20th June I attended the first workshop of DIL Albany Project.
With no pre-conceived ideas I went along at 1pm with Jo & Rachael, whom I already knew from my University study. I met Lynn our group leader and all members of the group introduced themselves & outlined their level of computer expertise and what they hoped to achieve with the group. My initial thought was that I was the least computer literate plus most members used IT for their employment and they would use & want skills that I would not use (therefore get practice with regularly) However we were to list our individual goals so ok. The structured intro got overwhelmed with everybody keen to jump in. Everybody was helpful & keen to help each other but it was ‘above my head’ to even know what to ask.

I left the first session quite disillusioned as to my capability and would my questioning hold up the proceeding and give off any worthwhile study data or statistics for the research? I looked the websites on the handout and I had an attempt at doing a blog this I achieved but couldn’t work out how to attach it to the group site. Over the weekend e-mails were flying back & forth between group members and the contents were all Hi Tec and a foreign language. “All”I then wanted was to know what were they talking about!
My decision.
I sent an e-mail of my concerns to Lynn she assured me by prompt reply to the effect… “Hang on help is on its way”
This helped. It gave me encouragement to look at just what I could already do computer wise and work on realistic goals that I hoped to achieve.

Power Point presentations
Comprehend jargon
Group e-mail initiation set up & use.
All of what ever else I could learn along the way

27th June non-compulsory 2nd workshop.

Prior 2 days I had navigated the blog site and looked at the DIL sites, still very confused I didn’t feel very optimistic about the workshop.
As I entered the room Lynn gave a big positive smile and I felt like I was going to the dentist, even with full dentures the dentist still terrifies me. No comment huh!
Everybody was asked in turn what they thought, where were they going & so on…..I listened to them all & I was last to speak. When I proclaimed my doubts especially re jargon comprehension the room was a buzz with agreement and hey I was not alone. I started to relax and feel more comfortable….amazing how much better the brain finctions when your emotions ‘unfreeze it’. Lynn gave me one on one help for awhile we ‘found’ my blog & tied it in. We opened the Power Point & Jo helped me & we learned tog about getting pictures from google pictures etc. Speaking of loading a presentation onto CD a savvy PhD member explained a memory stick would be much better. A what? Wam, instance lesson from my right hand side buddy: armed with USB, flash memory gigabytes and heaven knows what I was dispatched after class to Dick Smith. Hanging on a display of ‘foreign bodies’ I found it yeah, made my purchase and felt marvelous. What a metamorphosis in 3 hrs from sad tears to eureka!!
I am a realist, no matter the chestnut clichés re; ‘you are as old as you feel and age doesn’t count etc’ the fact is no matter how much you boot the pedal, an A Ford can only go so fast but like the tortoise, it does get there. This senior who was a whiz at pounds shilling & pence mathematics in her day is en route to duplicating it in IT….good things take time.
Yesterday (30th). I spent 2 hrs writing a blog of my progress. I got into and navigated the site and felt confident….in the excitement I forgot the basic rule…SAVE… yep I lost it, mustn’t print what I thought but it wasn’t oh dear. Today I am ratting away on word which I will attach and save. Later I will give that blog another session. I have been looking at the introductory jargon & courses on wikipedia & printed off the Cheat sheet that they recommend for the basic formatting tricks. Bring on Friday.