My dad discovers and/or accepts technology a bit later than the rest of the world. He bought a video player in 2000 and his first CD in 2002 – we gave him the CD-player for his birthday in 1995… Anyway, he bought a second hand computer 2 years ago and figured out how it worked last year. Now he’s ready for more: The Internet- yep, with capitals, in his case!
So, like the loving kid and son-in-law we are, me and MyLove installed DSL at my parents place. Then we installed Kaspersky Antivirus and Internet Security, downloaded every Windows Update we could find and configured his Outlook Express. “Have fun!”, we shouted to Dad when we left the place.
Five minutes later my mobile phone rang. Dad.
“What now?” he asked, “How do I get on The Internet?”
“Doh!”, I thought, remembering the mouse-click incident – my dad could not remember if he has to right, left or double click (and with which button, in that matter) – and the ‘How does Word work for absolute and utter dummies’ campaign.
“I’ll write you a manual,” I answered, “You’ll have it by next weekend, and you’ll be able to surf the net safely next week.”
For the past week I have adapted several internet and e-mail courses that were originally developed for the first grades of primary school – which equals my dad’s computer literacy level…- for Dad’s manual. I’ll give it to him later today, so he can read it thoroughly tonight.
I’m a bit curious what he’ll think of it. And when I’ll get the first ‘Help! The manual says this, but I can’t find it.’- phone call…
(I don’t want to brag or anything, but the manual is so clear – it’s written in simple language with lots of illustrations -, that I’m thinking about selling it to homes for the elderly or senior-clubs, so they can learn how to use the internet, too!)
