Thing 4: Google

I confess: I think Google is great.  If there is a world outside it I don’t want to know it; in fact I don’t think I could even find it!  I have three or four favourites that I use practically every day.  Google Scholar is a wonderful tool when you need a more academic take on a topic, or when you need to go beyond the basics and get a more in-depth understanding of a particular subject.  Google Translate is a fantastic way of getting a handle on foreign terms.  I once had to catalogue a collection which consisted primarily of documents in the Dutch language and without Google Translate it simply wouldn’t have been possible!

Google Image Search is another brilliant resource.  I find it particularly useful when trying to work out the meaning of certain words, like colours for example – stuff like cyan or taupe or sienna.  Once I needed to know where an elbow hangs out when it’s part of a horse.  I never would have guessed!  Google Image Search also works the other way around: it honestly blew my mind when I discovered that you can actually upload an image and search for a match on the web.

I also have a serious love affair with Google Maps.  This really is one of the best tools going.  Finding directions has never been easier, and if you need to give yourself that extra bit of comfort you can go to Street View and check out visual landmarks near junctions or crossroads.  I’m currently working on a project which among other things involves deciphering handwritten names of places in France.  Often the handwriting is hard to read or the place name is misspelt but nine times out of ten typing it into Google Maps helps me to work it out.

However, maybe it’s a generation thing or something but Google+ leaves me totally cold.  I’m not at all into sharing my personal details with the world, or into connecting with the Pope to see what he had for breakfast.  I don’t really get the difference between Google+, Facebook and LinkedIn, it just seems like a tedious repeat of the same thing.

I didn’t try Hangout because I couldn’t – er, get a hang of it.  Again, I have some trouble working out the difference between it and Skype and as I already use the latter I don’t see the point of experimenting with the former.  What I did like a lot however was the concept of using Hangout for virtual conferences and online training and this is certainly something I would love to participate in – although not necessarily as a speaker!  It seems like a great tool for tight budgets and one well worth keeping in mind.