LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal ISSN 1058-6768 March 31, 1995 Volume 5 Issue 1 Quarterly LIBRE5N1 Reviews _____________________________________________________ Jaffe, David Lee _Introducing the Internet: a trainer's workshop_ 1st edition, Plus, Internet workshop series, No. 1. Berkeley, California: Library Solutions Press, c1994 Includes two 3.5" diskettes of presentation slides created in PowerPoint, one readable with DOS and one with Mac based computers. ISBN: 1-88208-05-6 Price: $45.00 Ordering Information: 11000 Industrial Road, Suite 9 San Carlos, CA 94070 Fax Orders: 415-594-0411 Phone Orders & Inquiries: 510-841-2636 Introducing the Internet: a trainer's workshop, is aptly named. The text contains Jaffe's lecture, presentation slides and handouts for presenting an introductory course on the Internet. The lecture is accompanied by tips on how to conduct such a lecture. The text of the book is divided so that the trainer's lecture notes read in a right column covering approximately three quarters of each page, while notes on when to use transparencies and tips for the trainers follow down the left column. Jaffe claims the purpose of the book is two fold. Introducing the Internet is written first for novice trainers whose primary job has not previously been to train users on the Internet. Jaffe states that the introductory lecture is designed to answer the questions: "what is the Internet?", "what does it do?" and "why should I be interested?" Introducing the Internet is written secondly for the beginning Internet user to follow as a self-paced tutorial. The author notes in the preface that in order for the book to be used as a tutorial, the user must work through each handout systematically. Jaffe begins with "Preliminary Steps" for trainers on preparing for a class. He then supplies an outline and text of a complete lecture, suggestions for an online demonstration, a complete set of presentation slides to accompany the lecture, and handouts which could be distributed to participants. The text concludes with a sample of how another presenter has adapted Lee Jaffe's slides and lecture notes to fit her particular style. The Introducing the Internet is available in two editions. The Plus edition includes diskettes of the presentation slides while the other edition supplies the book alone. The author notes that the slides may be used or adapted for use as long as the originator is given credit. TEXT OF THE REVIEW The text is excellently suited as a ready made session or a model for the novice trainer. Reading through the text serves to reinforce the trainer's basic knowledge of the Internet, email, remote logon (Telnet), Gopher, and FTP. Once the novice trainer is confident in their grasp of the basics, the text can serve as an outline to keep the novice trainer's lecture on track. The novice will find Jaffe's notes and tips useful. There are notes on the principals underlying a particular method that Jaffe uses to deal with a topic, the equipment needed, advice on how to assemble the right components for an introductory lecture, hints on the amount of time which should be allocated to each area of the lecture, and tips on common problems which can be avoided. Even though I am not a novice trainer, I found the "Tip to Trainer" notes in the left margins to be helpful. The tips give suggestions on how to explain concepts difficult to the beginner which may seem intuitive to the expert. The suggestions for what a trainer can expect to cover in a specified period of time has proved helpful as well to solidify ideas which had been growing with my training experience. I found the handouts and presentation slides to be the most useful feature of the book. Each handout is well organized, covering basic commands and lists of resources available on the Internet. The presentation slides can easily be adapted to any style or situation, and, with this book as a guide, a tailored lecture could consist of a brief introduction, or could blossom into a lengthy training session with hands-on training. However, Introduction to the Internet is not well suited as a tutorial for beginning Internet users. The text is readable, but there are no specific exercises designed to give the beginner practical experience. Although Jaffe suggests in the preface that the beginner must "go through the handouts systematically" in order to use the text as a tutorial, the handouts are not organized for this purpose and do not include step by step instructions as a beginner would need. The idea of using Introduction to the Internet as a tutorial seems like an afterthought to give the book a wider potential audience. Tracy Bicknell-Holmes University of Nebraska-Lincoln ________________________________________ This document may be circulated freely with this statement included in its entirety: This article was originally published in _LIBRES: Library and Information Science Electronic Journal_ (ISSN 1058-6768) March 31, 1995 Volume 5 Issue 1. For any commercial use, or publication (including electronic journals), you must obtain the permission of the authors. To subscribe to LIBRES send e-mail message to listserv@kentvm.kent.edu with the text: subscribe libres _ ________________________________________