It is a long time coming, but the story I am going to tell you will melt your heart, warm the cockles inside and restore your faith in nice things. It begins with an iPad, two sisters, a determined teacher and a really really long day which saw two technologically illiterate sisters reunited over the World Wide Web. One of the things that makes this story even better is that after the day of training, my Grandma has Skyped many more times with the ease of a seasoned professional. Don't get me wrong the day of training that went into this to make it possible was grueling, but completely worth it.
Before Grandma had even set eyes on her iPad I had set her up with a Skype account and had requested her sister as a friend so that when the time came to Skype her the task was simpler. (NB: Since then however Grandma has added other Brothers and Sisters on Skype so the process will still be given below.) At this stage I also had set up Skype on my iPad and connected her to be able to Skype with me and her eldest Daughter.
The processes are as follows:
Skype Calling
Step 1: Tap the Skype app
Step 2: Making a call, tap on the face of the person you want to talk to. (make sure there is a green tick in the corner of the persons face)
Step 3: Tap Video Call
*if there is no sound check volume on iPad
*if the other person can't see you, tap bottom of screen to get icons, tap camera and make sure it is on front camera.
Step 4: To hang up, tap screen making sure icons come up at the bottom of the screen
Step 5: Tap red phone
*Press the green accept button to answer a call with the video button and to hang up see steps 4 and 5
Step 6: Use hand thing to get out of Skype altogether (spider)
Skype Messaging (like text messages over Skype)
Step 1: Go into Skype and tap persons picture/face
Step 2: Tap blue button (IM button)
Step 3: Tap bottom of page (where it says type message here)
Step 4: Press Send on bottom of screen
Step 5: To return to Skype home page look on to left hand corner for the word "people" and tap.
Step 6: Use hand thing to leave Skype altogether. (spider)
Finding New people on Skype
Step 1: Go into Skype and tap on the + in the top right hand corner
Step 2: Tap Search Skype Directory
Step 3: Type in the name of the person you are looking for
Step 4: Browse until the the person you know comes up
*In many cases people have the same name, so look for things like Country or Suburb to ensure that you find the person you are really looking for.
Step 5: Tap on the person you want
Step 6: Press add contact in the top right corner of the new screen
Step 7: A contact submission form will come up, you can either just press send or personalise the message until you are happy with it and then press send.
Step 8: The request will be sent to the other person and it is now a waiting game until they accept you.
*At this stage, on the home screen of Skype they will have a box with their name under it, however the bubble in the corner of their picture will have a question mark in it, until they accept you, at which time the question mark will change to a X (for not online) or a green tick (online and waiting to talk to you) and to make a call go to Step 2: Skype Calling.
Now while all of this information may seen daunting, once you have done the process a few times it becomes second nature. Yes it was an extremely long day for both Grandma and I, but the results at the end made it all worth it. What I think made all the difference is the amount of times I made Grandma repeat the process of making a call, accepting a call and telling me all the things that could go wrong - and then how to fix it. We started by me making call to her from my iPad and her just accepting the call, I would ring and she would answer. Simple. Then the reverse would happen, she would ring and I would answer. Then I would go into a different room and do the whole thing again.
When we had mastered that skill, I would turn the sound off, or the camera off, on my iPad, and in a different room I would make Grandma tell me how to fix the problem. This was probably the most challenging stage given that Grandma's head was already spinning a million miles an hour, but the reward was worth it.
That night the most amazing thing happened, after some planning by me the night before, it was arranged that her Sister would ring over Skype for their first big meeting. After an antagonising day of practice and waiting the moment of truth had arrived. Of course things never, ever go right the first time, and as I help Grandma over the phone, while talking to her sister on my iPad, it looked like it would never happen. All our hard work would be for nothing!
But no, divine intervention stepped in and saved the day. Finally after an hour of fixing, praying, wishing and hoping I hung up my call with Grandma's Sister and waited nervously on the phone, crossing all my fingers and toes, praying that I would hear her Sisters voice through the phone! Eureka!! It finally finally worked, the moment we had ALL been waiting for, Grandma and her sister could see and talk to each other just as if they were sitting in the same room and not thousands and thousands of kms away.
