A similar question was asked in a recent Viget post and I thought it would be interesting to discuss.
Ask YC: How would you describe the Internet to someone who has ZERO computer knowledge?
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Re: Ask YC: How would you describe the Internet to someone who has ZERO computer knowledge?
#2Please elaborate on "zero computer knowledge." Is this someone from the past who doesn't even know about electricity, or just a typical person today who knows computers, but has no knowledge of the "magic" under the hood?
I'll assume the second.
Explain that the internet is just a collection of computers that are connected to each other. Some computers are always on and hold websites (servers) so that other computers (say, typical PCs) can connect to them to see the websites.
Now there are some computers that have the job of acting as the phone book so that the other computers know where to find the servers.
I like this exercise. It forces yourself to explain a system in the most simple terms possible.
Re: Ask YC: How would you describe the Internet to someone who has ZERO computer knowledge?
#3I'd say "Mr. Senator, congratulations on getting seated as chairman of the science, technology, and transportation committee. Before you start making laws, maybe I should teach you a couple things..." and then after an agonizing few minutes, I'd say "Forget all that...you know how the pipes in your toilet work..."
Re: Ask YC: How would you describe the Internet to someone who has ZERO computer knowledge?
#4The Internet is a global communications network which is accessed by viewing electronic documents called "pages" which contain certain highlighted parts called "links" that when accessed will lead you to other pages. A small on-screen arrow called a "cursor" can be moved around the page you are currently viewing with a navigation device called a mouse and this is used to browse and navigate documents. People use the Internet for things like news, commerce, entertainment, pornography, copyright infringement, and watching videos of lesbians eating each other's shit out of a cup like an icecream cone.
Re: Ask YC: How would you describe the Internet to someone who has ZERO computer knowledge?
#5If you really mean zero computer knowledge that's pretty tough challenge. I'd probably have to try a few times until I could develop a pitch that seemed to work. The "curse of knowledge" means I don't think I could imagine what it'd take to get across the concepts to someone. I'd love to try.
Re: Ask YC: How would you describe the Internet to someone who has ZERO computer knowledge?
#6The Internet is like being able to sit down at your desk and being able to read any book in any library anywhere on earth, instantly.
Re: Ask YC: How would you describe the Internet to someone who has ZERO computer knowledge?
#7I think you don't need to be objective -- you just need to whip up enough enthusiasm to get the person over their fear of the evil compuwebs and trying it out. After that, they'll learn themselves. I had this with my mum, who is now happy googling away, buying things from amazon, and watching youtube.
Start small, with the benefits of one or two sites. Find a site that offers a batch of benefits together -- say, google, google mail, google video, google maps, and google shopping -- and tell them that this is 'home.' In fact, you could just tell them that Google is the internet, teach them to compose a search, and be done with it. People take to the web very naturally once they try it.
Re: Ask YC: How would you describe the Internet to someone who has ZERO computer knowledge?
#8The Internet is a series of tubes.
Re: Ask YC: How would you describe the Internet to someone who has ZERO computer knowledge?
#9It's like if everybody has a TV and a mini TV studio in their home. The number of channels are nearly illimited. Main difference is that huge part of the content is text.
Re: Ask YC: How would you describe the Internet to someone who has ZERO computer knowledge?
#10the internet is a ginormous trailer park. it is open to anyone without limits. some people park their trailer for no particular reason. some bring their lunch wagon to sell food. some have a movie wagon. lots of wagon do not charge the residents for their service, they just love to have a lot of people around their wagon and figure a way to make money from them later. you can live the park anytime you want. you live there for life for a mere 5.99/month... ....and so on....