I have personally declared today National Information day in the US. I’m not sure about outside of the US, but here 411 is the directory assistance phone number to dial on land lines to get phone numbers. Most of the people I know call it the information number. In slang, getting the 411 is getting the information. Thus my declaration for today April 11 — 4/11 — 411. In helping to promote the day, I’m going to give some links to sites that I think provide THE information. Well known, well respected sources of information, in no particular order:

• Google – Whether or not you buy in to the conspiracy theories about Google becoming the big evil corporation, you will have likely used their search engine to get the information.
• MSDN – Despite my leanings towards Linux, you can’t argue with the fact that MSDN is a basic source of API and coding information that can not be overlooked. By the way, does the constant badgering to install Silverlight bother anyone else?
• IRS – How can anyone not consider the IRS as a great source of information? It is such a fitting site to visit as we grow ever so closer to our deadline for filing tax returns. Yuck.
• 411 – I obviously can’t leave out 411.com since this post was really about getting the 411.
• Alexa – Since they bill themselves as “The Web Information Company” I have to include them. I use Alexa for what it is worth — a decent way to judge how the top sites rank relatively. For smaller sites, I find the Alexa ranking to be an amusement.
• Windows Live – Taking this in the context of Alexa rankings, Windows live ranks above Google. Curious to me, as their search engine results are weak at best. My guess is that the home page on all default IE installs now point to Windows Live. I can’t confirm that as I’ve not installed IE in a long time.
• Yahoo – Of course you can’t leave Yahoo off the list. I can remember a time (early 90’s through mid/late 90’s), when Yahoo was the dog. The only dog of any consequence when it came to getting information. I still use my Yahoo home page regularly, but I only search there on occasion. Has anyone else had issues with their Ajax interface crashing Firefox with regularity?
• Wikipedia – I know a lot of people who use Wikipedia as a definitive source of facts. While I use it for some fact gathering, I usually double check my facts against other resources when I am dealing with a topic that marketers might consider gaming for SEO benefits (I’m just paranoid, I think)
• LinkedIn – Not a favorite site of mine, but when I find it useful to check out profiles of clients I may be preparing to meet with.
• Craigslist – Skimpy on design, can be a little spammy, but can you think of a better classified resource on the net. It’s interesting to me that a national site was able to grow to such an extent that it can be effective at so many micro geo-targets.
• IMDB – The definitive resource of movies. It is awesome as a resource to check out the resume of actors from big time stars to local commercial actors with credited parts in movies.
• W3Schools – If you need basic information about pretty much anyt web related technology, they will likely have something for you. You will find some advanced topics discussed here as well, but I find that by the time you get to advanced topics, you are likely seaching for specific keywords that may not be here.

Everyone obviously has their favorite sites to go to for help, and the list of information sites could be as long as one wants to spend writing. Another excellent source of information on the web are social networks. They have so many pages submitted that their search results can often provide great information, especially for highly targeted searches. Some of my favorite social media sites that can be used as information resources include StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us, and sometimes Digg.

I think this afternoon, I will leave work a little early to celebrate my National Information Day with a beverage of choice. I think I’ll go here to find out the information I need to make a good choice.

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