Stumble On

I have recently become a stumbler through StumbleUpon.com. I have a cautious approach to new technology. I enjoy finding them and playing with them but I am not that interested in adding more to my online experience. I am trying to simplify my online environment and adding plugin after plugin or toolbars or widgets is a waste of time and a good way to muddle up my computer screen and browser.

But when I came across a blog post about using web 2.0 tools to be more efficient with your information I took the plunge using StumbleUpon (SU). I am cautiously hooked. SU takes a set of personal preferences and with a click of a button starts feeding you websites that match your preferences. If you like the website you can rate it with a thumbs up and if you dislike it you can rate it with a thumbs down. Sites that have not been rated before will open up a box for you to review the site for other Stumblers. By consistently rating the sites that you see you set the pattern for the type of sites that will be fed to you in the future.

The best use of this for me is combining SU with Del.icio.us. When SU sends me a site that I think will be helpful for personal use or for library use I will tag the site in Del.icio.us for future reference. The amount of great library sites that I have found through SU is tremendous.

The aspect that I have not totally grasped is how to use SU to locate the best sites on a particular subject like you would using Google. You can go to SU and do a keyword search but I assume that the value of the site is based on Stumbler reviews which would limit the options because of a potential for many sites not being reviewed.

When using any search engine I often get the feeling that many times there is an "on the nose" website that is just beyond my grasp. SU seems to feed you quality websites and your ability to rate the sites instantly customizes what comes next. I am still in the "new toy" phase of using SU but I don't foresee myself eliminating this tool anywhere in the near future.

Web- based Applications

I use Google Docs (which includes a spreadsheet application) frequently and find excuses to use it more often. What a wonderful use of web technology. You take the most common elements of Microsoft Word and Excel, allow global web use, sharing capabilities, and convenience and you have a recipe for a really great product. Who wants to worry about disks or jump drives that we often lose? Who wants to worry about sending attachments that we may forget to include or the person we are sending it to has trouble opening it?

What exactly are we missing by not using the Microsoft Office products? Enhancements, shortcuts, and advance uses are for expert users not for the average office worker, educator, or student. In a recent ministry effort in our apartment complex my wife and I had to keep a current database on our residents. We did it all on Google Docs and it was a simple, lifesaver. I am all for web-based applications and see them only improving as the open source trend continually advances these products.