1. Search Engine Savvy Shirley McDonald Debbie Henson LLA March 5, 2008

2. Information Overload “The amount of new information stored on paper, film, magnetic, and optical media has about doubled in the last three years.” “Almost 800 MB of recorded information is produced per person each year. It would take 30 feet of books to store the equivalent of 800 MB of information on paper.” (note: based on world population of 6.3 billion) “How Much Information? 2003” – http://www2.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much- info-2003/execsum.htm http://www2.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much- info-2003/execsum.htm

3. Information Overload In 1994, Google indexed about 20 million pages. In 2004, that number was 8 billion.* That is only a fraction of what is on the Internet.  *”Searching the World Wide Web” – http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/printable/558 http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/printable/558

4. The Internet A self-publishing medium Not evaluated by professionals Everything must be analyzed for its accuracy, validity, and appropriateness

5. General Search Strategies Analyze the topic to define your search.  Think about key words, variations of spelling, acronyms, abbreviations, associations that may have information. Decide where to begin (subject directory? search engine? database?). Go from specific to general. Pay attention to word order.

6. Search Strategies… Vary your approach as you go. Switch from search engines to databases to subject directories. Vary your search terms. Be aware of how your specific search tool works – use “Help” or “About” links.  Internet Search Engine Cheat Sheet http://web.library.uiuc.edu/grainger/resrc/SEARCH/ Search.htm http://web.library.uiuc.edu/grainger/resrc/SEARCH/ Search.htm Capitalize proper nouns

7. Search Strategies… If you find something useful, bookmark it so that you can easily find it again.  Social bookmarking sites – allows sharing of sites, bookmarks (some may not make it past your school filter) http://del.icio.us/ http://www.listible.com/ http://popurls.com/ http://www.backflip.com http://www.furl.net/index.jsp - this was blocked at my school for “peer-to-peer” http://www.furl.net/index.jsp

8. More General Strategies Searching by phrase Truncation (not supported in all search tools) Field searching Quotation marks around phrases, particularly proper names  Ex: “presidential race 2008”  “George Washington” For varying forms of a word  child* Specific parts of a web page  Image:tornado

9. Boolean and Operators Boolean Search Logic  AND – usually the default; narrows results  OR - broadens search; add synonyms and related terms  NOT – excludes words Western Connecticut State University :  http://library.wcsu.edu/web/assistance/research/nursing/tutorial/e_strate gies/a_boolean http://library.wcsu.edu/web/assistance/research/nursing/tutorial/e_strate gies/a_boolean Operators  + or – to include a word or omit (ex: Excite)

10. Clues from the URL com – commercial sites; may be biased edu – university sites; ~ in address indicates teacher or student personal web page gov – government sites org – U. S. non-profit organizations; may be biased net – usually an internet service provider or a person who is a customer of the ISP mil – U. S. military sites http://150.108.161.177/onlinequiz/lesson4-2.html

11. Google isn’t the only tool… Less than half of the searchable Web is fully searchable in Google  Search Engines  Subject Directories  Meta-searchers  Virtual Libraries/Databases  Specialized Databases

12. Search Engine Rankings Amount of information on site Number of other sites that link to it Number of people who select that link when searching Length of time the site has been listed in the search engine database Code of the site Sponsored links; paid for by advertisers  *”Searching the World Wide Web” – http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/printable/558 http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/printable/558

13. Search Engines Beaucoup  http://www.beaucoup.com/ http://www.beaucoup.com/ Clusty – results in clusters (subject)  http://www.clusty.com http://www.clusty.com Hotbot – allows advanced search with limiters  http://www.hotbot.com http://www.hotbot.com Ask.com  http://www.ask.com http://www.ask.com

14. Search Engines AlltheWeb  http://www.alltheweb.com/ http://www.alltheweb.com/ Quintura – “tag cloud” approach/visual search engine  http://www.quintura.com/ http://www.quintura.com/ Healia – consumer health  http://www.healia.com http://www.healia.com SearchMedica – designed for doctors  http://www.SearchMedica.com http://www.SearchMedica.com WebMd  www.WebMd.com

15. More Search Engines Ujiko  http://www.ujiko.com/v2a/flash.php?langue=en http://www.ujiko.com/v2a/flash.php?langue=en WordIQ – search for definitions, e-books, etc.  http://www.WordIQ.com http://www.WordIQ.com Exalead  http://www.exalead.com/search http://www.exalead.com/search Technorati – searching blogs  http://www.technorati.com/ http://www.technorati.com/

16. Subject Directories The Mining Company  http://www.miningco.com/ http://www.miningco.com/ Infomine – scholarly resources  http://infomine.ucr.edu/ http://infomine.ucr.edu/ About.com  http://www.about.com http://www.about.com Resources for School Librarians  http://www.sldirectory.com/ http://www.sldirectory.com/ Open Directory Project  http://www.dmoz.org/ http://www.dmoz.org/ Complete Planet  http://www.completeplanet.com http://www.completeplanet.com

17. Meta-searchers Findelio – WHOIS listed with each search result  http://www.findelio.com http://www.findelio.com GigaBlast – posts when site was published/updated  http://www.gigablast.com http://www.gigablast.com SurfWax  http://www.surfwax.com http://www.surfwax.com CSE Links – custom search engines  http://www.cselinks.com/ http://www.cselinks.com/ Whonu  http://www.whonu.com/ http://www.whonu.com/

