Welcome To The Third Roadmap For The Information Superhighway Internet Training Workshop
Let's Get Started
A Note from the Roadmap Workshop Webmaster:
I was a member of the ROADMAP #3 e-mail class. Patrick Crispen, Mr. Roadmap himself, gave me permission to translate his workshop lectures, so they could be accessed via a World Wide Web browser, such as Mosaic, Netscape, or lynx (or a ton of others, but I'm not going to list them all here).

I tried very hard to correct any typos I found, and to maintain the original text as I received it in my e-mailbox. If you have any questions or comments about the documents in this Web version of the Roadmap, please e-mail them to me, the Roadmap Workshop Webmaster:

Linda Sue Sohn
sohn@ll.mit.edu
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lincoln Laboratory

The First-time Reader
If you are reading this document for the first time, please, please take the the time to read this whole document. It's very important to read the information contained in this document and to understand it before you start the lecture series. Why? Just read it! There's an important homework assignment that you should absolutely complete before you read any of the lectures.

The Veteran Reader
The Roadmap Syllabus is your ticket to the lecture series. Have fun!

What is Roadmap?
Roadmap is an Internet training workshop designed to teach new "Net travelers" how to travel around the rapidly expanding (and often times confusing) "Information Superhighway" without getting lost.
Using the latest information available coupled with guest lectures from some of today's most respected Internet leaders, Roadmap promises to be one of the most talked-about Internet training seminars in history!

... and, best of all, its absolutely FREE!!!!!

Umm ... Roadmap "3"? I'm just a beginner! Don't I have to sign up for the first two workshops before I can participate in this one?

Nope. There is *NO* difference between the first, second, and third Roadmap workshops other than their starting dates. (Remember this ... I have a feeling that you may see this on a pop quiz sometime)

Gee, I'm so excited ... I don't *want* to wait! Can't I just enroll in one of the first two workshops instead?

Again, the answer is "nope." During this workshop, you will actually be going out and using the tools of the Internet. Unfortunately, most of these tools have a limit on the number of people who can access them at any given point in time.

If it were up to me, I would love to have 100,000 people in each Roadmap workshop. However, I think that you will agree that my sending 100,000 people to visit a particular Internet site might tend to make that site's systems administrators a tad bit disappointed with me.

For that reason, there is a cap on the number of people who can participate in each Roadmap workshop. The first two workshops have reached their caps, and I simply can not allow anyone else to enroll in Roadmap 1 or 2. (It is also for this reason that you can't access the other workshop's lessons through the UA listserv).

What sort of Internet access do I need to participate in Roadmap?

All you need is e-mail (although it would be nice if you also had telnet access). Since a substantial number of Roadmap participants only have e-mail access, the Roadmap workshop sessions will teach you how to use the tools of the Internet directly and also how to use these same tools using nothing but e-mail.

Can I redistribute the Roadmap lessons to another list?

I would prefer if you didn't (for the reasons I listed earlier). If you want to set up a distribution, please check with me first.

A Final Note From Patrick Crispen

Welcome to Roadmap! Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that over 55,000 people from 77 countries would sign up for the first two Roadmap workshops. I guess there may be some truth in the "Roadmap is the Woodstock of the Internet" comment that someone recently sent me. :)

My goal for the Roadmap workshop is to not only teach you some of the basic skills that you will need to travel on the Information superhighway, but also to teach you who you can turn to for help if you ever get lost. So, I guess its time for your first dreaded Homework Assignment ("oh nooooooo!!!")!

I want you to find the name and telephone number of your local Internet provider. Your local Internet provider is the school, company, or organization that is giving you access to the Internet (or, for some of you, access to e-mail).

I also want to you find the telephone number and e-mail address of some person (or group of people) at your local Internet provider that will be there to answer your questions. If you are lucky, your local Internet provider will even have a "Help Desk" staffed with people paid to answer your questions.

That's your first assignment. Find the name and telephone number of your local Internet provider, and find the name, telephone number, and e-mail address of either your local Internet provider's help desk or someone who works for your local Internet provider who can help you if ever have any questions.

Now, what do I want you to do with this information? Well, DO NOT send your answers to me! We'll talk about "mail bombs" during the course, but suffice it it say that if all of you sent me your responses the results to my poor little e-mailbox would be quite comical. So, do not -- repeat -- do not send your answers to me. Besides, what good would the name and phone number of your local Internet service provider do me?

I want you to write you answers down on a small card, and put that card in your wallet or purse. In a few lessons, I'm going to ask you to pull out your card and ... well, we'll get to that later. :)

The Roadmap workshop is the individual effort of Patrick Crispen, who is solely responsible for its content (including all of the typos). Additional support is provided by the University of Alabama's College of Arts and Sciences.

The views expressed in this letter do not
necessarily represent the views of the
University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa.

Now, You're A Veteran Reader!
The Roadmap Syllabus is your ticket to the lecture series. Have fun!

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