Two popular concerns for making the most of the web are how fast can I go and how fast can I find what I am searching for.
Speeds
Let’s face it, all of us have spent way too much time waiting for websites to load as we surf the internet. Intermittent issues on the web can degrade your internet speed and are usually quickly resolved. If these problems persist, there are cool tools available to help you measure your upload and download speeds. Check your (ISP) Internet Service Provider’s monthly bill to find out speeds you should be experiencing. The upload and download numbers will be different as most users download files more often than they upload them.
There are a couple of free and easy to use websites with tools to measure your surfing speeds. www.speedtest.com locates you on a world map and then recommends a server near you. When you begin the test, a cool looking speedometer displays your speed test results. www.speakeasy.net is another user friendly site to run a speed test. For best results, you should probably run the test on a couple of sites to make sure that the information that you are receiving is accurate. If your speed tests show that you are running slowly, contact your ISP’s support team and report a problem.
Feeds
The internet is a fantastic resource for information but with millions of web updates each hour, how do you find the best information?
Everyone uses popular search engines like Google, Bing but often, if your key words aren’t specific enough you get a thousand answers that aren’t quite what you are looking for. Think about how your topic might be listed in an article. Use specific key words and put quotation marks around them to eliminate unrelated articles. When reviewing your search results, compare the information on a couple of sites to make sure that the information is accurate. Having a website doesn’t make someone an expert and there is a lot of misinformation out there.
How to Find Information You Need on the Internet
With millions of pages of information added to the internet daily, what’s the best approach
to find an answer to a question?
The most common search is done by use of a search engine. This is an interface used to enter a query and the software reviews the Web and returns a list of related sites. A three most popular search engines are Google, Yahoo and Microsoft’s re-engineered MSN search; Bing. The first step is to determine the best keywords for the search. For example, if you are searching for “Validity of Pre-employment Testing”. You might miss a page with “Validity of Pre-employment Tests”. In this scenario you might be best served by using ‘test’ so the search engine query will return test, tests and testing.
Synonyms or related terms cover the different possibilities of describing the same thing by different people. Tests can be described as assessment, judgement, evaluation, or measurement. Think of other ways to describe the same information you are searching and you may find just the article you need.
Be as specific or general as your topic dictates. You could search for test, employment test, pre-employment test, or valididty of pre-employment test. The first search is so general it is probably not useful. The second and third examples are more specific, but if you are researching the validity of those tests you will need to add that word to the search. Think about what words might be in an article related to your topic. Use those words in your search.
You can also use the Advanced Search page of search engines to be more specific or use quotation marks around specific terms you know have to be in an article. For example “pre-employment testing” would eliminate articles relating to pre-employment interviews.
Lastly, when you find articles you believe answer you question, review which site is posting the information. With more than a world of information out there, there is also a world of mis-information being posted and stated as fact. The best approach is to find multiple sites with the same information and hopefully a well-respected site is found with the information needed.
Happy Surfing!
Rich Kavanaugh
Client Solutions Manager
