> > o Internet driving licences may seem a bit naff, but there
> > is value in requiring people to migrate to a power-user
> > status by at least trying to teach them that there are
> > consequences to using tools in distributed communications
>
> Just to point out that there appears to be something called
> the European
> Computer Driving License (see <URL:http://www.wlv.ac.uk/pers/csdpages/
> ecdl.htm> for instance). I've no idea what sort of Internet
> training this
> provides to end users but I would guess its more the "which button to
> press in IE 5" type of training course. I'll find out early
> next year as
> my girlfriend who is a public librarian is going to have to go on the
> course.
>
> User education is a tricky subject. One of my collegues in
> the Networks
> Team is currently on the phone explaining to an end user that
> sending an
> email with a large Word attachment to all 15000 users on
> campus isn't a
> good idea as our mail servers will melt. Despite our email training
> courses telling people this, its a regular request, especially from
> non-academic departments who are used to doing paper based
> mass mailings
Having done the "which button to press in IE5" as well as "how to send
an email" type of training courses for over a year, I came up with a
little routine when it came to attachments: I explained the consequences
of big attachments and told them if they don't want the receiver to
get angry at them, they should ask before sending a big attachment.
As a definition of "big", I said "1 MB and more".
To me, this makes sense; I believe we can avoid some of those problems
through user education.
Regards,
Michael Welzl
