Internet Basics: Learning the Ropes in Cyberspace

I recently had occasion to prepare a personal biography. Now, not that I am much more than a youngster, still, the tree of my life is starting to have just enough high branches to it that I can gain perspective on events and experiences. It was fun to look back at some of my vocations and realize what valuable lessons they had taught me. Not all of them were glorious or epic, certainly, but each in its own way was crucial to my current and future success.

The Internet is still too new a tree to most people to permit them to gather chestnuts of wisdom. Outside of the halls of academia and the Department of Defense, the vast majority of people in America, even the world, were largely unaware of the Internet just five or six years ago. The advent of browser technology and the booming growth of the World Wide Web in the past few years have fueled enormous inpourings of new Netizens in that time, such that approximately 90% of the people on the Net today weren't there just three short years ago. That's right, if you've been here for virtually any length of time, you practically qualify as a veteran!

Many self-styled experts arise in such an environment, eager to express their vision of the "Way Things Are". The truth of the matter is, the Internet is such an incredibly flexible and dynamic tool, a single person's view of the Way Things Are is by definition a limitation that the medium does not know.

When people ask me what I do, I don't immediately tell them that I teach people how to use the Internet. I first ask them what they do. After understanding a little about their avocation, I explain a few ways in which the Internet can help them accomplish their objectives faster, more efficiently, and often far easier. You see, it's not what my vision of the Internet is - it's what the Internet can do for them, specifically.

And it's not about the Internet, after all; it's about things like communication, productivity, learning, experience, and exploration. The "Internet" is all too often the proverbial tree for which people can not see the forest. Do not look to Talking Heads for instructions on what you should do with the Internet. Ask yourself what it is you want to accomplish, then set about finding ways to reach your objectives using the best tools available. Often, Internet technology is the best tool available. The more experience you gain Online, the more effective you will become at using it to reach your goals.

Along the way, you'll want to pop your head up once in awhile to gain some perspective. Rising up to a higher level of thought about any subject is the best way to let your brain make marvelous connections and create lessons that will guide you in the future. Thus, you will learn concepts, not technology. The tools we use will change, but the concepts will remain applicable. Today it's a browser, tomorrow it's an integral part of your desktop, and someday it may be hardwired into your brain. The important thing to remember is the higher level process that is constantly occurring, and which makes the Internet such an incredible resource.

It starts with Information. Whenever you need it, and go looking for it on the Internet, you will most often find a Community attached. The Community is the niche support group that is interested in, and forms, the body of knowledge for which you came looking. Entering the Community leads you to Opportunity, whether it is for learning, business, new relationships, or something else all depends on you. Seizing the Opportunity, by communicating, collaborating, or otherwise acting within the Community leads to Synergy. Synergy is 'combined or cooperative action or force'. When you consider that global pools of technological and human resources are available, you can begin to conceive of the magnitude of the action or force which is possible.

Finally, through the combined action of Synergy, new Value is created, in the shape of knowledge, productivity, new products and services, partnerships, and countless other expressions. And it is a simple but all-powerful economic truth that Value is always Rewarded. Do you want to learn how to make better use of the Internet? Here is the simple instruction: create Value for yourself and for others, and you will reap ample Rewards. Surely this is the best use of the Internet - or any other resource.