18. More meta-searchers iBoogie – clusters results  http://www.iBoogie.com http://www.iBoogie.com Izito – clusters results  http://www.izito.com/ http://www.izito.com/ All-in-One Search Page  http://www.allonesearch.com/ http://www.allonesearch.com/ SavvySearch  http://www.search.com/ http://www.search.com/ Kartoo – visual meta searcher  http://www.kartoo.com/ http://www.kartoo.com/

19. Virtual Libraries/Databases Internet Archive  http://www.archive.org/index.php http://www.archive.org/index.php Movies, images, text, music, Wayback Machine Internet Public Library  www.ipl.org www.ipl.org Academic Index – free reference metasearch  http://www.academicindex.net/ http://www.academicindex.net/ CyberDewey – Internet sites arranged by Dewey  www.anthus.com/CyberDewey/CyberDewey.html www.anthus.com/CyberDewey/CyberDewey.html Librarians Internet Index  http://www.lii.org/ http://www.lii.org/ Google Scholar  http://scholar.google.com/ http://scholar.google.com/

20. Miscellaneous Mahalo is a “human-powered” search engine.  http://www.mahalo.com http://www.mahalo.com Teacher Tube  http://www.teachertube.com http://www.teachertube.com Flight tracker  http://www.aeroseek.com/webtrax/fboweb.html http://www.aeroseek.com/webtrax/fboweb.html U. S. Government Manual  http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gmanual/index.html http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gmanual/index.html PersonFinder  http://person.langenberg.com/ http://person.langenberg.com/ Ask An Expert  http://www.askanexpert.com/ http://www.askanexpert.com/

21. Kid Safe Search Engines and Directories Ask for Kids  http://www.askkids.com/ http://www.askkids.com/ Kids Click  http://www.kidsclick.org/ http://www.kidsclick.org/ Kids.Net  http://www.kids.net.au/ http://www.kids.net.au/ Kids’ Tools for Searching the Internet  http://www.rcls.org/ksearch.htm http://www.rcls.org/ksearch.htm TekMom’s Search Tools for Students  http://www.tekmom.com/search/index.html http://www.tekmom.com/search/index.html

22. Kid Safe… ALA’s Great Web Sites for Kids  http://www.ala.org/gwstemplate.cfm?section=greatwe bsites&template=/cfapps/gws/default.cfm http://www.ala.org/gwstemplate.cfm?section=greatwe bsites&template=/cfapps/gws/default.cfm Kids.gov  http://www.kids.gov/ http://www.kids.gov/ Awesome Library for Kids  http://www.awesomelibrary.org/student.html http://www.awesomelibrary.org/student.html Kids Konnect  http://www.kidskonnect.com/ http://www.kidskonnect.com/

23. Searching for Pictures Ditto  www.ditto.com www.ditto.com Picsearch  www.picsearch.com www.picsearch.com FlickrStorm  www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm Search-22  http://www.search-22.com/downloads/images.php http://www.search-22.com/downloads/images.php Pixsy – pictures and videos (blocked as “hosting site” by our filter)  http://www.pixsy.com/ http://www.pixsy.com/

24. Searching for Sounds FindSounds  www.FindSounds.com www.FindSounds.com Nature Songs  http://www.naturesongs.com/ http://www.naturesongs.com/ Sound Tracks  http://www.freeplaymusic.com/ http://www.freeplaymusic.com/ Make4fun  http://www.make4fun.com/audio-clips.htm http://www.make4fun.com/audio-clips.htm Also videos, audio, etc. (May not be kid safe) Partners in Rhyme  http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/ http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/

25. Specialized searches Topix – news “community”  http://www.topix.net/ http://www.topix.net/ SLDirectory’s Links  http://www.sldirectory.com/searchf/entertainm ent.html#top http://www.sldirectory.com/searchf/entertainm ent.html#top “Research beyond Google” – 119 resources  http://oedb.org/library/college- basics/research-beyond-google http://oedb.org/library/college- basics/research-beyond-google

26. Choosing the best search Noodletools - chart  http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/informati on/5locate/adviceengine.html http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/informati on/5locate/adviceengine.html Finding Information: Search Engines by Phil Bradley - chart  http://www.philb.com/whichengine.htm http://www.philb.com/whichengine.htm The Top 100 Alternative Search Tools (filter at our school blocked for “weapons” – I haven’t figured that out yet!)  http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_100_alter native_search_engines.php http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_100_alter native_search_engines.php

27. Evaluation  Berkeley’s checklist for students http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Inte rnet/EvalForm_General.pdf http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Inte rnet/EvalForm_General.pdf  Joyce Valenza’s WebQuest for high school http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/evalwebstu.html  Kathy Schrock’s page http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/ eval.html http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/ eval.html  Middle schools: Quality Information Checklist  Elementary: Website Investigator

28. Great resource for Information Literacy of the Web – (awesome site) Alan November’s Free Info Lit Resources  http://www.anovember.com http://www.anovember.com Information Literacy Quiz (answers and follow-up activities Websites to Validate (some hoax sites to prove you can’t trust everything on the Internet) How to Read a Web Address Find the Publisher of a Website What Is the History of a Website Check the External Links

29. Contact Info Debbie Henson  Deborah.henson@lpsb.org Shirley McDonald  Shirley.mcdonald@lpsb.org Shirley.mcdonald@lpsb.org