WoodPro TechNote 2002-5 (updated 8-8-06)

Web Browsing Tips for the Wood Industry Professional

These days, as always, information is the key to your decision making process. However, your base of information may not be as deep, as broad, or as focused as the competition’s. Why? If you’re not tapping the Internet for additional news, you may be beginning to feel as if you’re often the last to hear of breaking events.

News in our industry is not easy to find. Especially news that is focused in your area of interest. Try searching for hardwood news on Google.com or Yahoo.com, or even on CNN.com...you'll find a lot, but most you'll wish you hadn't.

Many companies and managers are taking advantage of the news services offered by the many professional associations that serve our industry. We keep a current list of these websites for your use at:

http://woodpro.cas.psu.edu/Associations.htm

We've also added a feature to keep you current on industry conferences and short courses that may be of interest to you:

http://woodpro.cas.psu.edu/Conferences.htm

One of the most visited pages on the WoodPro website is the Industry Links page:

http://woodpro.cas.psu.edu/Links.htm

where you can scan Pennsylvania, US, or international companies at will, as well as find valuable references for suppliers, reference material, or other sites of interest.

Another way to get a quick, useful dose of industry information is to check in to our WoodPro website occasionally and click on Industry News. We scour cyberspace several times a week to bring you useful tidbits that will keep you up on the latest. And, as news gets a little dated, say more than a month old, we archive it for you by subject, so you can always refer back to something that caught your attention say, three months ago.

Hey, we do all the work, our site is free, and while it may not be as entertaining as logging on to your favorite website, you’re might just find it more useful.

So add WoodPro to your list of favorite links, and check in us occasionally. We’ll always have something fresh waiting for you.

Chuck Ray, Ph.D.

Penn State Wood Products Operations Specialist

Cdr14@psu.edu