This book is for the reader who has ever wanted to "harness the power of the Internet," but was not quite sure what that means, or how to do it. It is written for the person who simply does not have the background to use Internet tools comfortably, and has never found the resources to help them. If you have sought guidance from your child or grandchild only to be annoyed at their exasperated response to your Internet questions, this book is for you. Or, if you have tried using the Internet on your own and gotten frustrated with the tools, or encountered problems (or know someone who did), this book is for you. Or, if you are using the Internet, but do not feel very confident in what you are doing, this book is for you. Of course, if you are the child or grandchild who is having trouble explaining things to your parent or grandparent, this book could help you too. This book provides illustrated, step-by-step guidance to use the Internet without jargon you normally encounter. It is an easy-to-read book that not only tells you how to accomplish your goal, but also how to avoid bad things that might happen along the way. There are chapters on surfing the web, purchasing online, navigating special web pages, using email, and using social networking tools, such as blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. For example, when explaining the Internet, it includes a discussion of how web pages work, who creates them (and why), how to use search engines, and when to use bookmarks. It even includes a list of web pages that might be of interest to readers, and a discussion of the mechanics of surfing. Another chapter covers navigating website, including how to purchase online, and how to navigate special pages, such as eBay, StumbleUpon, iTunes, photo sites and Wikipedia. The following chapter covers email including how to create and answer email, email etiquette, guidelines for meeting the challenge of too much email, and smart email use to avoid spam, scams, viruses and phishing. This is followed by a chapter on blogging and social networking, which not only helps you set up a blog, or a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account, but also how to use those tools to meet your own personal needs. Although the problems with the Internet (and how to avoid them) is discussed throughout, the book ends with a chapter on how to use the Internet safely and how specific practices make it possible. Finally, the book is supplemented by a helpful blog to help keep users up to date on Internet use, and to provide a forum for questions. It can be accessed at https: //internetuseforseniors.wordpress.com.
About the Author: Vicki Sauter received her Ph.D. in systems engineering at Northwestern University, and has been a Professor of Information Systems at University of Missouri - St. Louis for over 35 years. She is a baby boomer with over 40 years of experience using and programming computers; this is her area of research and she has published many academic papers and two books (John Wiley publisher). Sauter was an early adopter of Internet-based tools. For example, she initially used email via BITnet (a predecessor to the Internet) in the 1980s. Her first attempts to put information on the Internet used Gopher, the predecessor to today's browsers. She chaired her university's committee to create its first web presence, and has been active in developing and using the web to share information since then (see http: //www.umsl.edu/ sauterv). Sauter's first purchase online was in 1997, and she has used Facebook since 2005. Said differently, Vicki Sauter has been using, researching, and teaching the tools since they were invented, and so she has a great deal of experience to share about the why and how to use the Internet effectively and safely. Over the years she has shared what she has learned by teaching classes at levels from youth to seniors, and has acted as an "Internet evangelist" to help small businesses and not-for-profit organizations get the benefits of what they need from the Internet. Vicki Sauter lives in St. Louis, Missouri with her husband. They have one grown son. When she is not at the computer, she collects photos of street lamps, studies genealogy, and needlepoints.