Part 4: Extending Your Reach
Editors' Poll: What Do You Do Online?
JC: Google, Google, Google! Search with Google, and spend money on Amazon.
MC: The Web is my primary source of news, so most of my browsing time is spent at news sites such as The New York Times, Washington Post, and Nando. If you're stuck in a town with a third-rate newspaper, you can still get quality national and world coverage on the Web. Plus you have easy access to more than one source of news without getting ink stains on your hands.
BF: As a gaming guru of sorts I spend a fair amount of time playing online multiplayer games, largely for work.
ML: E-mail, Web browsing for specific information (I don't “surf”), shop to buy. If you live on the edge of nowhere like I do, the ability to shop and buy online saves a lot of driving time.
KT: Assist clients by converting design jobs for use on the Web. Help manage the Publishing Production forum on CompuServe (an amalgam of the former Desktop Publishing, Adobe, Quark, and Corel forums), where I have worked for 12 years. Search for information—it's more efficient than the library so long as you keep your wits and critical faculties about you. E-mail, neatly avoiding as much spam as possible. Shop, especially for old books. Monitor newsgroups and mail lists on typography, cooking, wine, and home coffee roasting. Attempt to build my own Web site.
DM: After working in a library for more than a decade, I admit to being fascinated by search engines and search optimization. As the Web expands, finding the information you need is getting more difficult—not easier. The greatest source of ready information has become a digital garbage heap. The Web's condition is a professional challenge and a source of depression.
JF: Except for the hours I spend writing personal letters, I consider all the time I spend in front of a computer to be billable time. I surf not, nor do I chat. When I need an airline ticket, I find the best itinerary and price and bring it to my travel agent, who always finds a better deal. When I need to shop for something, I support my local merchants by buying from them.
JR: I communicate, do research, read news, download software. I bank and buy computer hardware online. However, I'm not a fan of online shopping. I have purchased books, but I still prefer bookstores.
JO: Reading and research. The sites I go to most often are My Yahoo—to catch up on news, scores, and the stock market; MacInTouch—to see what's happening in (or troubling) the Macintosh community; VersionTracker—to check for updated versions of the applications and utilities I use; WSJ to read the Wall Street Journal if I left my print copy at home; Boston.com to read what's happening locally. Whenever I need to find something I tend to use Sherlock or go directly to Google.
SS: The Internet is such a major part of my everyday life that I couldn't imagine being without it. I use it to make submissions to my editors, do research, Web surf, keep my software up to date, communicate with friends and family, and hunt for a girlfriend … not necessarily in that order.
MEC: As a Webmaster and interactive media specialist in a large urban university, I spend most of my workday online, doing Web design and publishing as well as producing interactive streaming media. I browse for news, technical information, academic research, and amusement (what is a day without an episode of Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet?).
CB: In addition to the usual e-mail and web browsing, I spend a fair amount of time moderating Macworld magazine's public forums (http://macworld.zdnet.com/cgi-bin/ubb/Ultimate.cgi). During the days following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the people who frequent these forums turned from Mac users seeking cures for a recalcitrant computer to caring individuals trying to make sense of senseless events. In those few days I learned a lot of wonderful things about online communities and those who participate in them.