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VolunteerToday.com ~~ The Electronic Gazette for
Volunteerism
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TECH TIPS
with
Michael Lee Stills
Learn tips and hints to use a variety
of electronic and technical equipment to enhance work with volunteers.
Return to 2002 Archives
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~ August 2002 ~ Topics
- Technology
- My Favorite Key Board Short Cuts
- Want to learn more about Keyboard Short Cuts?
- Getting Gooey over Google
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TECHNOLOGY:
The
practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area.
Tech Tips is primarily focused on the practical
application of computer and electronic technology to enhance the
practice of volunteer management. We recognize that effective leaders
of volunteers have a strong ability to relate the mission of the organization
to the people who will accomplish that mission. In fact, one of the technological
tools you use without hesitation is the telephone. Why, then, is there
a strong aversion to the use of computers and other types of electronic
technology to achieve these same purposes? Is this technology really a
barrier to volunteer involvement or is the user just not comfortable with
its use? In time, we will provide you with the tools and tips that enable
you to more effectively involve volunteer resources in accomplishing your
mission while removing the threat of technology from your mind.
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Today, the phone
is a commonly accepted and necessary tool. In the early 1980's, the first
personal computers were being produced. I learned on a Radio Shack TRS-80
and an IBM PC with no hard drive. Just 20 years later, we find computer
chips in everything from coffee makers, cars, clocks and even our pets.
Computer and electronic technology is very much a part of participating
in today's world. What this means for you is that computers are no longer
a novelty but as necessary as using the telephone to accomplish our mission.
Tech Tips is here to help you discover just how effective this technology
can be in keeping you effective.
My Favorite Key Board Short Cuts
These Short Cuts are primarily used in Windows
98 but may work in other operating systems.
- Highlight the text of interest.
- Notice that the letters X,
C, V are lined up in a row on the keyboard.
- Think of the
X as a pair of scissors (Cut),
- the C
for Copy, and
- the V
as a paint bush tip for Pasting.
- Hold the Ctrl key and one of these
- X
(Cut),
- C
(Copy),
- V
(Paste)
You may find that in some windows there
are no menu options for Cut, Copy, and Paste.However, the Key
Board Short Cuts may work in the absence of a menu option. Try
them, I will bet they become your favorites as well.
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While online with your Internet browser
you may find this of use. Perhaps you did a search on Risk Management,
which returned a long article that does not appear of use.
- Try Ctrl + F (the + means to hold down
both keys).
- Enter Risk Management and click Find
Next.
- You can use it to search web pages
for specific words or group of words.
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What is your Favorite Keyboard Short Cut?
Send them to me at Michael@MichaelStills.com.
Want to learn more about Keyboard
Short Cuts?
Check out these sites:
Getting Gooey over Google
I recently started trying out Google
(http://www.google.com) as a search
engine. I like it so much that I downloaded it as a tool on my web browser.
In my opinion, it provides a more intuitive type of searching. But perhaps
the extra features it offers sets it apart from other search engines.
Searching:
Use individual words or groups of words. Example: Dollar Value
of Volunteer Time will look for all the words separately and return
all sites with any combination of these words. But "Dollar Value
of Volunteer Time" (using the quote marks) will return those sites
with all these words grouped together in that order. This quickly narrows
the number of sites and gets you to the information you need. Click
on Advanced Search and you can easily tailor you search for more specificity,
which will lead you to even more useful results.
You can also search using their Image search for pictures,
search on names and addresses by entering the information in the same
search window, and search for Internet Groups among other features.
It even catches commonly mistype words and still performs the search.
If you type Voluteer is asks, "did you mean Volunteer?"
Tool Bar: I love
the tool bar that I put on my browser. Click on the Highlight feature
and the words you used in the search are highlighted, making them easy
to find. You can also get information about the web page, a find similar
and related web pages and links. These tools help you deduce and discover
addition information on a web site that might not otherwise be found.
Of particular interest are the cached sites. Google
stores older versions of web sites. I have followed a link only to find
the site is down for changes or gone completely. The cached sites link
has retrieved older versions of the site and helped me get the info I
needed.
Spend some time using Google and you may get Gooey too.
Comments, Questions or Concerns? Drop me an Email
at Michael@MichaelStills.com.
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Copyright 2002 Nancy Macduff.
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