1. Eric W. Wohlers, PE Env. Health Director Chris Crawford, Ph.D. Water Resource Specialist Cattaraugus County

2. Agenda Basics of web-searching Valuable PWS sites

3. Web Searching Basics

4. Web Research Strategies – Search Engines Web directory defined : “A web directory or link directory is a directory on the World Wide Web. It specializes in linking to other web sites and categorizing those links.” Wikipedia “A Web directory organizes Web sites by subject, and is usually maintained by humans instead of software. ” about.com “Directories, unlike search engines, use a hierarchical tree structure to organize their database. Another common distinction is that a directory tends to list Web sites (root directory of a site or homepage) whereas a search engine will list Web pages (individual pages of a Web site)..” rustybrick.com “Directories are run by humans who review web sites and categorize them within their directories. This leads to a more abridged set of sites which can good or bad depending on what you're searching for. ” haystackinaneedle.com

5. Web Research Strategies – Search Engines How do they work: Search Web Crawler / spider – A Web crawler is a computer program that browses the World Wide Web in a Methodical, automated manner or in an orderly fashion. Copies visited pages for processing by search engine. Rules - time - following URLs - what to copy Meta-tags

6. Web Research Strategies – Search Engines How do they work: Search Indexing– Collects, parses, and stores data to facilitate fast and accurate information retrieval. Factors - Speed - Storage - Maintenance - Ranking methods

7. Web Research Strategies – Search Engines How do they work: Meta-search Rules -weighting -ranking -source engines

8. Web Research Strategies – Search Engines Optimizing your search: Goldilocks searches Don’t focus on one word Think conceptually Develop a question Use advanced options Think of associations Information type (i.e. image, video, diagram)

10. Web Research Strategies – Search Engines Optimizing your search: Advanced searching

11. Web Research Strategies – Search Engines Optimizing your search: Advanced searching

12. Web Research Strategies – Search Engines

13. Optimizing Search – Results Scan Source – Is it appropriate? -Trade group -Govt. agency -Supplier / consultant -News -Other

14. Optimizing Search – Results Scan Date – Is it timely? -Rate of change

15. Optimizing Search – Results Scan Context – Is it accurate? -Surrounding language -exact phrase

16. Optimizing Search – Evaluate Content Source Audience Language

17. Web Research Strategies - Directories www.dmoz.org dir.yahoo.com Site directories - EPA.gov

18. Optimizing Search - Directories Use directory search Apply same hints as engines Note category

19. Public Water Supply Websites

20. American Water Works Association

21. NY Rural Water Association

22. Association of State Drinking Water Adminstrators

23. NYS Department of Health – Drinking Water Protection Program

24. US EPA – Ground & Drinking Water Program

25. National Environmental Services Center

26. Water Environment Federation

27. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

28. USA Bluebook