I often get requests from people to solve some eLearning/software/teaching related issue they are having. Typically they have made an effort and spent half an hour rattling around before giving up and handing it on to me. I don’t mind, it’s my job.
And you know, sometimes I don’t know the answer either. So I go online. It’s also what happens on most help desks. The person on the other end of the phone is not necessarily more informed than you, they’re just a bit more comfortable diving into the wild intertubes.
There is an old (by internet standards) joke site called “Let me Google that for you” http://lmgtfy.com/ It was developed by a frustrated tech support person who got fed up with addressing questions with easily found answers.
It seems that a lack of search skills (perhaps the most basic of all digital skills) is still rife.
So with that in mind here’s some suggestions:
- This 20 Tips page on Life Hack is a good place to start http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/20-tips-use-google-search-efficiently.html
- Here’s a more geeky guide for finding tech solutions http://www.shlomifish.org/philosophy/computers/how-to-get-help-online/2013.html
- If all else fails go to Google.com and type “how to do a good google search”
Here are a few of tips of my own
- Be willing to go to the next page (and the one after that)
- Use forums. I rarely find the answer to my questions on product sites.
BillyBob637 on the Oztark Tech blog may be the only guy prepared to go though the 400 combinations of functions and key strokes to come up with a particular solution to a problem a software company doesn’t want to acknowledge.
Of course it’s not just about searching. A big part of it is knowing what the answer looks like, that’s where the help desk gurus come into their own. But for the most part the answers are there just waiting to be found.