The next morning when I rang Grandma to find out all the details I found out that they had spoken for over 5 hours!! This roughly meant that Grandma didn't get off Skype until after 2.30am AEDT!! WAY WAY PAST HER BEDTIME!!! Despite that, I could not keep the smile off my face, knowing that I had made two ladies incredibly happy, seriously made my week. And since then Grandma has set up a weekly meeting with her Sister on a Thursday night (our time) so that they will never have miss out on each others important events just due to distance. As it currently stands her Sister has made us all incredibly jealous by taking her laptop outside and showing us the London snow!!!
The joys of modern technology....
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
Two steps forward and one step back
I know I promised some grand sister reunion, some love story to make your heart melt and make you forget the evil in this universe, BUT someone didn't to their homework - GRANDMA! Let me explain...
Do you ever remember standing in front of your teacher, at school trying to make up a really good excuse as to why your homework wasn't done? The unimpressed look staring you down, making you cower in your boots? (I never did but I saw it happen...) At the start of our next lesson I think that is how my Grandma was feeling. I had received no emails in over a week, I could see that no google'ing had occurred since our last lesson and so I was hit with the excuses. Too busy, A lot had been going on, Doctors Appointments, blah blah blah. Hence this lesson was not earth shattering or exciting, just going over the basics sending an email, replying to (and forwarding) an email and google'ing.
We did however have quite an interesting conversation about Twitter, and my newly technologically-ish savvy Grandma inquired about this marvel called a Twitter and what on earth was this thing called 'trending'. Evidently the Grandparental's house watches the Channel 10 television show The Project to find these terms but I did indeed think it was cute. For all those living under a rock, Twitter is this magical thing where people can come together and talk using just 140 characters (that includes spaces). Different sections of the community use it, including political junkies (myself one of them), Goths, those standing up for democracy (look at the Arab Spring/ London Riots), Cyclists, Politicians, News Presenters, The Pope, Sporting Stars (and coaches), those wanting to create alter egos for themselves ... and the list goes on. All someone needs is an email address and 'Bob is your uncle' as the saying goes. Hashtags group likeminded people together #qt for Federal Question Time in Australia, #SOTU of the American State of the Union #pope for the Pope resignation and the possibilities are endless. One can even make up their own hashtag, if they so desired. Twitter is Instagram with words, and Instagram is Twitter but with pictures. On these social media sites you can be as personal or as anonymous as you like, the choice being yours, and despite some people using it for bad things, one can meet some lovely people whose opinions and thoughts you come to admire. As for trending, trending refers to the top hashtags being used at anyone time, for example #pope was trending for a couple of days after Pope Benedict XVI resigned and Malaysia is currently trending given the situation involving SA Senator Nick Xenophon being detained/deported.
So after our impromptu chat about the cyber world, my Grandma has promised that she will email EVERY day as this week is a very special week. This is the week that we come face to face (over Skype) with Grandma's Sister in Eastbourne, United Kingdom and see snow! And just remember, those silly teacher phrases of "practice makes perfect" and "little bits of homework ofter" really do make a difference and make learning things ten times easier, until next time Adieu Adieu.
Do you ever remember standing in front of your teacher, at school trying to make up a really good excuse as to why your homework wasn't done? The unimpressed look staring you down, making you cower in your boots? (I never did but I saw it happen...) At the start of our next lesson I think that is how my Grandma was feeling. I had received no emails in over a week, I could see that no google'ing had occurred since our last lesson and so I was hit with the excuses. Too busy, A lot had been going on, Doctors Appointments, blah blah blah. Hence this lesson was not earth shattering or exciting, just going over the basics sending an email, replying to (and forwarding) an email and google'ing.
We did however have quite an interesting conversation about Twitter, and my newly technologically-ish savvy Grandma inquired about this marvel called a Twitter and what on earth was this thing called 'trending'. Evidently the Grandparental's house watches the Channel 10 television show The Project to find these terms but I did indeed think it was cute. For all those living under a rock, Twitter is this magical thing where people can come together and talk using just 140 characters (that includes spaces). Different sections of the community use it, including political junkies (myself one of them), Goths, those standing up for democracy (look at the Arab Spring/ London Riots), Cyclists, Politicians, News Presenters, The Pope, Sporting Stars (and coaches), those wanting to create alter egos for themselves ... and the list goes on. All someone needs is an email address and 'Bob is your uncle' as the saying goes. Hashtags group likeminded people together #qt for Federal Question Time in Australia, #SOTU of the American State of the Union #pope for the Pope resignation and the possibilities are endless. One can even make up their own hashtag, if they so desired. Twitter is Instagram with words, and Instagram is Twitter but with pictures. On these social media sites you can be as personal or as anonymous as you like, the choice being yours, and despite some people using it for bad things, one can meet some lovely people whose opinions and thoughts you come to admire. As for trending, trending refers to the top hashtags being used at anyone time, for example #pope was trending for a couple of days after Pope Benedict XVI resigned and Malaysia is currently trending given the situation involving SA Senator Nick Xenophon being detained/deported.
