New Twitter feed & Facebook Page for infoDESIGN!

It's been a busy week! Today, we launched:

• Our new Twitter feed, where we'll be sharing tech tips, social hints, and interesting news from the world of communications technologies and interaction design.
   
• Our new Facebook Page, where we'll be engaging with you, asking for opinions, sharing ours, and looking for new ways to make the information journey even more exhilarating.

Like us on Facebook! 👍

See you on the social web! We hope you'll enjoy our news and tips, and most of all, that you'll contribute your own insights and interesting questions...

Engage!

#tech #technews #web #social #socialweb #infoDESIGN

#TechTip #2: Double-click for Knowledge — Use Your Dictionary!

Ok, I admit I'm a reference geek. Before there was a World Wide Web, I kept my Unabridged Webster's (with its 2,000+ pages) within reach wherever I traveled. Despite its massive dimensions and weight, I never hesitated to navigate through the notches in the page edges (like this one) to find the right page, where I could learn more about whatever term was stumping me. It took a special, uh, commitment to bring that level of curiosity to every reading session. The payoff was a wealth of contextual and specific information that has enriched my every pursuit since then.

Well, today, you've got ALL that and so much more right under your finger. If you're in an e-reader like a Kindle or iBooks or Play Books, just press your finger on the word to see a definition pop up. You'll often even get other information, and links to even more!

Santa Cruz Public Library

On your desktop, if you use the Chrome browser, I can't recommend the Google Dictionary extension strongly enough. I use it every day. Just double-click any word in your browser, and voilà!

Just double-click to learn as you go!

I've even discovered that it also recognizes other languages and can often provide on-the-fly translations just like definitions.

It's all Dutch to me...

Harvest that info, and enjoy the extra smarts that come with it! (Well, and share them, too!)

#tech #techtip #web #reference #dictionary #infoDESIGN

#TechTip #1: Assume You're Exposed, Act Accordingly

If you tell someone, 'Ok, Imma tell you something but you have to swear you won't tell anyone else,' you can assume that it will travel to at least 2 more people (if not 20) in less than a day (if not an hour).

This is a notion I've been teaching my kid for a few years now. It's too bad more grownups don't understand this as well as she does. Sure, we all have to believe with some confidence that the basic security of our personal information is sound when we enter it on websites where we do our email, banking, and a host of other activities that involve information that could be used to rob or smear us. But at the end of the day, if you've given someone, anyone, your info, there is never 100% certainty that that person or company will never use it maliciously, or won't be hacked by someone else, or simply commandeered by a government.

The only safe assumption you can make about information security is that you have none.
— Steph Marr

Our advice: Do your best to be safe with sensitive information, but more than that: avoid doing things, even in secret, that are morally, legally, or personally perilous. That way, in the event something is exposed, you'll be mildly embarrassed, at worst. 

Padlocks on Pont Neuf, Paris

Bonus Tip

Don't share passwords and phone lock codes to prove your love and trust among friends. All you're doing is adding unneeded liability to their lives; when something goes wrong in your life 6 months from now, you don't want to wonder about your closest friends.

Friends don't let friends share passwords.

#techtip #web #infosec