World Wide Web Basics

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World Wide Web Basics

• Informatics Training for CDC Public Health
  Advisors

2
Points to be covered

• Basic overview
• The Web as an information resource
• How to get around
• Examples of some useful pubic health sites
• Some tips

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Overview - Internet

• Computer networks linked through use of common
  software protocols (TCP/IP)
• Applications
• e-mail, remote computer use, transferring files
• mail lists news groups
• interactive information delivery services
• search tools

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Overview - World Wide Web

• Includes multi-media resources (sounds, pictures,
  video)
• Accessed via browser software
• Netscape Navigator vs. MS Internet Explorer
• Documents linked through hypertext
• Enables point-and-click navigation
• Following links surfing the Web

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Glossary

• HTML - hypertext mark up language
• URL - uniform resource locator web address
• hypertext hot link link
• (home) page - a single document/file viewed with
  a browser
• may be several pages long
• may have subsidiary external links

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How to get around

• Browser window layout
• pull down menus
• control panel buttons
• location box
• Basic navigation
• important buttons back, home, go
• Open, Home buttons
• Where am I?

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Anatomy of a URL

• a URL tells you
• where you are, and
• something about what youre looking at
• http//www.specific.general.domain/name.html
• US domains gov, edu, org, com, mil, net
• examples http//www.doh.wa.gov http//healthlin
  ks.washington.edu/nwcphp/

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Home pages

• Can be institutional or personal
• Logical grouping of pages constitutes a web site
• Pages may also link to other sites
• May provide original, local information and/or
  compile links to other sites

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Uses of a home page

• For user
• on ramp - convenient starting point
• quality filter - links have been selected
• organizer - can provide framework
• For author
• publication - dissemination
• interactive communication or service medium
• advertisement

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Uncle Sam on the Web

• DHHS, Public Health Service
• CDC
• http//www.cdc.gov/
• MMWR, WONDER, Prevention Guidelines, other
  databases and publications
• NIH
• http//www.nlm.nih.gov/
• NLM - MEDLINE and other databases
• healthfinder TM
• http//www.healthfinder.gov/

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University sources

• Healthlinks
• http//healthlinks.washington.edu/
• BioSites
• http//www.library.ucsf.edu/biosites/
• HealthWeb
• http//www.ghsl.nwu.edu/healthweb/

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MEDLINE

• produced by National Library of Med.
• bibliographic database
• published, peer-reviewed research
• broad coverage of health care
• can now search free using PubMed Internet
  Grateful Med
• http//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/
• http//igm.nlm.nih.gov

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Some tips

• plug ins - helper applications
• saving (downloading) files - where?
• loading images - on or off?
• printing - how big is that page?
• source/page code - to learn HTML
• file/page information