Over time, the ability to process information in this fashion will likely develop in those that continue doing work requiring the skill. Weerts & Mizrach (2009, p.278) found that in an online chatroom of traders there was a “weak but positive relationship between profits and experience” of those on the site, clearly illustrating that simply sifting through a great deal of information objectively will eventually result in an improved ability to do so. A very critical caveat to this notion though, is the fact that a clear objective should guide one in their development of information processing skill. In Weerts & Mizrach’s study (2009) the traders were able to acquire this skill as doing so resulting in direct economic gain for them. Colin Williams (2004) also found that “…consumers who participate in DIY activity are in real terms, spending more per capita over time.” In order for this to occur, their acquisition of DIY skill and participation in relevant behaviors must have been economically practical or satisfactorily recreational for these people to increase their participation. It is true of any practice that where incentive exists and is explicitly known the performance for that incentive will be greater. Approaching the learning of a skill online will also benefit from this tactic as doing so may be incredibly daunting. As Keen (2008) posited, “the cacophony of anonymous blogs and user-generated content are deafening today’s youth to the voices of informed experts and professional journalists.” Conscious decision to attempt becoming more efficacious in finding the instruction for completing so much as a menial task could potentially result in the necessity of sorting through hundreds of pieces of data not exactly pertinent to the desired result.
After one is able to sift through the seemingly endless data available on the internet and manages to track down just the right information to learn the skill they’re seeking, another question arises as to the effectiveness the internet as a medium for instruction. The epidemic expansion of online learning for higher education must certainly be some indicator that, at least in a more formal setting, acquisition of skills can be achieved online. In the relatively similar setting found in the chatroom studied in their work, Weerts & Mizrach (2009, p. 267) claimed to “find evidence of learning along two dimensions: experience and stock specific skill.” Yet another instance of success in skill acquisition using the internet makes an even more compelling case for learning online, though the general tone of those in the trading chatroom and those in education are still undoubtedly miles away from the casual tone sought in independent learning of specific tasks. The potential success therein though, may lie simply in the multimedia nature of the modern internet. In support of this, Kara Alexander (2013, p. 246) found that “[relative to textual instructions,] video instructions seem to produce somewhat more accurate responses by users.” Internet access has made video available to a degree comparable to no other medium meaning that there is no other significant recourse for seeking video instruction. Moreover, the boundlessness of the internet also would allow easy access to both video and written instructions with roughly equal ease. There is one significant potential drawback to finding instructions independently though. As Nückels, et al. (2005, p.220) found, “…it is particularly important to offer laypersons conceptual explanations that are adapted to their individual level of knowledge and competence and thus allow them to understand the nature of the problem and the solution they asked the expert for.” This would pose little problem for those with virtually no knowledge on the matter they’re learning as many video instructions are tailored to beginners. Neither would those with a great deal of knowledge find this tremendously problematic as it would also be easier to find very technical instruction. It is those with an intermediate level of knowledge on their subject that would have the greatest difficulty with this as it would be very difficult to know which instructions possessed exactly which facets of the task that they do not have a strong conceptual understanding.
Below are just some of the online tools for learning that are already widely used.
Skills Bonanaza! 