How do you look for information?
Hi ladies. How do you search for information in the online network? Do you use the search feature? Do you click on tags or in the Topic Index? Or maybe you don't search at all and just post about what you want to know?
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I did use the search bar the other day. Don't remember quite what it was for but it did come up with 6 or 8 posts to read.
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And did that work well for you, Brenda? Did you find it useful?
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Yes it was. It was something like Tamoxifen or something like that and all the posts were the same topic. Its nice to read others comments on things, sort of makes it not quite so daunting.
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What about in groups, Brenda? How do you search for information within groups?
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No, never looked in groups.
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Hi Cosette, this is a good question and I have wondered if there's a way to track if people are using those functions?
Personally I use the Topic Indexes first if I'm looking for previous discussions on something (main forum and group) but if I can't see what I'm after I'll try the Search feature. As a Facilitator we have to sometimes edit the tags on members' posts so that they fall into a listed topic, or it may be the start of a new topic.
Was also wondering if there could be a Popular Topics feature which stood out and might prompt people to look at that first and then refer to the All Topics Index - does that make sense?
Cheers, Jane
PS: It was lovely to meet you and Annie at the training session this week :-)
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We don't have an system method for tracking this. I have spent some time manually collecting information and analyzing it. Mostly, I discover bugs and that things don't quite work the way we expect them to or think that they do.
I love your idea of Popular Topics. I'll see what we can do.
And it was awesome meeting you yesterday!
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Hi Cossette,
In groups, I am a huge fan of the topic index. As a facilitator I try to direct members how to find posts on certain topics by giving them the link to certain topics. I do think the topic list on this platform is not as user friendly. In the old network it appeared more prominently down the side of the page with a number beside each tag indicating the numbers of posts. I think the drop down feature is a bit hidden and as such may not be being used as much as it has potential for.
Paula
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Ouse the search box but it doesn't always give me what I'm looking for
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Hi Coste, in the main network I would go for a topic in the drop down list but if it wasn't there a search.
Depends what I need.
Even if I use the topic list I might still use the search function to find anything broader that may have not been in the topic list capture.
When first diagnosed I had no idea what to look for so read everything in the feed and clicked any topics I thought might give me answers.
When I was more knowledgeable I could narrow down to topics or what we have ad then was a tag list in right column.
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Thanks, Louise. Your response highlights how differently people search when you know what to look for and when you don't. That's very important.
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