Post by Admin on Aug 31, 2004 5:04:45 GMT -5
I'm hearing this a lot in MTland -- why pay to buy Stedman's resources when Google is so handy?
Issues of accuracy aside, since most MTs savvy enough to use the Net know that Google results must be verified or validated before they are relied upon, I have an answer that resonates with my personal situation: When I use my Stedman's electronic word resources I know that I'm not going to get distracted and tempted to embark on a 2-hour bout of surfing just by looking up a word.
Maybe I'm the only MT who has this problem: I want to google a questionable phrase from the report I'm working on. Even starting up my browser introduces the element of distraction temptation; I have mine set to start up in Google News since I have the Google toolbar installed and can search from any page. There's always something interesting to click on the news page.
I guess I could change that to the Google home page which is as minimalist as one could want. But that only defers the potential problem for another page: as soon as I see my search results the element of temptation enters.
Why stop at simply verifying that the phrase is commonly used the way the dictator is using it in the report? Why not find out what the phrase really means; after all, can I really call myself a medical language specialist** if I don't truly understand the medicine behind the words? Or say I've stumbled across a potentially phenomenally useful surgical resource: can I really resist the temptation to explore all the features of the site? And once I've convinced myself that the site is great, shouldn't I come here or go to MTDesk or smt or somewhere and tell other MTs about it?
Problem is, though, that simple Web search has now taken up 30 minutes of time as I've explored the site, bookmarked it, and written a link and a post or two about it. This is with using a cable modem.
Replies, anyone? Feedback? Am I the only MT who has to fight the temptation to look at all the nice, shiny information available? Could this be part of why so many MTs transitioning to the platform report that their line counts initially plummet? How do you manage your time effectively?
~~~~~~~~~
**See Jay Vance's new medical language specialist site: yes2mls.org
Issues of accuracy aside, since most MTs savvy enough to use the Net know that Google results must be verified or validated before they are relied upon, I have an answer that resonates with my personal situation: When I use my Stedman's electronic word resources I know that I'm not going to get distracted and tempted to embark on a 2-hour bout of surfing just by looking up a word.
Maybe I'm the only MT who has this problem: I want to google a questionable phrase from the report I'm working on. Even starting up my browser introduces the element of distraction temptation; I have mine set to start up in Google News since I have the Google toolbar installed and can search from any page. There's always something interesting to click on the news page.
I guess I could change that to the Google home page which is as minimalist as one could want. But that only defers the potential problem for another page: as soon as I see my search results the element of temptation enters.
Why stop at simply verifying that the phrase is commonly used the way the dictator is using it in the report? Why not find out what the phrase really means; after all, can I really call myself a medical language specialist** if I don't truly understand the medicine behind the words? Or say I've stumbled across a potentially phenomenally useful surgical resource: can I really resist the temptation to explore all the features of the site? And once I've convinced myself that the site is great, shouldn't I come here or go to MTDesk or smt or somewhere and tell other MTs about it?
Problem is, though, that simple Web search has now taken up 30 minutes of time as I've explored the site, bookmarked it, and written a link and a post or two about it. This is with using a cable modem.
Replies, anyone? Feedback? Am I the only MT who has to fight the temptation to look at all the nice, shiny information available? Could this be part of why so many MTs transitioning to the platform report that their line counts initially plummet? How do you manage your time effectively?
~~~~~~~~~
**See Jay Vance's new medical language specialist site: yes2mls.org