Click to visit: L I B R A R I A N C H I C K . P B W I K I . C O M

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For many years my dream job was to be a librarian and I’ve had several work placements in different types of libraries. I suppose it’s being around people, helping others, and of course, working with various media, most commonly, books. That leads me on to the website of the day called Librarian Chick, an ambitious wiki with a growing collecting of links leading to free online resource websites for educational purposes.

The bulk of the site is the aforementioned links but there are draws that make this resource hub stand out. Firstly, the links are listed in categories that are easy to distinguish – most of us know if we’re interested in learning more about technology or poetry, for example. Secondly, the information is short and to the point and all links are regularly checked to make sure they’re still up and running. The biggest draw though, at least for me, is that all the resources are hand picked so you can be sure each has been looked at and is worth visiting. As gotothatsite.co.uk is based along the same principle it’s no wonder the personal touch appeals to me.

Another feature that is worth mentioning is the Free search for audio, physical and electronic books across the internet. It’s a case of typing in a title, subject, theme or phrase and the search will do the rest. It does throw out some ambiguous results, but overall I’ve found it to be quite useful – especially when finding classic literature and, of course, study-based texts.

If you like reading recreationally or need help with your studies then Librarian Chick is a good place to start as a central location to get where you want to be on the net.

W E B . I N T E R N E T A R C H I V E . O R G

There are some sites that offer too much to go through or explain about in one post. In my opinion, Internet Archive is a classic example of that. Instead of trying to explain everything on offer I’m going to focus on just one sub-section and that is the Internet Archive: Wayback Machine.

In 1996 the creators of Internet Archive began archiving content on the web, site by site, page by page so many sites would be preserved forever, even if they had long since gone or altered beyond recognition. Up to now it has amassed a staggering 85 billion pages and that number just continues to rise.

To see a website in its former glory couldn’t be easier. Simply type in a URL in the box provided, and click “Take Me Back”. If the website of your choice was one of the billions that was indexed it will show up in a list of dates that you can click to see the site as it was then. There is no better example of this than using Internet Archive’s site itself, if you’d like to take a glimpse at history in the making.

Further down the page there is also a list of growing Web Collections that contain websites based on an important topic of a specific time up to this point today. This is useful in and of itself if you are interested in a particular subject as all the information is kept together for your reading pleasure.

The positives far outweigh the negatives, although there are a few things I think I should mention. It obviously takes a long time to index all the information so there is a delay of around 6 months after the data has been collected. Another thing is sometimes formatting or pictures do not display on older site updates, however I feel this is relatively minor considering the sheer magnitude that is there. Lastly, it’s worth noting that not all websites are available through the Wayback Machine but the reasons are explained on their FAQ.

In conclusion, it’s good to reminisce and see how times and styles have changed over the years. You’ll find no better way to do it than with Internet Archive: Wayback Machine as far as I’m concerned.

Click to visit: W W W . F U T U R E M E . O R G

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After an extended break I’m back and the first website I want to highlight is FutureMe.org. The concept of the site is absolutely brilliant and I’m not sure I can explain why anyone would want to use it, but I’m going to give it a go…

Imagine this if you will – you’ve thought of something you want to tell your future self perhaps days, weeks, months or even years down the line. You could write it down on a piece of paper, but chances are you’d lose it or forget to look on the intended date. You could try and just remember it but random thoughts are easily misplaced. So why not use a site that will email you on the date of your choice with the message your past self has written! There are many reasons why such a website is incredibly useful but I’ll name a few examples to give you an idea of how much potential there is.

Perhaps you want to remember a specific date without the hassle of signing up for a reminder service. You might want to see if you actually managed to stick to your to-do list or New Years resolutions. It could be that you have advice that you wish to pass on to yourself later on in your life, with the clarity of someone living in the here and now. Maybe you wish to know how much you or the world around you has changed. Or perhaps you just want to “surprise” yourself if you know that by the time you get your email you’ll have forgotten all about sending it.

Whatever the reason, I think most of us wish we could speak to ourselves from another time or place and FutureMe.org makes it very easy to do just there. Simply go to the site, type in the email address it’s going to, the subject, your message to yourself, decide whether others can read it or not, pick a date, type in the code and send away! You will immediately be sent a link to the email address you gave that you will need to click to activate your future email. You will also be given the chance to sign up (for free) for added benefits, including not having to repeat the verification process again.

There are however a few downsides to using the site… Firstly, is there any guarantee that the service will even be running on the date of your choice? Websites do come and go but it would be quite unfortunate if this one did. Another problem is that emails get changed all the time. If you’re going to send yourself an email that you’ll receive in the future, make sure you still have that email address! Of course, this is a moot point if you signed up for a free account as you are able to change the destination email address before it is sent.

The third point isn’t really a downside so much as something to think about. There is an option to choose whether you wish your message to be private or public (yet anonymous). The latter of the two will not give out any identifying information but it might be featured on the site or elsewhere. To read what types of public entries others are sending in you can navigate them on the website – I like using the “random” link for that – or even buy a book that features some of the best sent in.

