|
|
|
|
Keeping Families Connected In The Digital Age
By Drew Austin
June 8, 2002
After moving away from home two years ago I realised that my family has a problem. Despite the fact that our house has a telephone with voice mail, a fax machine, high-speed Internet, an abundance of paper and pens, and a score of folk who can use them, getting messages to and from my family was near impossible. I began missing family functions and birthdays as the gremlins that inhabit our family home devoured any information that they could get their slimy hands on.
Yahoo!, the popular Internet service developer, has come up with a solution that can help families like mine. Yahoo! groups (groups.yahoo.com), which was formerly called eGroups, is a service that allows groups to create a feature-packed website.
Central to the websites that you find at groups.yahoo.com is a message board. Unlike other similar services (like Yahoo's similar service located at clubs.yahoo.com), users are given a wide range of options on how they can read these messages. Most people read these messages in their email, as you can have the messages sent individually or combined as a daily digest to your email, which saves you the bother of having to go to the page every day.
But the message board isn't all that you will find on a Yahoo! groups page. Under the 'chat' section, members of the group can chat with each other in real time.
By clicking on 'Calendar' you can view the groups Calendar which contains events and such posted by group members.
Members can post pictures into the 'photo' section, which when combined with a digital camera, can allow Grandma and Grandpa to watch their grandchildren grow.
The files section allows for a communal file storage area - share that mp3 song that was big when you and your sibling where young.
There is even a 'bookmarks' section to share your favourite web pages and a 'polls' section where members can post issues (like where Christmas dinner is going to be held) for the other members to vote on.
If you would like your family to be better connected, then go to groups.yahoo.com, click on 'start a group' and you will be on your way to a more connected family.
Drew Austin is the Community Access Program member who staffs the public access computers at both Tavistock and Embro branches of the Oxford County Library. As a Service Team member, Drew specializes in one-on-one Internet assistance with library patrons.
|
|
