Are you ready to start a dot-com, or scared to start a download? Test your technology literacy.
1. What is a Web site?
A. Charlotte’s home
B. Your basement
C. A location on the World Wide Web
2. When you hear the term “IT,” you think of:
A. Information Technology
B. Clara Bow
C. An Addams family cousin
3. What is Google?
A. A cross between leering and baby-talk
B. A search engine
C. How much money you spent last time you visited Amazon.com
4. Linux is:
A. A Roman emperor
B. A “Peanuts” character
C. A computer operating system
5. What is a cursor?
A. A flashing place-marker on the screen
B. You, after spending an hour trying to find where on your desktop your faxes go
C. Your spouse, after explaining it for the millionth time
6. What is a plug-in?
A. An air freshener
B. A hardware or software module that adds a feature to a larger system; for example, allowing you to listen to music or play a video
C. An outlet
7. Complete this sentence: ASCII …
A. . . . is the acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a method of exchanging data between computers that speak different electronic languages.
B. . . . lift can be chilly at high altitudes.
C. . . . me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies.
8. Which best describes your reaction when your hard drive crashes?
A. “We Can Do It!” poster.
B. (Photo of nuclear explosion.)
C. (Face from Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.”)
9. What is Acrobat Reader?
A. A gymnast who performs stunts while perusing a novel
B. A scanning device used in the circus
C. A program that lets you view a document in its original format
10. How many swear words did you use last time you did a Web search?
A. None; what would be the problem?
B. More than 10
C. Who the &%@ wants to know?
11. What is FTP?
A. A floral-scented gasoline additive
B. Free Toilet Paper, a perk sent to your home if you shop on-line
C. File Transfer Protocol, which allows files to be transmitted from a Web site to your computer
12. What does it mean to talk across platforms?
A. To hold a conversation with someone headed in the opposite direction on the `L’
B. To communicate with a computer that uses a different operating system
C. To talk while trying to walk in very chunky shoes
Scoring
Give yourself two points for every answer that matches ours below. If you score 22 or 24, quit your job for that Internet startup; from 16 to 20, hire a teenage tutor; under 16, brush up on your hieroglyphics when you’re not ironing your crinolines and pinafores.
1.C, 2.A, 3.B, 4.C, 5.A, 6.B, 7.A, 8.A, 9.C, 10.A, 11.C, 12.B.