So after our impromptu chat about the cyber world, my Grandma has promised that she will email EVERY day as this week is a very special week. This is the week that we come face to face (over Skype) with Grandma's Sister in Eastbourne, United Kingdom and see snow! And just remember, those silly teacher phrases of "practice makes perfect" and "little bits of homework ofter" really do make a difference and make learning things ten times easier, until next time Adieu Adieu.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Big Scary Google!
To anyone under the age of 50 (ish) the big world of WWW. is nothing too strenuous to navigate but to anyone on the other side of the big five-oh things can be a bit different. At this point in our journey my Grandma can email with the best of them and play solitaire and FreeCell like a pro... Google not so much. Time to set the scene on lesson 2 before we begin. Arriving for our lesson bodes no problem, but the first question of the day makes me smile. Over tea and chocolate biscuits I was asked "What even is a google? How do I 'Google it'? Is it hard?" So I decided that for lesson 2, a crash course on how to Google was in order, and is as follows...
Step 1: Be on the home page of iPad
Step 2: Tap on Safari (one of the bottom icons)
Step 3: Tap righthand button search (you may need to delete previous searches)
Step 4: Type in what you want to search
Step 5: Press search on the Keyboard
Step 6: Wait until loaded
Step 7: Any pages/links you can go to will blue coloured in blue
Step 8: Click any blue link and wait until loaded
Step 9: Browse the site
*To look at another page tap the back arrow in top left corner or to 're-google' repeat steps 3-8
Step 10: To exit tap X in top left hand corner of the page
Step 11: Hand thing to get main screen (spider)
Even re-reading the 11 steps on google'ing I can imagine people shaking their heads saying IT IS NOT THAT HARD!?!?! But remember it is simple to those of us who live on the internet but to someone who has never used Google, Bing or Yahoo it is a big adventure full of obstacles and confusing links, hyperlinks and pages.
I was told a story recently, where a mum came up to their child's teacher saying Guess What! Guess What! I found this brilliant new app last night on my iPad. It is like a sandbox and you can draw pictures and the sand moves just link the real thing, did you want me to send you the preview of the app?? The teacher replied why? There are 3 sandboxes at this school and if children want to draw in the sand they can go outside at lunch. It sounds like a really bad joke I know, but it is true, as young people are brought up in a society where it is more common to use the iPad to harness their imagination rather than raw materials it needs to be remembered that older people are being left behind.
Although my Grandad's philosophy is ignorance is bliss when it comes to all things technological, my Grandmas determination is wonderful. In her little purple box where she keeps all her iPad related things, is a notebook where she keeps all her instructions and handy hints I have been teaching her. We have made a page titled Things to ask Laura and at the start of every lesson I check that page and if anything is written down we go though it before we start. The notes can include: What is wrong with this game? Why is my iPad staying like that? Can I enlarge the writing? Basic, almost inconsequential things I and most people don't even think about, but things that pose issues to her.
In just a few weeks I can see that our training has payed off, my Grandma is becoming more confident and with everyday that passes becomes more excited about what she is going to learn next. Lesson three will be the ins and outs of Skype and the feat of reuniting two sisters living over 16,000 kms (or over 10,000 miles) away from each other.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
The Hazards of emailing!
The shock and excitement of getting an iPad is wearing off and the fear of having one, and actually using it is setting in. The sun rises on the day after, and the technology hangover is taking force. My Grandma wakes up and as I was having a week-long sleep over at her house the iPad training starts early.
Actually before I get really into the training, first I should set the scene. The night before the big unveiling, I with a little help from my elves had spent some 5 hours setting up the iPad. My Grandma's email details (and all her contacts) were loaded into the Mail app and her Telstra Wi-fi was set up. A beautiful (or horrid) 'selfie' of myself was set as her background wallpaper and all her Apple ID stuff was created.
