Comments on: Biking, blogging, referencing, Googling

By: Brendan Gannon

Brendan Gannon — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:22:44 +0000

Google is usually my first stop, but there’s definitely a place for books. I can drop my little bike maintenance book into my bag (note to self: start doing this) and look up stuff faster than I can google on my phone, without worrying about having service or getting grease on the screen. And when I was trying to get an old motorcycle back on the road, I found plenty of how-to videos online but nothing for my specific year and model. It was easy to pick up the bike’s manual, though, and while fuzzy black and white photos aren’t the same as a video walkthrough, at least I knew everything on my motorcycle was supposed to look like the photos.

By: Meredith

Meredith — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:28:20 +0000

The last reference book I bought, huh . . .
Well, does the 3rd edition of Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript count?
If so, then it was 3 weeks ago-and it sure is coming in handy! (Hope to prove it soon.)

Other than that-Google is awesome.

By: Jo Lawler

Jo Lawler — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:42:16 +0000

I absolutely INSIST that all mechanics manuals be in print! No way may my husband Google it with greasy fingers!!!

That said, its 50/50 with me. I actually look up appliance manuals on the store website usually. But if I have some serious study/work to do, I still prefer the information in print.

I second Kerry – sometimes you need the information when there is no power, no computer, no signal, etc.

Funny story: a fellow homeschool mom pointed out my shelf of old fashioned dictionaries and encyclopedias to her teen age daughter and said “Look, thats what we used before Google!” The poor child looked horrified.

By: Tami Veldura

Tami Veldura — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:41:21 +0000

I whip out my phone and Google it on the spot. To the first post here, yes, you’re going to find amature and incorrect info more readilly than expert info but the good stuff is out there and I can find it more quickly that way than. Looking it up in a physical book.

Funny story, I looked up how to change the breaks on my car. However, I didn’t rely on just one source of information,

By: John

John — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:28:59 +0000

So, it seems like Computer mostly beats Book on this one… and I think it’s telling that no one mentioned BUYING a reference guide recently. Guess this is one category I won’t be focusing on much. But thanks to you all for chiming in!

By: Sarah Henson

Sarah Henson — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:17:44 +0000

I go to the internet…mostly. It’s just quicker than finding the book, thumbing though the TOC and finding the the section I need. Plus you get a lot of opinions at once. That being said, books are easier depending on what you’re doing. If you’re hands are going to be messy, or you’re not near a plug with a low battery laptop or phone, it can be more difficult to lug a computer around with you rather than, say flopping open a book and laying it beside you.

By: Dave Sosnowski

Dave Sosnowski — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:28:43 +0000

I must confess I Google first when there’s some repair I need to address at home, usually to get an idea of whether it’s something I think I can manage on my own. I agree that you have to be careful regarding whose advice you use, which is where a good BS detector and how-to video demonstrations are helpful. Within the last year, I’ve fixed a leaky bathtub faucet, sluggish toilet, gushing shower head, a toilet (not mine!) with a chronic mold problem, and an “alignment problem” that turned out to be ice collecting in the tire rim. Why most of my problems turn out to be plumbing related, I have no idea, but Googling’s helped me solve them.

By: Hillsy

Hillsy — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:09:32 +0000

One word: Amateurs

With some things amateur knowledge is fine (I use forums all the time for VBA, excel, Access and a whole host of other minor technical things where the inbuilt help isn’t clear enough for me to intuit through it). Problem comes when complexity and volume increase………an example

Everyone loves cooking….well….lots of people. I was at work, planning a new meal (Yes I’m dull AND a slacker!) and I wanted to know how to make a rosti. No word of a lie, a dozen different methods and recipes. And that’s when I could find them admist all the online databases, searches and other fluff the interweb chucks up. So which ones are right, which are wrong? Took me about 40 minutes to pin together a recipe (which in the end worked, just in case anyone was wondering) from bits and pieces from 5 online recipes. Now I’m pretty sure Nigella Lawson knows how to cook a rosti – so if I owned her book, I’ve just saved myself 40 minutes by going to an expert, rather than an amateur.

There’s also the question of authority. If someone online says “This is how you use this excel function” and it goes wrong, no sweat. If someone online says “This is how you replace the brakes on your car…..” you can see the problem. This is the same reason I don’t pay much heed to amazon reviews, that’s a possible £8 mistake. Someone gets paid for his reviews to be accurate, well he’s got a vested interest in knowing his onions so I’m going to beieve them more…………And we all know the jokes about Wikipedia.

So yes, the net as a reference tool is brilliant for some things, but for others there’s just too many people chiming in with half informed opinions, rather than demonstrable knowledge, to trump a single expert.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:43:49 +0000

Google is an extension of my brain. If I can’t find it on Google, do I really need to know it that bad?

By: Kerry Gans

Kerry Gans — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:36:40 +0000

I keep the users manuals to all appliances, etc., that I buy. Why? Because sometimes you need information when your Internet is not working. Or when your computer has blown up. Or when your electricity has failed.

Sometimes it’s just nice to know that the information is there if you need it.

Kerry