Webupon

These are four of the most useful websites in existence for anyone looking to learn a trade, art, troubleshoot, DIY hobby, or general know-how. I have found that these are websites to aide you in continuing your education or furthering your “game” when it comes to hobbies or leisure activities.

Yahoo! Answers

This is a great network of general purpose “Q&A” forums.

When you are stumped on how to reboot your frozen iPod or remove the latest pain-in-the-neck Trojan Virus that got past your Norton software, these forums are similar to knocking on your neighbors door and asking them to take a look at the problem. There are tons of very knowledgeable, eager to lend a hand surfers on the web.

They say the only stupid question is one that isn’t asked. So, if you can’t find the answer you are looking for, simply post a new thread for your own question. It’s extremely easy.

The down side is that you are potentially getting misinformation from people just as qualified as you… meaning they own a computer connected to the internet. Take everything you get with a grain of salt and do as much fact checking as possible.

Wiki Answers

This is a better quality version of the same forums as set by Yahoo! Answers; however, the moderation of this site tends to weed out more of the scam artists and internet thugs. I also find that Wiki Answers has slightly less traffic than Yahoo! Answers, but that traffic is of a more expert nature. The responses on Wiki Answers to most formed questions tends to have a more in-depth, researched response as opposed to a “know-it-all-who-actually-knows-nothing” short-hand response like Yahoo! Answers.

But, again keep in mind that these are everyday people and their information can be wrong.

YouTube

I know what you’re thinking… YOUTUBE? ARE YOU KIDDING?

To use YouTube effectively to educate yourself you need to be good at narrowing your searches. Most anything you are looking to accomplish, someone else has videotaped themselves doing it. Unfortunately, you have to sift through the mountainous pile of dribble and utter crap on YouTube first. But beneath all of the terribly done acoustic covers of songs that already sucked and videos of preteen girls dancing in front of the mirror, there is quality information.

I have watched videos on cooking, software tutorials, car repair, and music instruction. The good thing about a YouTube Tutorial is that unlike the text responses on Wiki Answers or Yahoo! Answers, you are watching a firsthand video and will definitely notice if the person in the video fails the objective.

ExpertVillage

I use Expert Village almost daily for guitar lessons and cooking tips. This site is absolutely awesome. There are videos and text files instructing you on nearly every topic you could come up with. The browse interface works fairly well and you could easily waste hours sifting through all the interesting topics.

The best part is that these videos are all recorded and hosted by ACTUAL Experts. Every post has a description of the person posting the video. Typically you’ll notice that these are professionals or professors with decades of experience in the field of topic they are discussing.

Expert Village has an application process that sifts out the weaklings. If a user can’t show credentials or a CV that supports their “expert” status they are not allowed to post.

The quality of this information is exponentially higher than any other site out there. The tutorials are broken up into short, manageable bits of information that are small enough to be streamed with even the slowest of connections.