(Those participants who are familiar with WEB browsing, Web searching and e-mailing should access these material online - at www.grammatics.com/ResearchTopics/ - and may be able to jump directly ahead to the research activities section at the end of the unit.)
Most or at least a good proportion of you will be familiar with the internet, the World Wide Web (WEB for short) and with e-mail. Those who are not will be provided with a brief introduction and guide in the following section. It is vital for this course that you are comfortable using a WEB browser such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer to access WEB sites and pages, and with e-mail, since much of the material for the course will be provided on our own WEB site (www.grammatics.com/ResearchTopics/) as will much of the feedback for the various research activities. Core elements of the course will be provided as hard copy but it is preferable that you access the course notes and other materials online at the ResearchTopics Web site. The online materials will be more extensive than the hard copy version, will provide the possibility of immediate interaction and feedback and will supply links to supplementary materials available online through a diversity of language studies-oriented WEB sites.
You can access the WEB and e-mail either from a personal computer linked to the WEB via a telephone modem or via the computers provided either in the School of Arts and Humanities computer clusters or in the library. Having your own personal connection may be more convenient , while linking via the university machines is obviously less expensive (it's free).
If you want your own personal connection you will need some sort of personal computer (PC or Macintosh), a modem (a device for making electronic connections via the telephone system), WEB browsing and e-mail software and an access account with an Internet Service Provider. If you are interested in having your own connection, good advice on what you'll need can be found in the computer and internet-specific magazines available in news agents.
You don't, however, need your own computer since you can access the WEB via the university machines. The School of Humanities computer clusters are located in the Arts Faculty building (room 440) and in the Muirhead Tower (room 405). You can register for basic computer courses with Arts IT through their office on the ground floor of the Arts Faculty building. These courses will give instruction in how to use computers, an overview of relevant software packages and an introduction to the WEB and e-mail. The School of Humanities computer clusters have only just been upgraded and there's a possibility they may not be fully functional at the beginning of the semester. If this should prove to be the case, then you should use the library machines instead. These provide for the same WEB and e-mail access and have been in place for some time, so should prove reliable.
The publication mentioned above, Complete Beginner's Guide to the INTERNET, is recommended for those who know nothing or very little about the internet. (I can personally provide a few copies for overnight loan if you don't want to purchase a copy.) The library also has available a couple of useful (though brief) pamphlets entitled - An introduction to the Internet and Getting Started with the World Wide Web on PC (Look for the collections of information pamphlets on the ground floor.) The library also has introductory texts on the internet and the WEB. See, for example,
Clark, Carol Lea 1996, A student's guide to the Internet, Prentice Hall, Main Library TK 5102.I51.
Winship, Ian & McNab, Alison 1996, A Student's Guide to the Internet, Library Association Publishing, Main Library TK 5108.875.I57.
Pfaffenberger, Bryan, 1996, Internet in plain English - 2nd edition, New York, MIS Press.
April Marine et al., 1994, Internet: getting started, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice Hall.
To contact me with any problems, questions or comments, please e-mail me at p.r.white@bham.ac.uk