I really like the simple yet effective idea of site and the design really matches that in my opinion. I have sent an email to myself in the future which I’ll be reading again in a few months time and hopefully, I might end up doing a follow up post about FutureMe.org around that date too.

Click to visit: W W W . S T U M B L E U P O N . C O M

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The fantastic draw of SU is that, once you’ve signed up as a free member, you can click a button on their toolbar (for Internet Explorer or Firefox) to find you random websites, blogs, pictures or videos across the web based on categories you’re interested in. Once you’re on a site you can use the toolbar once more to decide whether you like or dislike it, pass it on to someone else that uses SU and review it to give other members an idea why they’d want to go there too.

Alternatively you can add a website to SU on your own by manually navigating to the site you like and clicking the “Like this page!”. You can also use handy links and icons on many websites that will do the adding for you (in case you’re not using the toolbar) – for an example of this take a look at the icons below the “Share and Enjoy:” found below each post and page on this blog.

All websites, friends, types of sites you’re interested in and reviews you’ve added to your StumbleUpon are on a simple page that you can customize with a few details about yourself, avatar and a choice of colours so you can feel a bit more individual. In the spirit of SU, you can also go to random users’ pages from a link on yours or anyone else’s. You can also join groups based on popular themes where members can discuss websites in personal group-forums.

Overall, I’m a huge fan of StumbleUpon and I have found many fantastic websites through it (as well as adding quite a few I like so hopefully others will become aware of them if they weren’t already). In the future I hope to highlight some the sites found through there on this blog but until then go forth and Stumble!

[Edit - 10:57pm, 7th May 2008]
I just wanted to update to say that, although signing up gives you additional benefits, StumbleUpon has a demo so you can look through the huge list of sites on their website and access certain features without having an account. To try out the demo go to: http://www.stumbleupon.com/demo/

My goal for this blog is to post every week day whenever possible, however last week I fell slightly short of that due to illness. Over the weekend while I was recuperating, I wondered what my next update should be about when it came to me – why not post about medical sites giving advice to help those in the same situation I was in! I further decided that it should also be my first Quick Picks post.

Before I begin I would just like to state that the following websites are no substitute for visiting your doctor and should be used as a guide or supplement instead of as a replacement for a professional evaluation.

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Quick Picks #1: W W W . H E A L T H L I N E . C O M
Healthline is a very clean and clear medical website which is arranged in an easy to navigate way. It has the latest medical news right there on the front page, as well as pages you can visit to see health related articles, videos, reference books and its own “Community” so you can get what is relevant to you straight to your email. Of more interest to me though is the simple health topics and symptom search that are accessible by a scrolling video and drop down menu.

Quick Picks #2: W W W . W R O N G D I A G N O S I S . C O M
It’s easy to jump to the wrong conclusion about your health when you’re not feeling at your best, but Wrong Diagnosis helps get through that. Not only does it have top lists of common symptoms, common diseases and common misdiagnoses but it also has a huge array of forums for multitudes of subjects so you can ask your own question should you not find what you’re looking for on the site itself. In my opinion the best thing about this site is the tools it gives to its visitors, such as a multiple symptoms checker that lets you find several symptoms that you have and gives you answers based on these (as opposed to searching for individual symptoms separately).

Quick Picks #3: W W W . W E B M D . C O M
The main draw of WebMD to me is that on choosing on of the various “health center” sections available from the front page, you are greeted with a portal of information all about that one subject. Contained in each portal are articles, treatments, guides, introductory video, articles, a glossary and more besides. The main site also offers searches for medical professionals (if you live in North America), quiz assessments, news and top 12 lists.

Quick Picks #4: W W W . N L M . N I H . G O V / M E D L I N E P L U S /
As it states on the site; “A service of the U.S NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE and the NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH”. Of course, this means its main audience are those living in the US (it offers a directory to find hospitals, doctors and other healthcare specialists) however, it has plenty to offer anyone that isn’t too. What I like the most about MedlinePlus is the Medical Encyclopedia that lets you search for “diseases, tests, symptoms, injuries, and surgeries” and then gives you the information you’d expect (such as causes and treatment) as well as illustrations that help to visualize the problem.

Quick Picks #5: W W W . N E T D O C T O R . C O . U K
The final quick pick for this post is for a UK-based website called NetDoctor.co.uk. It has a lot of features that the others do such as news, articles, health assessments, health centres and forums for members to talk about their medical issues but it also has some nice benefits for those living in the UK too. Firstly, there’s the ability to search for hospitals, doctors and even support groups as well as an online pharmacy. My favourite feature that I think anyone can appreciate is their Ask The Doctor section which has an archive full of questions based on various common issues that a professional has taken the time to answer.

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Of course, I couldn’t possibly mention all the great things about each website but I hope to have at least helped highlight some of the things that stand out and are worth visiting for. Stay tuned for more Quick Picks in the future!