Introduction to Web Browsers and Basic Search Strategies

Introduction to Web Browsers and Basic Search Strategies Using Search Engines Davina Pruitt-Mentle EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle

Outline • • History (WWW & Internet) Search tools Search Engines vs. Subject Directory Meta search Engines Steps for Searching Effective Strategies Narrow or broaden a search? Wildcards EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 2

Internet History • Internet made up of thousands of networks worldwide • No one in charge of Internet - No governing body • Internet backbone owned by private companies EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 3

Looking at the Net Taken from: http: //www. cio. com/Web. Master/sem 2_net. html EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 4

Understanding the Map • Computers use TCP/IP to communicate (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) • Computers use client/server architecture EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 5

Internet Providers: • • • Research and Educational Institutions Government and Military Entities Businesses Private Organizations Commercial Providers EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 6

Internet Protocols • Email (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) • Telnet (Login to remote host computer) • FTP (File Transfer Protocol) - transfers files between server and client • HTTP (Hyper. Text Transfer Protocol) EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 7

History • WWW or Web or W 3 includes all information, text, images, audio, video, and computational services that are accessible from the internet • July 8, 1999 Nature - approximately 800 million pages of publicly accessible information(1) • Web continues to grow, tripling in size over the past two years(2) (1) Steve Lawrence & C. Lee Giles, “Accessibility of Information on the Web, ” Nature 400 (July 8, 1999), 107 (2) OCLC Office of Research, “June 1999 Web Statistics” Web Characterization Project EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 8

WWW • System of Internet servers that support hypertext to access several Internet protocols on a single interface • Almost all protocols accessible on Internet are accessible on web (email - FTP - Telnet - etc) • In addition, WWW own protocol: Hyper. Text Transfer Protocol EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 9

HTTP • Hypertext - means of information retreival • Contains links that connect to other documents • Links selected by user • Virtual “web” of connections EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 10

HTTP (cont) • Produce HTTP through HTML • Hyper. Text Markup Language • Way of writing or creating with “tags” added to tell information – i. e. <b> Bold </b> yields Bold EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 11

More History • Internet initially conceived in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN (European Particle Physics Lab in Switzerland) • Needed a wide variety of information to be shared and distributed to many different computers and platforms • “Universal readership” EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 12

Web Popular Because: • • • Easy to use Easy to navigate Combines words, graphics, sound, video Easy to Publish Plethora of information Reach larger audience EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 13

Summary: Web vs. Internet • What is the relationship between the web and the Internet? • The Internet contains physical components – computers – networks – services EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 14

Web vs. Internet • The Internet connects thousands of computers across the world, but it is the web that allows communication to occur • Web - abstraction and common set of services on top of the Internet • Web - set of protocols and tools that let us share information with each other EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 15

Directed Search Strategies Davina Pruitt-Mentle July Design Institute July 20, 2000 EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle

How Do I Find Information on the Internet? • Join an email discussion or USENET newsgroup • Go directly to a site if you have the address • Browse • Explore subject directory • Conduct Search EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 17

How Does Information Get Indexed by the Search Tools • A publisher of a web page can register the site with the search engine or directory • Database collects data autonomously EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 18

Browsers • Netscape Navigator (Communicator) – Product of Netscape (Now owned by AOL) – Originally was dominant – Multi-platform (all operating systems) • Internet Explorer – Product of Microsoft – Current Dominant Browser – Not available for all operating systems • Browser compatibility problems can cause web page problems EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 19

Netscape Search EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 20

Netscape Search • 1: Access to different search engines • 2. Type words or phrases into text entry box • 3. Click Button • 4. Preserve favorite search engine EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 21

Internet Explorer Search • Separate Panel In Browser • Uses Micro. Soft Network search EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 22

Internet Explorer Search • Direct access to only Microsoft Network’s search engines • Allows easy access to different types of search – Web pages – People – Businesses – Maps EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 23

Internet Keywords • Type straight in location bar of Netscape/Explorer • Simple words instead of URL (uniform resource location) • Words tie to websites • Can be tied to language preference • Example: Typing in maryland converts to http: //www. state. md. us/ EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 24

Know your URL’s • “Address” of a file on the Internet • Contains type of protocol followed by the computer name, directory and file name • Examples – – EDUC 698 M http: //www. capecod. net/Wixon/wixon. htm gopher: //gopher. boombox. micro/ ftp: // wuarchive. wustl. edu/pub/windows/psp 3. zip mailto: kschrock@capecod. net Davina Pruitt-Mentle 25

Anatomy of a Web Address • protocol: //host/path/filename See handout “Anatomy of a Web Address” EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 26

Two Basic Approaches to Searching (although not really “basic”) • Search Engines • Subject Directories EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 27

Search Engines vs. Directories Search Engines • Human aided, organized list • May be general or subjectspecific • May be able to “search” directory • Computer built index of information on web • More inclusive • Used to find specific resources • Searchable by keyword • Excessive “hits” • Every page of a Website is indexed • Better for general searches, but can be used to find specific information – Google - general – Net. Tech Educational Technology Coordinator Website - subject specific • User has control of browsing • Fixed vocabulary • Links go to Website home pages only • Better at general searches EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 28

