Community Sites

I have been asked to present a light-hearted half hour, based on the IT we use in our school. I am no stranger to presentations and am looking forward to it. I already have some great ideas to make it different.

It was seeing the term 'Webinar' on a technical community site that gave me the general theme. All of the people I will be addressing are experienced as technology users but they will often make typical 'user' errors. These errors come about because although they can use the technology, they don't truly understand it. And why should they - that's my job.

So anyway, I thought a light-hearted look at internet-related terminology; what it means (or what it is an abbreviation of, and what that means) could be both fun and useful. 'Webinar' actually made me laugh when I first saw it - it struck me as a bit daft, like the 'Interweb', used by old folk in soap operas. So I thought I could do this whilst interjecting a bit of a laugh - like taking the micky out of people who mis-pronounce SQL for example :o).

Anyway, my brain ticked on and I started to compile a list of terms I would approach. They must type 'http://' a hundred times a day but I know they don't know what it means. If they did, they'd suddenly understand FTP too, and be well on the way to understanding TCPIP. It's not knowing what the terminology means so much as understanding what it means which makes you a better user - more competent, more useful and therefore, more confident. Perfect.

I only have half an hour or so (I could swing an hour, but the average attention span of an adult is about 45 minutes).

I have also chosen to look at 'Community Site' (along with 'wiki','voip, etc - useful stuff - especially to those who may have heard the terms and not realised what they mean - and therefore how useful they could be). It was whilst I was thinking about community sites that I realised I could finish with a laugh, but I'm not sure I dare. Community Sites are great and I'm a member of several. Some are purely technical and are of great help during my working day. Others are fun  - and Woyano is both. There are Community Sites for all types of people - and 'communities' can achieve a great deal as we all learn from each other. But there are other types of Community Site too - those where the talk is of sex and the friendships formed are adult. The mug shots on these sites can be (in my opinion) somewhat crude and unnecessary.

I wondered if I'd get away with suggesting that these could be called 'Cummunity Sites' as a parting shot.

What do you think?