Yesterday I had a friend coming over and have a serious discussion about the way people view the internet, and even if we know we have the worlds knowledge at a few click reach, most people refuse to make use of it to connect with the knowledge they really lack.
I think even in an age of apparent information overload, there is still a lot of people cognitively disconnected from it. We should try to start connecting our search skills to the current information we are lacking in our lives and start connecting to the information pools that are actually valuable in our lives.
Making this happen is more about discipline than money, or speed of your internet or even your technical knowledge. The basics of searching is really just a mind map of words that you can sometimes, even, randomly spew at the search bar and will often come up with the right answer. If your phone is not that old you could even dictate the query to it.
The important thing is that when you are in doubt your brain will be hardwired to search those terms.
The next step is learning the value of links, sure some people are very anal about their bookmarks, I am kind of the opposite. I seldom bookmark sites, but on the flip side I live with a 10000 tabs open just to make sure I am able to go back to where I was.
The next thing is really to read but also give back, a two-way conversation is better than just reading, for that you will need to type. Getting in touch with people on the internet is rather simple. Just look for their twitter, Facebook or email account and more often than none, you will get a reply.
Social searching is incredibly powerful, specially if your search is about a current event, or something that is becoming big in the news.
Youtube is also an alternative way of searching, if you are not the reading type, a video might be the way to go. Conferences, talks, discussions opinions, or even vblogs.
So next time you want to learn about something, just do that, it doesn’t really take that long come up with a whole bunch of material.
Ideas, thoughts and Free Software 