Last updated: 11/1/00
Link back to course Welcome

Update for Agenda for Class #5 on
November 1
Computers, the Internet, and Society

This update was made after the class, to incorporate additional materials that we went over during the class.

1. Quiz 2 is the next class, on November 15. The topics for both Quiz 2 and the Final Exam on December 20 are posted on the course web site.
2. Parts of a window, and actions that you can take with them. This material is in the "Windows Common Elements" page, under item VII. there is a link from the course welcome page, just below the link for Agenda for Class 3 (September 20).
3. We elaborated on the essay form for Essay B at Item IV below.
   1. The type of essay that I am looking for is an "expository essay", in which the writer takes a point of view and tries to convince the reader. A trial lawyers makes his/her living by convincing others - the jury. As seen onTV, they follow this form.
   2. The title is the first shot that you have at the reader. It should describe the content in a few words. An example of a title that does not describe the content is "Essay 6". If you were writing about the availability of jobs, you might use "The Internet: Is It Good or Bad for Workers?".
   3. The Introduction should be a road map for the main part, the Body (below). For a trial lawyer, this corresponds to the opening argument, which describes that view of the case. For example, "Ladies and gentlement of the jury, the Defense will prove that..."
   4. The Body is where the bulk of the convincing goes on. Here lawyers will make arguments, call expert witnesses, call eyewitnesses. In the essay, equivalent techniques are clear argument, detail, and quotations.
   5. The conclusion corresponds to the lawyer's summation or closing argument. Here, briefly review the case set out in the Body, make the connections and the argument, and try to close the door on argument or disagreement.You should not introduce new material in the argument, since that can leave the impression that you have not yet finished your thinking about the case. The exception is that you can set your topic in a larger context, or explain its significance for the reader. But no new arguments for the case, no new illustrations, and so forth.
   6. With a word processor, there is a way to "cheat" on this form, which really works very well. Write the body first, to figure out what you want to say, and then write the Introduction and Conclusion.
4. Finally, in class we just go over the highlights of the software. The practice in class is not sufficient to get you by on the Quizzes and Final. You should practice as you read Teach Yourself Microsoft Office97.

Agenda for Computers, the Internet, and Society
Class #5 -- November 1, 2000

This agenda and class are for Computers, the Internet, and Society only

1. Announcements
   1. The eCommerce class will be presented to WSU faculty on Thursday, November 9, 1:30 - 3 PM, at the Office for Teaching and Learning, Room 2210 in the Adamany Undergraduate Library (UGL). All who are interested are welcome to attend. A special interest has been expressed in students' views.
   2. If your name is listed below, puh-LEAZE go to the course web site and fill in the course information form.
      1. Nafeesah Abdullah
      2. Paul Mungar
      3. Mary Phelps
      4. Chandra Williams
   3. The computer tutor is available at no charge (paid directly by ISP). His name is Matta Vijay Kumar and he is available as follows:
      1. Tel 313-832-6585
      2. Lab hours (also lab is open and you can work in there): Fridays 10 - 12 and 3 to 7 PM
2. Reminder of what you should be doing online on a regular basis -- these are part of the grade
   1. Signin, from the lab, only on days for the class(es) you are taking
   2. Weekly course report (if you are taking both classes, a single report will do)
   3. Conference postings (one for eCommerce, two for Computers, the Internet, and Society, three if you are taking both)
   4. Not required, but do it anyway - check your email on at least a weekly basis. Don't have email: use hotmail - it's easy and free. See me if you need help.
3. Review of Quiz 1, and topics for Quiz 2
   1. Length of time - what happened?
   2. Spellcheck
   3. Essay question
4. Essay 2: This essay should have the same length as Essay 1. For the topic, pick either The Lexus and the Olive Tree or Release 2.1, and choose any two of the topics from the Internet Issues handout. Integrate these two topics into a single subject for your essay, using material from the book you chose. Be sure to tell me in the header at the beginning of your essay, which book and which topics you are writing on. In addition, essay 2 should have the form header, title, introduction, body and conclusion.
5. Discussion of Release 2.1
   1. Regulation - transparency
   2. Privacy Vs accountability
6. MS Word
   1. Word - pictures.
      1. Insert / Picture
         1. Clip art
         2. From file
      2. Picture becomes part of Word file
      3. Format / picture
         1. Select picture, then Format / Picture
            1. Size
            2. Text wrapping
            3. Cropping
         2. Put a border around it with Format / Borders and shading
   2. Word - lists
      1. Bulleted lists. For multi-level, choose bullet style level by level
      2. Numbered lists - choose style, or multilevel
         
   3. Word - tables
      1. Use table insert tool button
      2. Use table menu item for further changes - must have table selected!
         1. Adding or deleting rows or columns - have insertion point where you want to act
         2. Split or merge cells - have insertion point where you want to act
         3. Change height and width
      3. Insert content by placing the insertion point and doing what you would normally do - type, Insert / Picture, etc.
      4. Default is a usually a table with no printing borders. If you see greyed-out borders while editing, they do not print. Add, remove and change borders with menu item Format / borders and Shading...
   4. Word / Word Help - What's This? Will tell you word's name for an object on the screen, and what it does. Then you know how to look it up in the regular help.
   5. Word does much more (e.g. fields?)
7. Excel (spreadsheet)
   1. Worksheet - a series of cells arranged in rows and columns, with content in the cells
      1. Layout on information is freeform - you design it
      2. Rows labelled with numbers and column with letters, cell is labelled by row and column, e.g. A1, B3
         1. Label appears in Name Box in upper left
            
