp) and allow the user
access to color, graphics, full-motion video, and so forth. The disadvantage of these new
resources is that, unlike gopher and ftp, Mosaic , and World Wide Web
require fairly sophisticated equipment that most users (and many universities) do not have
yet. It may be many years before the regular Internet surfer will routinely be able to use
these wonderful tools from home.
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Using electronic communications with students
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Internet is there for students of course; and
language teachers will find that it offers them opportunities for innovation and
creativity. If you can arrange for Internet access for your students, either on an
individual basis or as a class group, they can be involved in electronic pen-pal
arrangements with students in many other countries. The speed of electronic communications
ensures swift replies for writers, which of course, motivates them to write even more.
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It is also possible to arrange for your students
to work with student groups at other schools on specific projects. For example, each group
might do some research on the Internet and then collaborate to produce a report. The
writing required for the students to collaborate effectively in projects like this will
provide useful practice. And e-mail requires reading as well as writing.
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All the research tools and activities described
previously are available to students. You can organize scavenger hunts, races, quizzes,
and research assignments on the Internet. Students can join lists and read newsgroups.
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These are merely a brief overview of some of the
many Internet teaching strategies that teachers are trying in language classrooms around
the world. One of the important functions of the TESL-L electronic forum is to give
teachers a chance to share ideas for using this technology to enhance language teaching.
It is convenient and reassuring to be able to ask questions and glean ideas from your
peers on the network. In addition, the TESL-L archives are rich with articles and
reports about using Internet tools and resources with students.
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There is no doubt that we are in the middle of a
communications revolution that will deeply affect our lives, our teaching, and our
students. We have available to us at a keystroke the libraries, schools, and people of the
world. Fairly soon, many people will be able to access unimaginable resources of
entertainment and professional edification right from home. As more people start to use
the Internet, ways will be found to make it simpler to use and even more impressive as a
repository of knowledge and ideas.
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Truly, this is a revolution
that might well be "more important to mankind than the wondrous
inventions of the Industrial Revolution." If we don't learn
to use the Internet and all its resources, we run the risk of
shortchanging ourselves and our classes. But most of all, we run
the risk of losing out on the excitement and fun of the brave
new world, the Internet.
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Anthea
Tillyer teaches English as a Second Language and Technical Writing at the City
University of New York. She founded the TESL-L electronic network as its project director.
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Return
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- Dern, D. P. 1994. The Internet guide for new users. New York: McGraw-Hill
- Glosbrenner, A. 1995. Internet: A college student's guide. New York: McGraw-Hill
- Hahn, H. and R. Stout. 1994. The Internet complete reference. Berkeley, CA: Osborne
McGraw-Hill.
- Kehoe, B. P. 1993. Zen and the art of the Internet: A beginner's
guide. Englewood Cliffs, N J: Prentice-Hall
- Krol, E. 1992. The whole Internet user's guide and catalog. 2nd
Edition Sebastapol, CA: O'Reilly and Associates
- LaQuey, T. and J. C. Ryder. 1992. The Internet companion: A beginner's
guide to global networking. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
- Marine, A., S. Kirkpatrick, V. Neou, and C. Ward. 1993. Internet: Getting started.
Englewood Cliffs, N J: Prentice-Hall.
- Negroponte, N. 1995. Being digital. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
- Randall. R. 1994. Teach yourself the Internet: Around the world
in 21 days. Indianapolis, Indiana: SAMS Publishing.
- Savetz, K. 1994. Your Internet consultant. Indianapolis, Indiana:
SAMSPublishing.
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Footnote 1
1. Hartley Hahn and Rick Stout, The Internet Complete Reference. Berkeley, Calif:
Osborne McGraw-Hill, 1994.
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