[11579] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Need Help Articulating Internet Benefits
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brian Monkman)
Sat Apr 9 08:25:48 1994
Date: Sat, 9 Apr 1994 06:47:04 -0400
From: af088@freenet.carleton.ca (Brian Monkman)
To: tennant@metronet.com
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
Reply-To: af088@freenet.carleton.ca
>Could you help me out? What are the benefits you get from the net? I'm
>especially interested in your experienced benefits of gopher, WAIS and WWW.
>(Note: a benefit is not that I can do X, it's what X does for me.
>Example business benefits: faster, cheaper, more effective than, make
>money, career advancement or success, gain recognition; personal or
>entertainment-type benefits: entertaining, interesting, pleasurable,
>positive self-image)
Answering this will be a piece of cake.
I think simply said the greatest benefit the net has been to me is that it
was a valuable asset in helping me accumulate the knowledge neccessary to
change my career path. Up until three years ago I had never sat down at
any computer let alone a PC. Now I have both a DOS with Windows and a UNIX
system at home. I have learned enough to program a dBase app for a local
charity and am currently learning C++ and Perl. Also, I am running a private
BBS for the friends I am learning C++ with and I can explain a bit about
what the Internet is about to people I know who have read about it.
Now how has the Net helped me here? Well the best I can do is give it in
point form:
- by subscribing to various lists, like com-priv, net-happenings
and help-net I was able to get up to speed very quickly and am
able to stay informed;
- I ftp'ed Perl 4.0 from achive.cis.ohio-state.edu and installed
it on my Unix system - I got help from comp.lang.perl and from
comp.unix.questions;
- I gophered to the O'Reilly & Associates site and ordered the
two Perl books from them - my local bookstore has said it would
take six weeks to get them, I got them in three weeks and I
live outside the U.S.;
- when I was setting up the BBS I got advice from alt.bbs.pcboard;
- when I was working on an assignment for my C++ course that I
was stuck on I got advice from comp.lang.c++.
There are many other ways that being on the Net has benefited me - for example
when I couldn't find a recipe for a dinner we were going to have over the
Christmas holidays I just did a Veronica search on recipies then on fondue and
got what I needed.
But if I was asked to say the two most important benefits I have recieved from
being on the Net I would have to say:
1. My Net experience helped me beat the competition for the job
I just got with a local software firm; and
2. I have got a good friend from Poland through the Net. We "talk"
on almost a daily basis. The Net has brought home to me what a
small world we live in and that we are pretty much the same - no
matter where we live.
I hope this helps answer some of the questions you were asking.
Brian Monkman
NCF Volunteer Coordinator
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