         2. Different than Access. In Excel, cannot change the labels
      3. What can you put in a cell?
         1. Usually numbers are most important cell content (budget)
         2. Can also be text - labels
         3. Other...
      4. Can be formula to calculate a result from other numbers
      5. Editing the contents of a cell: click in the cell, type <F2>
      6. Can also replace contents of a cell by clicking in it and typing the new content
   2. Selecting - act on the selection as a whole, usually for formatting
      1. Click in a cell to select it
      2. Click on a column or a row label to select the whole row or column
      3. Drag over a range of cells, rows or columns to select the whole group
      4. Hold down <Ctrl> and click to add to selection (or, if it is already selected, to remove it from the selection)
   3. Formatting a cell
      1. Formatting text as in word
      2. Format numbers - different types. Choose menu item Format / Cells...
         
      3. Auto formatting done for %, $, / (date), : (time) but you can override these
   4. Default for extension in File / Save As... is .xls - do not change this
      1. Will also Save As HTML... - HTML table. Lose formulas, preserve displayed values, though
   5. Formulas - calculate result in a cell based on numbers in other cells, for example adding or multiplying two cells
      1. ALL EXCEL FORMULAE BEGIN WITH "="
      2. Sum
         1. Type a column of four or five numbers
         2. Click in the cell just below the bottom number (can actually be anywhere)
         3. Type =sum(
         4. Drag over the numbers you typed
            
         5. Type ) to close the parentheses and tap the <Enter> key
         6. Also many other formulae - see textbook
         7. Will usually guess the formatting correctly, but you can override this by formatting the cell directly
   6. Charts - Excel will make many different types of charts from the data in the worksheet
      1. Type two columns with labels, as in figure above
      2. Drag over the two column labels (F and G above) to select both columns
      3. Click Insert / Chart... to get Chart Wizard
         1. A Wizard is a series of dialogs with numbered steps on title bar (definition could appear on tests!)
      4. To follow along here, choose Column (top) / Clustered Column (top left), then click the Next> button.
      5. For Step 2, click on Series tab (Series refers to data sequence, for example Year or Sales here)
         1. We want the Year data to label the bars, not to part of the bars, so under the Series label click on Year to select it, then click the Remove button
         2. To label the bars with their years, at the end of the text box labelled Category (X) axis labels: click on the multicolored button
            
         3. A small dialog appears, temporarily replacing the large one (title bar has Category (X) at end). Drag over the years (do NOT include the word Years - just the years themselves). then click on the box at the end of the dialog.
            
         4. Click the Next> button. On Step3, click the Next> button. On Step 4, click the Finish button.
         5. Chart appears on the worksheet, with selection boxes (it is selected). You also have an option in Step 4 to put it on a separate sheet. Drag the chart so that it does not hide the data cells. Drag on the right middle selection box to make the chart wider. The year labels straighten out.
            
         6. Change one of the dollar figures by
            1. Click in the cell to select it
            2. You could just type a new number, but instead tap the <F2> key to edit the cell. You can use the arrow keys, Home, End, Delete and Backspace to position the cursor and delete digits, and then type in new digits. tap the <Enter> key to accept your changes.
            3. Notice that the chart changes to reflect the new value
   7. Copying and pasting between Office applications (and other applications)
      1. Selecting
      2. Copying
         1. If your computer has less than 32 MB RAM, you may want to close the first application at this point, and then open the second
      3. Pasting
         1. Double-click item to edit in original application
         2. Paste what?
            1. Item
            2. Numbers, Formulas
            3. Chart
            4. Link
               
   8. Excel does much more
8. Internet - email
   
9. History of the Internet - go to handout
10. Internet - issues / Read the news!
    1. Just another technology?
    2. Will there be enough jobs for people?
    3. Permanent underclass?
    4. Racial / ethnic / cultural equality
    5. Invasion of privacy
    6. Relationships between Employees and Employers
    7. Falsifying information and/or the source of information
    8. Intellectual property rights
    9. Pornography and children
    10. Pollution and environmental degredation
    11. Dependence and the potential for disasters
        1. Y2K problem
11. Personal web page
    1. Get all files together in the same folder - pictures, etc. This will result in relative URLs and links using filenames only, not folders. This means that you can check the links on your own PC, then upload them to the web site and the links will still work
       1. In Netscape, choose File / Open File in Browser... or in Internet Explorer File / Open...
    2. Use MS Word unless you have and know some other application
    3. After you start Word, second thing is to Save As HTML...
       1. The menus and formatting are slightly different in HTML view, so you don't want to put too much effort into the doc format, and then have it changed when you change to HTML
       2. This does not affect the way that Word works with any other file, and does not affect the contents or format of any other file
       3. File name for personal web page should be (first initial last name up to a total of eight letters).htm
    4. Uploading personal web page to web server
       1. Online tools - Upload your personal or team web page