Nairobits E-learning > Course 'Web Stars' > Publishing > lesson 7
  Going Public
Introduction
10 mins		 This lesson is about the act of going public, once we have philosophised about what that means and why people do it, we look at some technical knowhow for getting your site seen online, .
Activities

Opening: (60 mins)

  • Introduction to the lesson, the trainer will introduce the topic of publishing, what does that mean to publish
  • Warming up - going public
  • Homework discussion

    • Work: (120 mins)

    • The technicals explained:
      Domain names, ftp, counters, browser stats
    • The technicals explained:
      search engines and how to prepare your site to get listed
    • Student exercise 1:
      Making yourindex.html ready for search engines (30 mins)
    • Student exercise 2:
      uploading, publishing their index.html with ftp
    Closing (60 mins)
  • Student: Presentation and discussion
  • Trainer: closing talk, homework and evaluation
    		•  
    Warming up
    Going public    		 To publish is to go public, this is a game which highlights the difference between private and public.

    Step 1: Everyone is asked to think for him/her self of something private which they would not like to be public.
    Step 2: Everyone is asked to think of one idea that they would like everyone to know.
    Tip: Everyone should think of one text which they would like to print on a t-shirt to walk around with today.
    Step 3: A few students are asked what they would put on their t-shirts.     		 
    Homework Discussion
    		Discussion of the previous homework  
    Trainer
    		 To publish or not to publish, the influence of the individual, getting your message out..
    see handout    		  
    The technicals explained

    Domain names
    Webspace
    FTP
    Domain name registry, why a domain name is important, advertising, easy to read, like a title, how to register, what different domains mean, com, org, co.ke...
    Webspace - hosting your site online, MB, what you pay for, how that works,
    Ftp - uploading files to the server, getting you files up to that hoster / provider
    Counters, browser statistics - how you can know how many people visit your site

    see handout

    		  
    Trainer

    How to prepare your index.html with metatags, keywords, description and titles

    		 
    Students exercise 1 Adding keywords and descriptions to your site
    Making their index.html ready for search engines
    to prepare the index file means adding metatags or keywords and descriptions to your site.
    These keywords and descriptions are what’s used to , to represent your web site in the search engines
    step 1: each students chooses 10 words to represent their site, they should think of the words that people might use to find their site.
    Step 2: each student
    Step 3: using dreamweaver, use, insert, headtags, then keywords, then type the chosen words,
    Step 4: using dreamweaver, use insert, then headtags, then description, then type the description of the site
    Step 5: using F10 to look at code, students inspects his/her added keywords in the head tag of the html
    Step 6: add a title to the homepage that describes the page in 40 characters or less    		  
    Tip:
    When your page has frames it can be complicated to access the correct file to add the metatags / keywords, you need to access the index.html file, via the frames window you can click on the most outside window    		  
    Students exercise 2

    Uploading / publishing with ftp.
    Every student should know the basics about ftp and how to upload their own site.
    We are going to use dreamweaver to publish.
    Step 1: the server information,
    server name, login and password
    Step 2: filling these in dreamweaver
    Step 3: uploading your index.html file (not whole website)
    Step 4: first time don’t include dependant files
    Step 5: checking online
    Step 6: now upload again including dependant files
    Step 7: checking online
    Step 8: refresh in browser window and emptying cache
    Tip each students should do this process from start to finish alone, so that they really no how to go about to independently

    		  
    Tip: remind students of the importance that the online version is an exact copy of the offline version. Otherwise you might upload the file to the wrong place / folder  
    Closing talk & test
    • If there is time discuss publishing online and what it can mean
    • Prepare students for the next lesson
    • Give evaluation forms and homework. (if any)
    • Ask what they have learnt that they didn’t know before?
    • Ask some few students to explain how certain tools work in the ftp application.
    • Ask some few students to explain why publishing is important to them
    		  
    Websites

    1. To pick up a counter for your site:
    www.freewebcounter.com

    2. To publish or not to publish: stories of different individuals and groups who have published and why and how they did it.
    www.janvaneyck.nl/users/giselleo/

    3. At this website learn more about interconnectness and how it works. www.cope.co.za/Intercon/Inter1.htm

    		  
    Hand-out

    There are two handouts for this lesson

    1. To publish or not to publish
    2. Technicals explained, Domain names, Webspace, FTP

    		  
    Homework

    1. Look for three examples of publishing on your way home and take note of the message being conveyed.

    2. Ask two or three people around you at home if they wanted to send a message out to the world knowing that 50 % of the world would hear it, what would that message be

    		 
    Evaluation Printed lesson evaluation forms for the students to fill at home.  
    Learning goals

    Knowledge* Students knows
    - that to put your website online you have to upload it
    - that you have to have web space reserved
    - to be careful about banners and spam from free webspace providers
    - that publishing is an act of going public
    - that you can tally how many visitors you have to a site
    - the importance of well chosen domain names
    - That internet is a democratic publishing format

    Skills* students can
    - upload a file correctly using ftp / dreamweaver
    - add metags to their page

    Attitude*students feel:
    - that each one has the right to publish and be heard
    - that the better you formulate your meaning, statements the more people will take interest
    - diversity online should be encouraged
    - internet is a medium good suited to activism

    		  
    Materials - One computer per student connected to the internet
    - Hand out
    - Evaluation forms
    - Flash application program
    - Enough time