Research on the Internet

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Research on the Internet
An ICON Presentation
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DisclaimersAbout me

• No training
• No Credentials
• Lazy (look for the easy way)
• I have a lot of spare time
• I am an info junkie
• Everything following is only my opinion
• I own a few shares of Google so expect a little
  spin.

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Don't Be Intimidated!(This is not easy, but it
is worth learning)

• In 2002, graduate students at Tel Aviv University
  were asked to find on the Web,
• With no time limit
• a picture of the Mona Lisa
• the complete text of either "Robinson Crusoe" or
  "David Copperfield"
• and a recipe for apple pie accompanied by a
  photograph.
• Only 15 percent succeeded at all three
  assignments...Searching for Dummies--EDWARD
  TENNERNY Times, March 26, 2006

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Objective Basic Internet ResearchHow do you
find stuff on the Internet?
Research?
Organized? Methodical?

• Googling
• is the new
• Reading

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A Good Portion of Humanity's DataIs on the
Internet...

• What should we expect?
• Terse answers to specific questions
• Encyclopedia style overviews
• Massive Fact-filled (or Opinionated) Tomes
• Access to guru forums
• Reliability very variable
• Some friendly, some not so much
• Read the FAQs!

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What Else?

• Too many answers to some questions
• Too few answers to other questions
• Truth, lies, and damn lies
• Traps for the unwary
• if it sounds too good to be true...better walk
  away...
• It is more information than ever before...
• It is not all of human knowledge!

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One More Thing...

• How do we find what we are looking for?
• Directories, Tables of Content, Maps...

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Fundamental Concepts

• You have a computer
• You ask a question
• You get an answer
• Well, that sounds easy enough..

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Expansion on the FundamentalsA Shopping Mall
Analogy

• Computer (think vehicle)
• Web browser (think gasoline)
• Internet connection(road)
• Resources (think information booth, map)
• Repositories (the store)
• The Goods(your new sneakers)
• (you still have to lace them up yourself)

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Research Process MapThe Nodes that are
Frequently Observed
Reference Works
Browser Tools
Local Data
Search engine
ISP
Directory
Browser
Library
Forum
Local Database or Special App.
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Remote ResourcesData, and the Directions to the
Data

• Search Engines
• Directories, Table of Contents...
• DMoz, Yahoo, Google Dir., hotsheet.com,
  del.icio.us...
• Questions and Answers
• USENET, Forums, Blogs (Read those FAQs!! )
• Dark Internet (Invisible Internet)- Databases
• Paper On-line
• Gutenberg, Google Books, ...
• LibrariesPLOS, SGC, Loc.gov
• Reference Works
• Encyclopedias, Wikis, Dictionaries, Acronyms,
  Quotes...
• Sources
• Google Scholar, direct.bl.uk

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More Fundamentals

• Language --
• terminology -- you must know your subject ("In
  order to ask an intelligent question...")
• Limitations --
• Computers and the Internet find "Words not
  Wisdom"
• There are many paths to the information
• Evaluate what you are looking for --
• "How many X in Y" ? or
• "The legal history of burden of proof "

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Specialized Data

• Geographic data, Maps, Location information
• Google Earth, Google Maps
• MapQuest
• Yahoo Maps
• Numeric Data
• Census Bureau
• Federal, State, Local Government
• Graphics
• Video
• Database Extractsreformatting
• Table captureWord, Excel, OOo
• Monitoring NewsRSS, Atom, XML, OPML...

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Search Tips

• Search Engine Syntax
• Phrase super adventure club
• Exclude tonight show -leno
• Number Range 1990..1999
• Synonym cripple river
• Wild-card in Phrase george washington
• Stop words to be or not to be
• Operators www.google.com/help/operators.html
• INURL SITE FILETYPE LINK PHONEBOOK

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More Search Tips

• Custom home-pages
• Yahoo, Excite, Google
• 404-File not found
• Cache Excavation
• Tool-bar up
• More Searching (if you can remember details)
• BookMarklets (Favelets)
• Search Preferences
• Filters
• Result-count
• Language

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Tools, Tweaks

• Browser helpers
• ToolbarsYahoo, MSN, ...
• Similar pages
• Page Rank
• Form Filler
• Spell checker
• Add-ins (pdf, Flash)
• Extensions (Firefox)
• Session Saver
• RSS Reader

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Unusual Condition Tools

• Large Data Pages
• Searching within large document
• Toolbar (Search terms), or Browser (find-ctrl-F).
• Working Offline
• Download manager w/browser extensions
• Audio ? mp-3 player
• Current Information
• Newspapers
• News Networks
• Google News
• Newsgroup Readers

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References

• (http//www.)mtopping.us
• Portals/Search
• Read/References
• General references
• Evaluating Internet Information
• Hoaxes
• ...
• Writings
• Softlinks General References