How to you solve problems these days? If you’re like many, you turn to the Internet. If you’re old school, however, sometimes you forget to consider all of the information, guidance, resources, personal experiences and even professional advice on the Internet. And sometimes an Internet search—especially when it involves a medical question—can be overwhelming and confusing.
Yesterday we had a technological problem in our offices. And company representatives for the program involved refused to help—said, “Sorry buddy, your system is too old—can’t help you.”
We turned to a technological wise friend and she said, “Do an Internet search. Try to find others who have had the same problem and resolved it.”
Of course! How many times have I done this very thing—typed in my question, the symptoms, the dilemma, and found someone at a forum with a similar one AND a solution. So this is what we did.
Within minutes, we discovered someone who had been faced with the same annoying computer problem and resolved it. This individual was generous enough to share his discovery with others and now we are up and running again.
So my message today is a two-parter: Share your knowledge and experiences at appropriate sites in case someone else desperate to find an answer has access to it. And learn how to use the Internet to resolve your issues.
If you can’t get satisfaction through the company that produces the product, for example, or your from your doctor or veterinarian, put out an Internet APB: use keywords that will generate an appropriate response for your specific question or issue.
Instead of: “How do I get my printer to work,” type in: “Printer quit working when I reinstalled Adobe.”
Rather than: “Neurological problems in cats,” or “Food allergies in cats,” try, “What causes my cat to twitch?”
Research should be second-nature to writers. Even writers of fiction or personal essays require assistance and answers with regard to punctuation and word usage. Most also must conduct research to fill in certain details in their stories and to check for accuracy on issues they aren’t intimately familiar with.
So if you are a writer, don’t short-change your project and your readers. Learn to use the Internet to the fullest. And this might mean changing the way you ask for help. You never know where you’re going to find what you need—through an advertisement (what do you call those free-standing canopies?), through a forum on the subject where a participant has had a similar experience, through a medical site or a site dedicated to rescuing horses, for example.