Lesson One: The basics of email.
To make sure that she was not overwhelmed I decided to introduce my Grandma slowly to all the features of the iPad. Now, while it may seem slightly skittish as to the order of what is being taught, you need to know the reason for my Grandma getting her iPad. She came from England as a 10 pound pom with her husband and three daughters, leaving all her blood family behind. Therefore it was imperative that she learn as soon as possible how to Skype and email so that she could get in contact with her brothers and sisters, and with that in mind How to send an Email became lesson one. The steps are as follows.
Step 1: Tap on the Mail app, (one of the icons at the bottom of the iPad).
Step 2: To write an email. Go to the top right hand corner (row of icons) and tap on the last one, a picture of a square and a stick (pen).
*A new page will come up and this is where you will compose an email (and it will look the same when you reply or forward an email).
Step 3: Tap on the box next to where it says TO:
Step 4: Type in the name of the person you wish to write to. (Before I gave my Grandma her iPad I had already programmed her iPad to recognise all of her friends email without the need for her to type the email address in each time she wishes to send an email.)
Step 5: Tap on SUBJECT:
Step 6: Write a general few words summing up the email (Hey, Candles or Money for birthday for example.)
Step 7:Now tap down under SUBJECT to get the cursor into the body of the email, so that you can now begin to compose the email in full.
Step 8: When you are satisfied with your email tap the send button at the top of the page on the right hand side.
Step 9: (if the iPads sound is on) You will hear a noise signaling the email has sent and the iPad will be take you back to the screen you started on.
Step 10: To read an email. On the left of the screen you have been presented with are the emails in you inbox. To look at an email tap on the email you wish to look at.
*All new email will have a blue dot on the far left side of the email.
Step 11: Read.
Step 12:To reply to the email. Go to top right hand side of the screen and tap on the fourth icon (which looks like an arrow going backwards.
Step 13: You will be presented with a screen very similar to the screen you see when you write an email. However the TO: will be filled in already and so will the SUBJECT.
Step 14: If that is the case continue with step 15, if not go and follow steps 3 to 7.
Step 15: Tap down under the SUBJECT to write your reply. (see Step 7 for more details)
Step 16: Once again, if satisfied with your email tap the send button at the top of the page on the right hand side.
Step 17: (if the iPads sound is on) You will hear a noise signaling the email has sent and the iPad will be take you back to the screen you started on.
Step 18: To exit app, either use small round button on the face of the iPad or hand thing (spider)
*Spider is the term my Grandma uses when she put all her fingers (spread out) on the iPad and brings them to the middle to close the app.
And that folks is 18 steps on how to navigate the Mail app. I found that by making my Grandma send a few emails whilst I was with her, helped her gain her confidence and as a result I now expect an email every day from her. You may see this as over the top but I don't expect essay length emails from her, just a quick hello or a run down on her day does the trick perfectly. It also makes sure she remembers how to turn the iPad on, and connect her to the internet (which is an effort in itself sometimes).
In hindsight the daily email conversations between my Grandma and I have brought us even closer together. Before I would talk to her once or twice a week, but now with it being everyday I know so much more about what she does everyday before even my mum or aunts do. My peers ask me why do I even bother with it all? And every time I respond with she is my Grandma, I love her and I will do what ever it takes. So tune in next time for Google'ing 101.
Actually before I get really into the training, first I should set the scene. The night before the big unveiling, I with a little help from my elves had spent some 5 hours setting up the iPad. My Grandma's email details (and all her contacts) were loaded into the Mail app and her Telstra Wi-fi was set up. A beautiful (or horrid) 'selfie' of myself was set as her background wallpaper and all her Apple ID stuff was created.
Lesson One: The basics of email.
To make sure that she was not overwhelmed I decided to introduce my Grandma slowly to all the features of the iPad. Now, while it may seem slightly skittish as to the order of what is being taught, you need to know the reason for my Grandma getting her iPad. She came from England as a 10 pound pom with her husband and three daughters, leaving all her blood family behind. Therefore it was imperative that she learn as soon as possible how to Skype and email so that she could get in contact with her brothers and sisters, and with that in mind How to send an Email became lesson one. The steps are as follows.
