In the first article on digital skills we talked about a series of techniques and tricks so that we know how to function properly through the Internet so that we can take advantage of everything that it offers us, which is a lot. Digital knowledge means having a good understanding of the digital environment and the opportunities it offers us, both professionally and personally. Knowing how to manage the information that comes from this environment, then, is one of the essential skills today.

In the previous article we explained the first three digital skills that we consider essential:

– Browse to access information and resources
– Perform effective searches
– Find quality information from reliable sources

The two that we consider are missing will be discussed below. These are relatively simple actions that will greatly help us to make the most of the resources offered by the network:

– Monitor the network so that the information is sent to us by the Internet (alerts)
– Save the information so that it can be easily located later

Put alerts

Once we know how to search effectively through the network, that is, we know the tools and filters to carry out ideal searches (for more information, read the article ” Digital skills: navigate, search and find “), the logical step that should come Next is that of not having to do the same search every day in case, by chance, a new result has come out, not wasting time looking over and over again for the same information that interests us.

The Google Alerts are used for this: you notified whenever there are new results that may be of interest. With this tool we will make the Internet work for us, and not the other way around. These alerts are email messages that you receive when Google finds new results (for example, web pages, news, etc.) that match the words you have chosen to query.

Some time ago we wrote an article on how to set up an alert. Here you can read it. The relevant thing about the type of search that we put as an alert is that it is acceptable for us, that is, that the flow is not very large, because then we will not be able to read everything. If the alert gives me 10 new articles every day, it is a good alert, because it is acceptable; if, on the contrary, it gives me 50,000 daily results, it is a bad alert. For this reason it is essential to specify the search.

With this we get Google to work for us. What we do, then, is stop being aware of the Internet, so that the Internet is aware of us.

Know how to save

The number of information that we locate through the Internet is increasing, we are increasingly based on content that we have located online for decision-making that affects any area of ​​our lives (home, leisure, health, education …) . We will be digital savvy when, in addition to being able to obtain information relevant to our interests, we also know how to store this information to use it whenever we want.

Saving in an organized way the useful information that we find to favor its later location is key in the digital environment in which we operate. Any type of resource that responds to an Internet URL (www) can be saved.

One of the main tools for saving information is Pocket . As you can read in the article we wrote about this resource, Pocket is ideal for saving interesting content and reading it later.

The use of this type of services that allow us to save all kinds of links with content to always have on hand the articles that we cannot or want to read instantly, has become a very popular trend, since it constitutes a basic digital skill for Our interests. Pocket is a very easy to use service. In addition, they have recently expanded their circle by offering the platform in our language, in Spanish.

Another of the favorite applications of users, and one of the most used within the wide range of apps that exist, is Evernote . This resource also allows us to organize all the information of interest that we generate on a daily basis. Thanks to Evernote we can store any type of document in different formats, in addition to being able to make personal notes.

Evernote is organized by notebooks . In each of these notebooks we will be able to write down what we want as well as add web captures, images, PDF documents, voice memos … Its label system allows us to quickly find the stored information. In addition, it is synchronized with the cloud , that is, the content is accessible from any device with an Internet connection, be it a computer, smartphone or tablet.

conclusion

Thus, thanks to these resources, we will be able to effectively carry out actions as diverse as browsing the Internet to access information, resources and services; obtain information on the net through efficient searches; monitor the network; evaluate the quality and reliability of said information; Saving information in an organized way to favor its later location … All this series of skills, together with continuous learning, will allow us to be digitally competent and, thus, take advantage of the opportunities offered by the digital world.