What are Search Engines? • Designed to assist you in searching through the enormous amount of information on the Web • No single search tool has everything • Each engine is a large database which utilizes different search techniques and tools (spiders or robots) to build indexes to the Internet (some also utilize submissions and administration) EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 29

Which Search Engine? • • Yahoo Altavista Excite Google Northern. Lights Hotbot Infoseek See Handout - “The Little Search Engine that Could” EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 30

How to Choose Consider • Size of the database (# of URLs) • Currency of the database (updates) • Search interface • Help screens • Search features • Results listed (# of documents retrieved) • Relevance of results EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 31

More About Search Engines • Searches for matching terms (keywords or several keywords) • Results “ranked” by relevancy (for some) • Can search by – subject or category – keyword • Learn about each search engine’s description, options, and rules and restrictions EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 32

GO TO http: //www. google. com/help. html EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 33

· Searches for exact matches - Try different versions of your search term - Example: “Boston hotel” vs. “Boston hotels” · Rephrase query - Example: “cheap plane tickets” vs. “cheap airplane tickets” EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 34

• Automatically places “and” between words (expands search) • To reduce search – – add more terms in original search – refine search within the current search results. (adding terms to first words will return a subset of the original query) • Exclude a word by using a – sign – Example: to search bass but not speaker bass –speaker • Does not support “or” operator • Does not support “stemming” or “wildcard” searches • Not case sensitive EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 35

• Finds street maps – Just enter a U. S. street address, including zip code or city/state into the search box – Google recognizes query as a map request Try your address EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 36

Phrase Searches and Connectors • Phrase Searches are useful when searching for famous sayings or specific names “Gone with the Wind” • Phrase Connectors are recognized – – – Hyphens Slashes Periods Equal signs Apostrophes • Example: mother-in-law EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 37

Stop Words • Stop words are ignored • These rarely help narrow and slow down search – – http com certain single digits certain single letters • to include stop words use [space]+ • Example – Star Wars, Episode 1 Star wars episode +1 – OS/2 OS/ +2 ***don’t forget the space before the + - signs EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 38

How to Interpret Results See Handout EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 39

· Combines in one search a very large fulltext Web-page database (~160 million pages) with over 5, 400 searchable full-text published (print) journals and an array of online news resources EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 40

· You may access both relevant web-pages and relevant journals and news releases · Tagged - WWW like other search tools or - Special Collection (published, fee-for-viewing journal articles or other publication) EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 41

GOTO http: //www. northernlight. com/docs/specoll_help_overview. html • To obtain an item from the Special Collection: - Click on link - Decide if you are willing to pay fee • Page provides citation so you can locate publication in library EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 42

Unique Folders Approach • Results grouped in folders listed at left • Folders dynamically generated by search results – From a controlled vocabulary – Similar to library cataloging – Not fixed like subject directories • Click on any folder to refine or further focus search • Sub-folders allow you to further “zero in” EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 43

Four Types of Folders • Subjects (baseball, desserts) • Source descriptors (commercial, personal, magazines, databases) • Types of documents (press releases, product review, maps) • Languages (major Romanized languages only) EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 44

Approaches to Searching • • • EDUC 698 M Basic Search Power Search Industry Search Investext Search News Davina Pruitt-Mentle 45

Basic Search • • • Http: //www. northernlight. com From Home Page Allows Boolean logic Phrase in “ ” Truncation (*for many characters or % for 1 character) • + requires, - excludes EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 46

Power Search • Http: //www. northernlight. com/power. html • Combines ALL basic search features in one search • Limits to major language or country • Can select subject or document in advance EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 47

Industry Search • http: //www. northernlight. com/business. html • All features of basic search • Can limit by date range or industry-based subject category • Default is ALL industries EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 48

Investext Search • http: //www. northernlight. com/investext. html • Search or browse thousands of investment research reports written by expert analysts. EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 49

News Search • http: //www. northernlight. com/news. html • Allows on-line news searches EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 50

“Meta” Search Tools • Multi-threaded search engines • Allows access to multiple databases simultaneously or via a single interface • (-) Do not offer the same level of control over search interface and logic as individual engines • (+) Fast • (+) Improvements – Results sorted by site used for search, or location of Website – Able to select search engines to include – ability to modify results EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 51

Popular Meta-Search Engines • • Dogpile Metacrawler Profusion Savvy. Search EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 52

Subject-Specific Search Engines • Do not index entire web • Focus within specific Websites/pages within defined subject area, geographical area, type of resource • Specialized search - depth rather than breath EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 53

