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Information Literacy Program

Module 3Untangle the Web:

Finding Information on the Internet

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Other ILP Modules

Module 1: Resources available @ the Emalus Campus Library

Module 2: Accessing the Emalus Library Website & Using the Online Catalogue

Module 3: Untangle the Web:Finding Information on the Internet

Module 4: Critically Evaluating Information Sources Module 5: Literature Search, Citing Sources & the

Bibliography

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Learning Objectives

• to explain the Internet and the World Wide Web

• to demonstrate how to locate information on the World Wide Web

• to explain different ways of searching the World Wide Web

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Learning Outcomes

At the end of this session, students should:

• understand what the Internet and WWW are

• be more aware of search tools such as directories, virtual libraries, and search engines to locate information on the Internet

• understand the different ways of searching the World Wide Web

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Some History

• Began in 1960s as a US Dept. of Defense military network

• 1969-Spread to link universities and research facilities (Advanced Research Projects Agency –ARPA)

• electronic mail was introduced in 1976 and Queen Elizabeth II was the first state leader to send an email

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Some History

• 1982- the word “Internet is used for the first time

• libraries began making online catalogs available--early 1980s

• Tim Berners-Lee of CERN developed hyperlinks. He called it the World Wide Web (WWW) ---- 1991

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Some History, cont’d.

• the WWW is now the largest part of the Internet

• search engines and web directories have been developed to track web pages and enable people to find things

• wireless Internet --- 2000• worldwide there are about 2 billion Internet

users --- ¼ of the world’s population

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What is the Internet?

• interlinked web of computer networks • no organization, corporation or government

owns or runs the Internet• the WWW provides a single interface to the

many functions of the Internet

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Why is the Internet slower in Vanuatu?

Internet Infrastructure• Fibreoptic networks use light pulses to

transmit data (literally at the speed of light)• Cost• Geographical location

• Vanuatu relies on satellite connections for all communications

• Satellite signals have to travel a great distance above the earth and then back again causing a delay in data transmission

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Uses of the Internet

• Communication– email – blogs– social networks, e.g..MySpace– virtual communities , e.g. Second Life

• Information Retrieval– libraries– Databases– Google– Wikipedia

• Presentation of Information– digital publishing (books, photos, etc.)

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Organization of the Web

• Web browser– example: Internet Explorer, Mozilla,Netscape

• Portal– Example: MSN.com

• Emalus campus website – http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/

• Emalus campus library home page– http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/library/

• Library Vanuatu Collection web page– http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/library/Vanuatu.htm

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The URL - Uniform Resource Locator

• URL indicates the location of a file on the Internet or WWW

• like a street address or library call number

• includes the type of service as well as the exact location of the file

– http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj

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Anatomy of a URL

URL – uniform resource locator

http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/library/Video_Collection.htm

Type of protocol Name of

Host Computer

Domain Name

Directory Path

Requested File

.edu / .ac / .com / .net / .gov / .org / .shop / .arts / .rec

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Different Domains on the Net• .com or .co = commercial source• .edu or .ac = education institute• .gov = government source• .int = non profit international organizations• .net = mostly internet service providers e.g.

Telecom• .org = originally applied to non-profit organizations,

but commercial and for-profit organizations now also use this designation email addresses tend to reflect the parent (domain name)

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Domain Names

• http://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/

• http://www.vanuatu.gov.vu/

• http://www.vanuatubeef.com

• http://www.forumsec.org/

• http://www.att.net.au

• http://www.who.int

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Wikipedia.orgEmalus Campus

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Google Home Page Emalus Campus

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Relevance Ranking

• order of terms of search

• location of terms in the document

• proximity of multiple keywords in the document

• repetition of keywords in the document

• location of the page

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Word Order Emalus Campus

• grass snake -Mostly about a kind of snake

• snake grass -Will find many about a kind of grass, not present in first search

• snake in the grass -Most pages will find expression but also firsttwo

• “snake in the grass” -Most specific and precise. Exact phrase must appear

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Google Basic Search

Google uses boolean operators the AND is implied all of the time in its basic

search option Various endings are implied –

kite flying= kites, kiting, flying, fly, flies

that’s why you get such large numbers of records

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Getting fewer results

• I’m Feeling Lucky• Define:• Advanced Search• Directories• Google Scholar• Other features—Images, Translate, etc.

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Google Advanced Search Emalus Campus

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Search Tools

• search engines

e.g. Google, Yahoo, Ask • Library websites/databases, ‘Virtual libraries’

e.g. Infomine• directories

e.g. Yahoo, About• portals

e.g. Microsoft MSN

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Which Tool?

• looking for a specific item

• want to browse in a broad subject area

• looking for journal articles

• want to restrict results to sites that have been evaluated for quality

→ use Directories and Virtual Libraries

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Which Tool?

• looking for a specific topic

• looking for a subject that’s a bit vague

• just exploring to see what’s out there

• → use Search Engine or Portal

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Journal Articles Emalus Campus

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INFOMINE Home Page Emalus Campus

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INFOMINE Advanced Search Emalus Campus

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Ask.com Home Page Emalus Campus

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Ask.com Advanced Search Emalus Campus

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No matter what your Information Source …

you are responsible for evaluating the information and attributing your sources

Refer to Module 4 : CARS criteria

Refer to Module 5 : Literature search, citing sources & the

bibliography

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Via the Internet

The Internet gives you access to the good, the bad and the ugly. You can access countless providers of information, therefore …

evaluate the information you retrieve– you do this by verifying / cross-checking

the information against other reliable sources

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Search Tips

• always check for typographic errors

• do not enter a single word to search

• to find an exact phrase, enter it in quotes “exact phrase”

• use the advanced search if available

• use a good subject directory to find reliable sites

• always evaluate information carefully

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In Summary

• different search tools have different strengths and weaknesses

• it’s easier to compare the results between 2 or more search engines if you use the same search terms

• consider keeping a list of interesting web sites, with brief notes on strengths that interest you or add to Favorites

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And Remember

“Man is still the most extraordinary computer

of all”

---John F. Kennedy