Meet Patrick Crispen, developer of ROADMAP

[Madeline Buchanan <dems105@UABDPO.DPO.UAB.EDU>]

The following article was printed in "The Birmingham News", Birmingham,
Alabama, on Sunday, November 14.  Patrick Crispen, developer of the ROADMAP
lessons on using the Internet, is a senior at the University of Alabama in
Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  The article is written by Katy Henley.  I thought
LM_NET subscribers would be interested since I heard many at AASL say they
had subscribed to the ROADMAP lesson series.


            INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY GETS A MAP
        The world turns to Alabama student for lessons in
                  navigating the Internet

University of Alabama senior Patrick Crispen developed a program on the
Internet that has gained international attention.

More than 62,000 people in 78 countries have enrolled in Crispen's
cost-free program, which teaches how to use the Internet, a global network
of public information accessible through personal computers.

Crispen first became interested in the Internet while working nights in a
dormitory on campus.

He accessed the Internet from the front-desk computer in the dorm and
taught himself how to use the network.

"I worked from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. and to keep me from falling asleep, I got
on Internet.  I bought a book to teach myself, but the book didn't help,"
Crispen said.  "I decided to create a program that would help teach others
how to use Internet without spending $30 on a useless book."

Those enrolled in Crispen's course receive a daily lesson for six weeks.
Each lesson takes approximately 20 minutes to complete.

"I simply explain how to find a certain fact on the Internet and then ask
the person to try and find it.  Sometimes I put in mistakes that people
might run in to and show them how to get around them," he said.

Crispen, who doesn't have his own computer and doesn't even know how to
program a computer, said anyone can learn how to use the Internet.

"I have everyone from elementary school children in Australia to Harvard
professors taking the program," Crispen said.  "It's just a matter of
showing them what they have."

Most universities, large corporations, and government agencies have access
to the Internet.  Anyone with a computer and access to one of these
mainframe hookups can use the Internet.

Crispen uses the computer labs on campus to send his daily lessons.

Through the Internet, a person can do three main things:  send messages via
electronic mail, access programs at remote machines, and search data bases
for files and programs.

"It's like an information superhighway.  Just as we can hop on the
interstate and drive anywhere, we can hop on the computer and go anywhere
in the world," he said.

Crispen recently won the Internet Hunt, a monthly research competition for
Internet experts.  The hunt requires participants to use the Internet to
answer 10 obscure questions.

The questions are given to thousands of people around the world, and
Crispen was the first person to complete the questionaire.

Crispen graduates in December and has already received job offers through
his involvement with the Internet.

The U.S. Army has contacted him about developing a course for Army
personnel in computing computer usage.  America On-Line, one of the
commercial network services, has also asked Crispen to design a course for
its million clients.

"The Career Center at the University of Alabama told me that to get a job I
needed to network.  I think you could say I've networked," he said.

Crispen's email address is pcrispe1@ua1vm.ua.edu.  The best way to get
information about the program is to send email to Listserv@ua1vm.ua.edu
with the command GET MAP PACKAGE F = MAIL in the body of the letter.

  *****************************************************************
  *                                                               *
  *   Madeline L. Buchanan            Barrett Elementary School   *
  *   Library Media Specialist        7601 Division Avenue        *
  *   dems105@uabdpo.dpo.uab.edu      Birmingham, AL  35206       *
  *                                   (205) 838-7644              *
  *                                                               *
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