What special procedures do I need to know in order to use SociologyOnline?

Hardly any. Almost everything at this web site is as simple as using standard features of Netscape and Internet Explorer. You will also need RealAudio, and I'll explain how to download RealPlayer, if you don't already have it. Other components, such as the message board software, are straightforward and don't require any complex instructions. This web site is designed to be fully accessible from the word "go," without special buttons, icons or unique procedures.

Why is there so much white space to the right of the text narrative?

The pages of your online textbook, Sociology in Global Perspective, have been designed for maximum readability, and line lengths are ideal for ease and comprehension in reading. You'll find, if you notice, that the line lengths here are about the same as in most hard bound books -- and for the same reason. The way we take advantage of the right margin means that printed out copies of the textbook reflect a balance of efficient paper use and effective layout for reading.

How can I print out pages from the textbook?

Either Internet Explorer or Netscape will do the job, but Internet Explorer is better for these pages. If you use Netscape, you'll discover that the printing stops before the bottom of many hard copy pages because of the way Netscape treats images (graphs, charts and pictures).

For most purposes, the best margin settings leave about 0.75 inches on both the left and the right. You can set the margins of both Internet Explorer and Netscape by selecting "File" and then "Page Setup." (Most pages in SociologyOnline are designed to leave at least a 0.75" margin even if your printer setup specifies narrower margins, anyway.)

What will I find in each part of SociologyOnline (the course work web), and what can I do with the material in each section?

Here's a summary, part by part:

Sociology in Global Perspective

This is your textbook. It includes material that couldn't be sandwiched between the covers of a bound book, such as links to other Web sites, charts and graphs that that you can explore in depth, and audio files. The audio segments will include

explanations of graphs, charts and pictures. You'll see a "RealAudio" button at the places where you can click for streaming audio--if you're wired for sound, that is. Look for this symbol, click and listen:

segments to clarify complex ideas that you are studying

tutorials that will help you develop more efficient approaches to data collection and interpretation. Use them if you need them!

Exchange Internet Cafe

The Internet Cafe is the place to be for good conversation that's a cut above the humdrum! It's a prime meeting place for the course, with discussion forums where you'll gather with others in the class. You'll take up sociological questions, and you'll bring in some of your own findings. The way that your "virtual group" will work in real life is discussed in greater detail below. (You'll also find links at the Internet Cafe to other good web sites, from book review sources to online newspapers, libraries, and more...)

Course Guidebook

Here you'll find information for your class, including your course syllabus, pages to help you master important skills and several kinds of additional supplementary material.

Quiz Review

This area includes multiple-choice and true-false questions from each chapter of the textbook -- not only the questions, but also answers! It's set up to help you review key ideas and concepts in each chapter.

Textbook Search

The "swish" search engine will take you to chapters where names, terms, and phrases are found. Once in a chapter that includes the word(s) that you want to find, you can use your brower's search procedure (under "Edit," at the top of the screen) to locate the exact place in the chapter where you'll find what you're searching for. There's a link to the search page at the bottom of each chapter.

How will this course be structured around the different features of SociologyOnline?

Sociology in Global Perspective is organized around a set of central ideas which both give the course its structure and pinpoint for you exactly what kinds of knowledge and skills you'll be expected to acquire. There are several ways in which you'll develop your skills and sharpen your insights:

You'll participate in online discussions. These postings will focus on key questions that are tied to subjects that you are studying in the course. The technology of our online discussions is as simple to use as A, B, C. All you'll need to think about is what you're saying, and not at all about how the computer and the software are doing their jobs. It's an ideal setup; it frees you to express yourself.

Your online discussions will be in a "virtual" group made up of your classmates.  With this active learning approach, I believe you'll find that you learn more and enjoy it more at the same time than with a traditional class lecture arrangement. After all, which is more fun: hearing a lecture about skiing, or gliding down those slopes yourself?

You'll be developing skills that go well beyond memorization -- skills that you'll find useful long after your introductory sociology course has ended. Your work with SociologyOnline will give you the opportunity to explore information-era tools and use your knowlege more broadly and imaginatively than is the case with the usual format in courses at this level. More on this later...

What about libraries?

The Internet is a supplement to libriaries--a valuable one, without question, but nevertheless just an extra. Libraries continue to be the most comprehensive repositories of valuable information in all fields. The Internet doesn't come close, at this point. Throughout Sociology in Global Perspective, both "hard copy" sources (books, journals, reports) and pertinent Internet resources will be emphasized. Using SociologyOnline will make you a more proficient and sophisticated user of the broad variety of information sources that you will find important throughout life.

Why is the focus of this course, and of this web, global? I'm more interested in learning about things that are closer to home!

I'm glad you asked that. There are two reasons, and both are compelling, I believe. One is that you can understand your own situation better -- your family, your community, and issues that affect us all both locally and nationally--if you're able to get some distance from the familiar, the here and now. I'll clarify the reasons for this phenomenon in the textbook. I'll note, to start the discussion, that in the process of developing fuller knowledge about yourself and your circumstances, there's immense benefit in going well beyond what you're accustomed to and what you experience on a day-to-day basis -- and then looking back to your own situation in the context of expanded horizons and a broader perspective. This is one of sociology's most fundamental insights, and I think you'll increasingly appreciate its validity as your studies continue in this course.

The second reason is that our lives are now global, like it or not. The better you understand these dynamics the more capable you'll be in every facet of your life in the twenty-first century. Even people "down on the farm" aren't really down on the farm any more -- not in the sense of being isolated from what's going on in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. If you're to understand the causes and implications of things close to home, it's vital that you understand something about society, culture and politics beyond your city limits and your national borders. This subject, also, will come up again and again in the textbook.

During the course, you'll learn many useful things about life in your own community and in the United States. Of at least equal importance, you'll also develop a new way of seeing.

Finally, enjoy!