The Word Wide Web is a powerful, if not the resource for information, commerce, entertainment, education and distraction. One could argue about when exactly it was created. It has evolved over 20 years into something that can be indexed, searched and referenced.
Younger people grew up using it to find what they want. Some of us remember foraging through paper stacks at the library and are just thrilled to search for answers at will instead.
Nothing was worse than tearing through the Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature only to find that the nearest answer was at a library halfway around the world.
Most of us use online resources daily, but many don’t really understand how they work or how to use them effectively. If you listen to mainstream cynics, the web is a dark scarey place that will reach out and bite you if you pet it wrong.
You can get hurt by using the web naively, but the reality is more like a big mess of things that have piled up. They need to be searched and sifted to find the useful bits. It’s like a big flea market of treasures and trash, information and services that all need to be examined for their useful value.
Shopping a flea market or searching the library require skills to succeed, so too the web. You need to know how to find things, value them and not be ripped off in the process. There is no mysticism.
The basic skill set to effectively use the web is pretty simple, but like household budgets and balancing the checkbook, no one seems to teach us. There are only about (4) basic things we all need to know:
- A ‘basic’ understanding of the web
- How to define and refine search criteria
- How to protect yourself
- Plan to get things done
overview – what is the web – search criteria – protecting yourself – plan your time
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