ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608090110
SECTION: DISCOVER ROANOKE VALLEY PAGE: 39 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JONATHAN HUNLEY STAFF WRITER
The Internet is a bridge that crosses the generation gap in the Roanoke Valley. Folks of all ages enjoy on-line life here, says Tom Cecere.
And he should know.
As an associate professor of business and the program head for the Institute for Business Development and Microcomputer Studies at Virginia Western Community College, Cecere has taught Internet skills to students ranging in age from 11 to 81.
Cecere has taught many senior citizens to use the Internet in many ways.
Dot Creasy, who is interested in genealogy, uses electronic mail to contact family members.
Darrell Boles has looked up information about arthritis and also keeps track of the federal government on line.
"Recently I've gotten into looking at legislative data," he said.
Boles said he saw a program about a bill on the cable channel C-SPAN and then went to an Internet site and read the bill's contents.
Charles Russell had a car that turned out to be a lemon and located on-line help for the problem.
"[A search] brought up the things about lemon laws," he said.
Charles Alford has not only reached information; he also has found other users. One of Alford's hobbies is wood turning. By logging onto newsgroups he has become acquainted with other woodworking buffs across the country.
"On that type of thing I found it interesting," Alford said.
Although those interviewed said they use the Internet less than daily - "I haven't lost my spouse yet because of it," Boles said - they have given up part of their life to do so.
Creasy said she used to keep her house cleaner.
Russell said he has "slacked up on gardening" and cut back on cable TV.
Boles, however, said he became interested in the Internet when he retired.
"I gave up work," he said.
As far as the younger generation goes, schools in the Roanoke Valley use the Internet in various ways.
For example, Joe Salmon taught an Internet class for the Roanoke City Schools this summer.
The class was part of Summer Honors - a five-week program at the Roanoke Valley Governor's School that aims to "keep bright children excited about learning," said Louise Clarke, the program's director.
Salmon, who during the school year teaches fourth grade and and is in charge of technology at the Roanoke Academy for Mathematics and Science, said he wanted his students to be able to use the Internet "in a very practical way." So, the students learned how to make their own home pages and how to do research with the Internet.
Each student designed a home page. The pages, however, were not put on line. Salmon said this would have required extremely time-consuming security measures. Every link on the students' pages would have had to have been thoroughly checked to make sure they didn't eventually connect to unsuitable sites somewhere down the road.
The home pages reflected the students' likes and dislikes and had links to other World Wide Web sites.
Thirteen-year-old Jessica Randolph had many links on her page. One went to Roanoke County's new local government information home page.
Terrail Finney, 11, used a switchboard program to find the phone numbers for basketball players Jerry Stackhouse and Michael Jordan. When he was interviewed in July, Finney, who wants to be a professional basketball player someday himself, said he might put links to basketball-related sites on his page.
The home page of 12-year-old Charlie Brogan contained a bit of Magic.
Brogan is interested in Magic: The Gathering, a fantasy game played with elaborately illustrated collectible cards. When interviewed, Brogan said he planned to feature pictures from Magic cards.
He also wanted to have a link to the official Magic site.
"That is a must," Brogan said.
The pupils were eager to hop on the information superhighway. Although class started at 9 a.m. each day, Salmon said most of his pupils were there at 8:30.
And because the Internet contains so much information, the students were able to learn about many subjects while they began to grasp Internet basics.
Salmon, however, made sure the students didn't visit Web sites inappropriate to the classroom.
"[The students] should build a sense of trying to be careful where they go," he said.
Instilling a notion of responsibility is important because today's students will use the Internet for years to come, Salmon said.
"The Internet is going to be a driving force for the Roanoke Valley."
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart - Internet Sties STAFFby CNBHere's a sampling of Internet sites in the area - higher
education, local government, individuals and more.
http://www.vw.cc.va.us - Virginia Western Community College
http://www.roanoke.edu - Roanoke College
http://www.hollins.edu - Hollins College
http://www.infi.net/~dthorne - Senior World
http://www.infi.net/roatimes - Roanoke Times Online
http://www.ci.roanoke.va.us - City Web, Roanoke's government
page
http://www.co.roanoke.va.us - Roanoke County Online
http://www.infi.net/~dolores/rcpd.html - Roanoke County Police
Department
http://www.infi.net/~ddanner - Danner Studios - Wildlife Art -
Sculpture
http://members.aol.com/jpjonesmi/website/home.html - James Jones
- Musical Instruments