Hi Martin,
Great to hear that you are using Google but I thought I might pass on some information that I find very few people have any knowledge of. If you already know the following, perhaps it will help others on the list, for that I apologise:
When you use Google it is important to appreciate that if your query is more than a single word you must enclose the multiple words in double quotes ("). So for example, if you were interested in 'Mature Aged Learning' you would enter "mature aged learning" and hit enter (forget capitals as it makes no difference). Now be prepared for the answer coming back with 'nothing found' - great; just delete a single word in your phrase, one at a time and try again. If still no luck try the following.
Enter 'learning' - I got back 409 million entries - great. Now the trick - on the right hand side of the screen is a 'slider bar' in light grey. Put your cursor over the darker grey bar and slide it straight to the bottom of the screen. There you will find ' Search within results ' displayed in blue and underlined on the left hand side just above the bottom. Click on this blue field.
You now get a second hit to search within only 'learning'. So try "mature aged" and your initial 409 million is now around 18,000. Go through the search within process a second time and further refine your search - I tried "support programs" and got down to 899. Not good enough so I tried 'Australia' - don't enter the single quotes - now down to 872 indicating there is lots within Australia to consider.
By the way entering "mature aged learning in australia" came back with just a single entry. So it all depends on how you attack your question. I always start with the double quote process as it usually answers my query with 4-6 entries from the entire world. And guess what, the search process rarely takes more than a minute!
This also works with virtually any known computer problem such as unknown error messages, new equipment, etc. Be aware that some sites may require you to be a member, but I can't help that. By the way it's also great for looking up diseases and possible cures/solutions - just read everything on these topics with great care and make sure that they are reputable and quotable organisations (governments, industry organisations, Universities, Clinics, etc.).
Good luck Googling.
Graham
P.S. my students just love it!
----- Original Message -----
From: Martin Allinson
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 11:43 AM
Subject: Re: learning and coping with getting older as we learn
Hi, Angela, Patsy, Graham,
Thinking about Angela's: "We cope by changing the way that we interact with our environment" and Graham's: "The kids solve the problem collectively", I realised that I have been coping by getting my problems solved collectively by this new thing in my environment: the Internet.
I now live in a little village in rural SE Asia, where nobody speaks more than rudimentary English and I don't speak the local language. So problems have to wait till I go down to the University later in the week, or (more often) they have to be spelled out on one of the forums that I 'inhabit'. Sometimes the very act of getting the problem into words when preparing my message of appeal for help for posting, and doing the Googling-de-politesse, reveals the answer to me. But, if not, other forum members always come to the rescue.
I share Patsy's preference for reading on paper, and will often print out a document, rather than read it on the screen. It is not just the tactile reassurance that, in having something to hold, has put me in "I am in familiar territory, in which I have control", but also it can have notes scribbled on it, bits can be highlighted , and it is possible to look back in it to compare one bit with something previous.
Back in the pre-2001 days when I was computer-resistive (hating little green flickering screens) I remember reading a spoof about a new information-presentation system called "The Bound Organisation of Knowledge"---whose acronym turned out to be BOOK. Colour and internet interaction have won me over, but the new adds to the old and doesn't supersede it.