Selected Subject-Specific Engines Companies • Companies Online (http: //www. companiesonline. com/) • Hoover's Online (http: //www. hoovers. com/) • Wall Street Research Net (http: //www. wsrn. com/) People (E-mail and Phone) • Bigfoot (http: //bigfoot. com/) • Who. Where? (http: //www. whowhere. lycos. com) • Yahoo! People Search (http: //people. yahoo. com/) • Switchboard. Com (http: //www. switchboard. com) EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 54

Selected Subject-Specific Engines Images • The Amazing Picture Machine (http: //www. ncrtec. org/picture. htm) • Lycos Image Gallery (http: //www. lycos. com/picturethis/) • Web. Seek (http: //disney. ctr. columbia. edu/webseek/) • Yahoo! Image Surfer (http: //ipix. yahoo. com/) EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 55

Selected Subject-Specific Engines Jobs • Hotjobs. com (http: //www. hotjobs. com/) • Monster. com (http: //www. monster. com/) • The Riley Guide (http: //www. rileyguide. com/) Games • • CNET Gamecenter. com (http: //www. gamecenter. com/) Games Domain (http: //www. gamesdomain. com/) Gamesmania (http: //www. gamesmania. com/) Game. Spot (http: //www. gamespot. com/) EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 56

Selected Subject-Specific Engines Software • Jumbo (http: //www. jumbo. com) • Shareware. com (http: //www. shareware. com) • ZDNet Downloads (http: //www. zdnet. com/downloads/) Health/Medicine • • • Achoo (http: //www. achoo. com/) Bio. Med. Net (http: //www. bmn. com/) Combined Health Information Database (http: //chid. nih. gov/) Mayo Clinic Health Oasis (http: //www. mayohealth. org/) Medical World Search (http: //www. mwsearch. com/) On. Health (http: //www. onhealth. com) EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 57

Selected Subject-Specific Engines Education/Children's Sites • AOL Net. Find Kids Only (http: //www. aol. com/netfind/kids/) • Blue Web'n (http: //www. kn. pacbell. com/wired/bluewebn/) • Education World (http: //www. education-world. com/) • Kid Info (http: //www. kidinfo. com/) • Kids Domain (http: //www. kidsdomain. com) • Kids. Click! (http: //sunsite. berkeley. edu/Kids. Click!/) • Yahooligans! (http: //www. yahooligans. com) EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 58

Subject Directories • Hierarchically organized indexes of subject categories • User can browse through lists of Websites by subject in search of relevant information • Maintained by human • May include a search engine for searching their own database EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 59

Examples of Subject Directories • INFOMINE (Academic Scholarly Subject Directory - http: //infomine. ucr. edu/) • Look. Smart • Lycos • Magellan (http: //www. magellan. excite. com/) • Open Directory (http: //www. dmoz. org/) • Yahoo Many of these have aspects of both search and directory EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 60

Specialized Subject Directory • Guide complied by subject specialist • List important resources in his/her area of expertise • More comprehensive than general guide • Examples – Film: Internet Movie Database (http: //www. imdb. com/) • Includes Clearinghouses – Argus Clearinghouse (http: //clearinghouse. net/) – About. com – WWW. Virtual Library (http: //www. vlib. org/) EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 61

Summary • Search Engines • The Big Guys – Altavista – Google – Yahoo • Meta-Search Tools – Dogpile – Meta. Crawler • Subject-Specific – The Big. Hub. com – Search Engine Colossus • Subject Directory – Look. Smart – Lycos • Specialized Subject Directory – WWW. Virtual Library – About. com EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 62

Preparing to Search • What’s the topic, question, area of interest? • Identify search terms to describe your topic of interest • Consider synonyms (echinoderm OR echinoidea OR "sea urchin") • Consider variations of terms (restaurants, dining, gourmet) See Handout: Practical Steps EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 63

Search tips • Enclosing a multiword phrase in quotation marks tells the search engine to list only sites that contain that exact phrase – Example: “heart disease” EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 64

Boolean Logic • Combines search terms in many databases • AND, OR, and NOT or (+) and (-) • Must check to see if search engines use Boolean logic EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 65

Boolean Logic : AND Limits your search “Oral History” & Women Only returns pages with both of these terms on them EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 66

Boolean Logic : OR Broadens your search “Oral History” OR Women Returns every page with either of these terms on them EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 67

Boolean Logic : NOT Limits your search “Oral History” NOT Women Only returns pages that contain one but not the other term on them EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 68

Wildcards • Special Character that can be appended to the root of a word so you can search for all possible endings to that root • Good for variant spellings and common root words • Example – rocket* will yield rocket, rockets, rocketry psycholog* = psychology, psychological, psychologist – colo*r = color and colour EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 69

Ctrl-F • Follow a link to a document retrieved by a search engine and don’t know how relevant • Ctrl-F finds the relevant words in current document • Example: women +“El Salavdor” +“Oral History” – Pick one link, then Ctrl-F EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 70

Searching Summary • Choose a search engine – Personal preference – Different engines for different purposes • Syntax - quotations, Boolean logic, wildcards • Ctrl-F to find search words • Try to stay focused on your task EDUC 698 M Davina Pruitt-Mentle 71