What to do on-line? Seniors use their computing power to not only avoid the feeling of being left behind but also for information on volunteer opportunities, the latest on the Medicare debate, to communicate with others with similar interests, on-line shop, to find the latest information, to monitor investments, and also to track their genealogy.
Senior sites are often available through an on-line service provider including: America on-line (Keyword: AARP), CompuServe (Go Seniors), or Prodigy (jump AARP or Seniors). Those Seniors that have an Internet service provider can find lots of interesting sites including SeniorNet, American Association of Retired Persons, SeniorCom and Silver Threads.
Most sites are best viewed through either Netscape 2.0 (or higher) or Microsoft Explorer 3.0. Both of these browsers can be downloaded free on-line. Netscape can be found at: http://www.netscape.com/ and Explorer can be found at: http://www.microsoft.com/.
SeniorNet is a nation nonprofit organization whose mission it is to build a community of computer using Seniors. SeniorNet provides information and instruction about computer use to Seniors 55 or older. Membership dues run $35.00 the first year and renewals run $25.00 each year thereafter with discounts for couples. Members receive newsletters, discounts and are eligible to attend SeniorNet Learning Center classes.
Texas has 4 SeniorNet Learning Centers in Nacogdoches, Houston, Dallas and Waco. The SeniorNet message boards cover a broad range of topics, and the Connection section is the one of the most popular destinations. Recent guests include Rosalynn Carter and Joan Heilmann (a popular author of 50+ books that cover discounts and opportunities for Seniors).
America on-line's message boards even include a Generation to Generation segment that encourages communication between the young and old in cyber-space. What a wonderful use of technology!!
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) which ranks as the largest organization of Senior citizens maintains a web presence for its millions of computer using members. AARP offers national programs in the area of health care and to work on legislative bills affecting older citizens before congress. AARP also offers services in retirement planning, consumer affairs, crime prevention, driver improvement, health advocacy, lifetime learning, safety, tax aid, widowed persons counseling, among others.
SeniorCom offers Seniors a list of services including on-line shopping, travel services and Legal & Financial. Live chat is available for those willing to participate. On-line magazines, newspapers and books from around the country and dealing with a wide variety of topics are available for reading.
Click on City Hall and find out about recent development in legislation and volunteer opportunities. Or try the Professional Service Center to find a doctor, financial planner or attorney.
The Senior Group Newsletter now called Silver Threads is a monthly publication written by Seniors on how Seniors can use and contribute to the net. Articles are written on a wide variety of subjects and often with a good deal of humor. This is a must read for anyone, too bad they seem to think the rest of us are too young to benefit.
Seniors wishing to do genealogy research. I would recommend starting with the site provided by the State of Utah. They not only have one of the most extensive sites but also links to other sites that provide similar services.
For Senior investors simple updates on stocks can be done through a wide variety of web locations. Some Internet service providers such as Netcom provide daily stock updates through e-mail at no cost to their subscribers.
Many of the above sites do provide resources dealing with financial planning. However, should a person wish to investigate other firms, a simple search under the words financial planning in just in one search service (MetaCrawler) results in 57 hits.
The web gives an investor a chance to follow his/her investments on a daily basis. Shop around for a reputable firm that will provide the services you need at the best price.
Senior users are not the largest group on the net but their numbers
are growing. The net is tremendous resource for everyone.
Susan Wehe
swehe@ix.netcom.com
http://www.netcom/~swehe/family.html
Susan Wehe is a member of the Seguin Internet Club.
CyberSenior http://bcn.boulder.co.us/community/senior-citizens/seniorgroup/srnl9_95.htm
Genealogy: http://utstdpwww.state.ut.us/~archives/referenc/!genealo.htm
Metacrawler: http://beta.metacrawler.com/
SeniorCom http://www.senior.com/
Silver Threads: http://bcn.boulder.co.us/community/senior-citizens/seniorgroup/center.html
The September meeting of the Seguin Internet
Club will take place on Saturday September 21 at Century 21 D&D
at 10 am. There will be the on-line capability, to facilitate
the answer to Internet questions and the sharing of information
and helpful tips.
The Seguin Internet club consists of Internet users who help one another to learn more about the various topics of Internet use. The September meeting will be an unstructured meeting where members discuss Internet problems and questions among each other, and share helpful information through posting hints and web sites for all to see. Club members include young students, home users and commercial users, who have as a common unifying link, their Internet enthusiasm. There are no dues involved. Anyone, regardless of Internet proficiency or Internet provider, can be a member. Members are invited to write articles for the Sunday column Internet Beat.
To contribute to the Internet Beat column, contact column coordinator Gloria Rivera at 303-4764, riverag@connecti.com. The articles need to be useful to the Internet user and understandable to the non-user.
To join the Seguin Internet Club, contact Jerry Weers or Alton Hierholzer at 303-0818 or 303-9260; weersjt@texas.net or altonh@connecti.com
All the past articles published in this Internet Beat column are
available on the Internet at the Seguin Internet Club web page
at: http://lonestar.texas.net/~weersjt/club/home.html
The purpose
of the articles is to contribute to the Internet literacy of the
community.