Step 1: Tap on the Mail app, (one of the icons at the bottom of the iPad).
Step 2: To write an email. Go to the top right hand corner (row of icons) and tap on the last one, a picture of a square and a stick (pen).
*A new page will come up and this is where you will compose an email (and it will look the same when you reply or forward an email).
Step 3: Tap on the box next to where it says TO:
Step 4: Type in the name of the person you wish to write to. (Before I gave my Grandma her iPad I had already programmed her iPad to recognise all of her friends email without the need for her to type the email address in each time she wishes to send an email.)
Step 5: Tap on SUBJECT:
Step 6: Write a general few words summing up the email (Hey, Candles or Money for birthday for example.)
Step 7:Now tap down under SUBJECT to get the cursor into the body of the email, so that you can now begin to compose the email in full.
Step 8: When you are satisfied with your email tap the send button at the top of the page on the right hand side.
Step 9: (if the iPads sound is on) You will hear a noise signaling the email has sent and the iPad will be take you back to the screen you started on.
Step 10: To read an email. On the left of the screen you have been presented with are the emails in you inbox. To look at an email tap on the email you wish to look at.
*All new email will have a blue dot on the far left side of the email.
Step 11: Read.
Step 12:To reply to the email. Go to top right hand side of the screen and tap on the fourth icon (which looks like an arrow going backwards.
Step 13: You will be presented with a screen very similar to the screen you see when you write an email. However the TO: will be filled in already and so will the SUBJECT.
Step 14: If that is the case continue with step 15, if not go and follow steps 3 to 7.
Step 15: Tap down under the SUBJECT to write your reply. (see Step 7 for more details)
Step 16: Once again, if satisfied with your email tap the send button at the top of the page on the right hand side.
Step 17: (if the iPads sound is on) You will hear a noise signaling the email has sent and the iPad will be take you back to the screen you started on.
Step 18: To exit app, either use small round button on the face of the iPad or hand thing (spider)
*Spider is the term my Grandma uses when she put all her fingers (spread out) on the iPad and brings them to the middle to close the app.
And that folks is 18 steps on how to navigate the Mail app. I found that by making my Grandma send a few emails whilst I was with her, helped her gain her confidence and as a result I now expect an email every day from her. You may see this as over the top but I don't expect essay length emails from her, just a quick hello or a run down on her day does the trick perfectly. It also makes sure she remembers how to turn the iPad on, and connect her to the internet (which is an effort in itself sometimes).
In hindsight the daily email conversations between my Grandma and I have brought us even closer together. Before I would talk to her once or twice a week, but now with it being everyday I know so much more about what she does everyday before even my mum or aunts do. My peers ask me why do I even bother with it all? And every time I respond with she is my Grandma, I love her and I will do what ever it takes. So tune in next time for Google'ing 101.
OMG What have I just done?!?
You know that feeling you sometimes get, when you feel that you might have just made one of the biggest mistakes ever? Well that is what I currently feel like because I have made a promise to someone I love very much and I am not sure if I can keep it. The promise I made is to my Grandma, and the promise itself? Teach her how to use her newly acquired iPad. The year 2013. The goal? To navigate the iPad with ease in under 12 months. And so I say, Challenge accepted.
So the 'young people' of today are supposed to be technologically savvy right? And the 'older generation' don't know a thing about computers right? Well not anymore, this blog is about my plight to transform my Grandma into a computer expert... or at least an iPad expert. For christmas in 2012 my family bought my Grandma an iPad because her laptop was too big and bulky for her to manage. When she received it, she had no idea what to do with it. It fascinated her but Im sure she we was also completely daunted by what she was about to face. I myself, was given an iPad to trial at school in year 11, with my teachers only words being "Try and break the iPad (programs/setting), I dare you!" and my class tried but we seldom destroyed them.
My plan is that about once a week I will sit down with my Grandma and she will learn how to use her iPad slowly but eventually it will happen. Currently she has no idea how to turn it on, much less how to use it. We have decided to write in a book all the things I teach her, so that she can go back and look at it later. Step by Step I will carefully document every stage of every process I teach her and in her words. This means that the description of certain actions will be (for me) bizarre but mean something specific to her, and unbeknown to her (for the moment) I will document every twist and turn on my quest to teach an 'old dog' new tricks.
So follow along on our journey and who knows you might just learn something new!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)