South East Asian Journal of Medical Education, 2007, 1(1): 49-51

This article intends to handhold individuals
in exploring the Web judiciously, for
educational and / or research purposes, by
following some simple steps.
There are certain ways to tackle the
“information explosion” in the cyberspace.
There are lots of excellent tutorials
available on the Internet and just by going
to Google, adding “tutorial” at the end of
the query phrase retrieves very useful
resources.
A simple way of finding any definition (on
any subject) is to use the word “define:”
before the term in question, e.g., “define:
Internet” in the Google search bar. This
will retrieve all the definitions of “Internet”
available on the World Wide Web.
Another quick start is to go to Wikipedia
and in the page on the queried topic; all
the relevant terms are hyperlinked. Also,
there is a Section of “References” towards
the end, and also a host of useful
“External links” is listed at the end.
Next is to retrieve useful resources from
“Open Access” journals and repositories.
Finally, confident users can become
experts in interacting actively through
Wikis and Blogs.
However, there are certain areas of
concern in uploading materials in the wikis
and blogs – that is the Copyright of the
material. A cultural change in the mindset
is required to adopt the new technologies
usefully in our setup. Training and
awareness in “Netiquette” is of utmost
necessity to have fruitful social interactions
and useful learning. Access, training
(raising awareness) and support to
appropriate information and
communication technology (ICT) are
essential.