In "modern" society, a time hungry for information, we, as a group, face an inherent danger. Information for information sake is not necessarily a good thing. As with everything else, a person can find either side of any issue. Sometimes there is no one right answer, but it is a beneficial exercise to look for one regardless. It means that a person is engaged in a thought pursuit and is considering the possibilities. Today we want ready and instant information. The "information age" might just be a fancy term for what people have sought for hundreds of years since time began; but what of it? A test of the appropriateness of anything is "Are we better off because of it?" Does whatever we are doing serve a useful purpose? Again, the answer must be not necessarily.



Information is coming at us at an alarming rate from all media sources: radio, print, electronic billboard, coffee cup, sign, flyer, television and the Internet. The medium of the masses is still generally regarded as television. It is quite and easy and a very passive activity. However with advancement in technology leading to decreased manufacturing costs and lower prices, the computer and, by extension the Internet, is much more accessible to people. This means the Internet, once available to the privileged few is now a tool of the masses. However, finding the right information online can be as challenging as finding the proverbial "needle in a haystack".

With so much information from so many websites on the Internet, where does one begin? The preferred starting point for most is a search engine. Type in a search term, phrase, keyword or question and up pops pages of choices that the algorithmic intelligence of the search engine perceived relevant. However, with the relative ease of establishing an Internet presence and hundreds of millions of websites looking for your attention, it really does become a question of a needle in whose haystack?

Many people begin with the most popular search engine, Google. Google has become so much a part of the popular lexicon that it has become a verb. To say, "I am Googling BMW's", simply means I am looking for information on Google about BMW cars. However Google is not the only search engine. Just Google "search engine" (pun intended) and you will find many others. There is 'Ask Jeeves", MSN Live Search, Jayde, and many others. The point is that there is even choice among the tools you use to search with. It is largely a matter of personal preference.

How to define your search becomes very important. It is impossible to get into a lot of detail about this here because of the space limitations, but thinking carefully about the search terms you use and their relevance to what you are looking for can dramatically improve your search results.

Additionally, specialized search engines about with information specializing on particular topics such as medicine, the law or industry specific tools. Do a search in your particular fiend of interest and you will find them. Some you must pay a fee to access the information such as Nexus while others are free or require something else. Chances are the more obscure a piece of information is, the greater the chance that it will be monetized. The importance of the information also plays a key role into whether users are willing to pay for it. However information sources such as Time Magazine have back issue archives where you can read full or partial articles for free. Another place to look is RSS feeds. RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication and information sources such as newspapers off access to information based on user specified criteria downloaded onto your computer using an RSS reader. Again, there are plenty to be found. Search for these on the Internet too. A very popular one right now seems to be "Newsgator", but you decide which one works best for you.

Another option is specialized toolbars, but be careful of these. Some come with spyware and virus potential. Also they can bog down your system resources when you have too many things starting up. A good tool is "Ciopernic". There is a paid and a free version. Copernic is a good program because it searches multiple search engines for you at once. These can save you a lot of time and bring you a variety of results from many different sources.

Information however, needs to be useful and relevant. It means that wherever we search for information from whatever source, we need to sift through it all, good and bad to get to what is worthwhile and provides real value and meaning to our lives. People have been attempting to give meaning through information to the world around them for centuries. We are no different with our technology centric society. We just have more choices. What we do with those choices is up to us. It still comes down to how we choice to spend our time - a very limited resource. Do we really want to spend some much of our time consuming information that may be of little or no value? That is a question for the ages.