Description:
Aliza Sherman, a.k.a. Cybergrrl, has made it her mission to make more women comfortable with technology and active online. To that end, she's written a book for every woman who's ever considered connecting to the World Wide Web, even if her only experience with a computer is seeing one on somebody else's desk. Those with any computer experience at all will probably want to skip over elementary paragraphs here and there. But computer novices will appreciate that Sherman assumes almost no computer knowledge beyond the difference between a keyboard and a monitor. Better yet, she returns to the basics throughout the book so that readers who prefer to skip around to different topics can avoid confusion no matter where they start to read. Although the book focuses primarily on the World Wide Web, Sherman doesn't ignore the rest of the online world. She provides an introduction to electronic bulletin boards, e-mail, Gopher, FTP, and commercial online services. She also addresses the myths of cyberspace hazards, providing safety tips, information on handling online pests, and ways to filter out objectionable material. Her explanatory material is non-jargonistic, clear, and sensible. As Sherman gets deeper into what's available in cyberspace, the emphasis on women's interests grows. She offers frequent examples of the benefits of online life, told in the words of women who've experienced them. These include making friends, socializing when housebound, making professional connections, finding mutual support, exchanging information on social causes, and much more. Particularly interesting are the interviews with several of the Web's female pioneers. There's also a mini-directory of Web sites of particular interest to women, featuring topics as diverse as health, parenting, investing, sports, career, social causes, and literature.
| 
