It must have been rather novel back then.
At least as far back as a decade ago I got a job with a company that taught internet
basics to teachers. I was actually one of four people chosen out of a lengthy
list of applicants. Even before I actually did any work, however, the funding
for the company apparently fell through, and the only actual work that I did for
them was attending one course where I observed their primary trainer and then
taught for a couple of hours so that he could see me in action.
The basics back then weren't substantially different than what they are now. Basically
we showed people how to use a browser, and gave them a very cursory overview of
e-mail. In addition (and this really dates me) we introduced them to listservs.
Doing this made a certain amount of sense back then, since the web hadn't yet
devoured everything else, and quite a bit of interesting material, even educationally
relevant material, could be found on listservs. But accessing these materials
demanded an almost entirely independent platform, and using that platform wasn't
the simplest skill to learn. I was told that the best way to get people to learn
to navigate listservs was to introduce them to what was known as alt.binaries
- collections of photographs, almost exclusively pornographic in nature, that
people uploaded to these groups. The reasoning for this was that such a novel
topic would generate enough interest such that my students would quickly learn
the desired skill.
I still remember the bewilderment that my "trainer" expressed when I
explained to him that if I personally wouldn't use listservs to access porn, I
couldn't see why I might teach others to do so. He had no particular interest
in porn, but was convinced that it was a legitimate way to get people to learn
something. I introduced the students to dull discussions about education instead.
Go to: Really?, or
Go to: The plain brown paper envelope column.