Finding Information

on the Internet

Coky Fauzi Alfi

 Why Search the Web?

A simple answer is that the Web is too large

and unorganized to find much useful
information.
 Alternative Methods for Finding Information

• Typing in the web address of a known

page (URL)
• Search engines
• Directories (or web catalogues)
• Browsing
 Web ‘addresses’ or URLs

The most efficient method of finding

information on the internet is through typing
the web address or URL directly into the web
browser.
 How do We Know the URL?

• A word of mouth recommendation

• From advertisement or company
promotional literature
• Simply making a good guess
 How Web Search Engine Work

Search engines use special automatic tools

known as spiders, crawler or robots to index web
pages of registered sites.
What Search Engines Search
• Content
• Tags
– Keyword
– Description
– Title
– Heading
– Links
 What Search Engines Ignore
• Frames
• Scripts
• Java Applets and Plug-Ins
• Server-Generated Pages
• Forms
• Images
• Deeply Linked Pages
• Reorganization and Broken Links
 Major Search Engines

• Google – http://www.google.com
• Yahoo – http://search.yahoo.com
• MSN – http://search.msn.com
• AltaVista – http://www.altavista.com
• Alltheweb – http://www.alltheweb.com
 Alternative Search Engines

• Vivísimo – http://www.vivisimo.com
• Dogpile – http://www.dogpile.com
• Ask.com or AskJeeves.com –
http://www.ask.com
• SurfWax – http://www.surfwax.com
• Ixquick – http://www.ixquick.com
 Mobile Search Engines

• http://mobile.google.com
• http://mobile.yahoo.com/search
• http://mobile.msn.com
 Searching with Google

• Think “full text”

war of 1812 economic causes
• Specify exact phrases
“tom bates”
• Exclude or include a word
proliferation –nuclear
obama +hussein
 Searching with Google
• Web page title
intitle:hybrid
• Website or domain
site:whitehouse.gov
• File type
filetype:ppt site:edu “global warming”
Nine Very Cool Google Tricks

1. Definitions
define:wireless LAN
2. Calculator
2+2
3. Phonebook
phonebook: ansonia veterinary center
NY
Nine Very Cool Google Tricks

4. Street Maps
9 Princeton St Boston MA 02128
5. Stock Quotes
stock quotes:MSFT
6. Patents, Tracking IDs, and Other
Numeric Goodies
patent 5123123
Nine Very Cool Google Tricks

7. Weather
weather bloomington, indiana
8. Q&A
Q&A:population of south korea
9. Movies
movie: holy grail
Interpreting the Results
 When Not to Use Google
• Google doesn't cluster results
• Google isn’t good enough to find a person's email
address
• Google isn't the best place to find what an abbreviation
stands for
• Some topic-specific directories are simply more fine-
tuned than Google's regular full-text search
• When working on an in-depth research project (like a
college thesis), Google doesn't help you catalog multiple
search results, or let you take notes on interesting sites.
 Web Catalogues or Directories

Massive online catalogs that are edited,

sorted, and organized by humans
 Major Web Directories

• http://directory.google.com
• http://dir.yahoo.com
• http://dmoz.org
 Practical Tips for Managing Information

1. Using bookmarks
2. Printing information
3. Saving text for subsequent reading or
printing
4. Saving an image or diagram
End