Beginning to Use the Internet
This page was designed for a workshop I am giving at the Chester Public Library.
Getting
on the Internet: providers, browsers
Although there are
a host of browser programs to choose from, two are most popular:
Netscape:
http://home.netscape.com/ and Microsoft’s
Internet Explorer: http://www.microsoft.com/homepage/ms.htm.
Both are powerful pieces of software that connect to and access the online world’s
information storehouses and communication capabilities. Netscape and Microsoft
Internet Explorer each command about 50% of the browser market. They are both
free.
Useful information
as you get started
Back button goes back one page, arrow
by back button takes you to recently viewed pages
Red X is stop button, it
will stop a page from loading
Two green circular arrows refresh the page
House
takes you to what is set as your home page
Address is called URL (Universal
Resource Locator), it is where you type in what you type in the page name that
you want to see
Homepage
To
set the home page in Microsoft Internet Explorer, go to Tools, Internet Options.
To
set the home page in Netscape, go to Edit, Preferences.
In either case, the
easiest way to set the home page is to have the page you want on the screen and
then choose Use Current Page.
Bookmark
When
you come across something interesting, book mark it.
In Microsoft Explorer,
on the tool bar at the top go to Favorites, then add to favorites.
In
Netscape go to Bookmarks, Bookmark This Page.
If
you need assistance in learning to bookmark the help section is excellent. If
you go to help, then index and type in bookmarks, you will find a list options.
Email
Free
email sites
37.com: http://www.37.com/
BeeMail: http://www.thebeehive.org/webmail/
Caribbeanedu.com:
http://www.caribbeanedu.com/getmail.asp
There
are two free email addresses you can get at this site.
Excite: http://www.excite.com/
Go.com: http://infoseek.go.com/
Yahoo: http://mail.yahoo.com/?.intl=us
Searching the Internet
Search
Engines
The web was never intended to be like a library.
Search engines and directories are businesses, not carefully designed public service
tools.
Familiarity
with search engines and other Web resource finders is difficult to come by and
difficult to keep, because the engines, like everything else on the Web, change
all the time.
Remember, don’t cling too
tightly to a favorite search engine, search strategy, or web resource, and don’t
think that there’s just one way to do it. That method may be moved, gone,
changed, or be sold tomorrow.
Search Directories
The most accessible tool for the Web novice is the subject directory. These directories
aren’t really search engines proper, although they’re often lumped together
with them. They have search engines as well, but they may not search well for
sites outside the directory’s database.
Searching
the Internet using KEYWORDS and PHRASES
Browsing for information in
directories is not always a good way to get results. Another method to find sites
in the Web is by simple searching using keywords related to a topic. When you
conduct a simple search of a directory, the result is a list of site matches or
hits, containing the keywords. Usually, the list is organized with best matches
first. As you descend through the list, the probability of relevant information
decreases. Simple searches may be refined by using limiters, such as +, -, and
" ". Refining your keywords generally results in fewer but better matches.
Sometimes
it is impossible to find a reliable way to refine a keyword search. For instance,
if you’re looking for general information on network security, a search will
give you a huge list of companies that sell network-security products. While many
of these sites may be informative to some extent, they’re probably not the
best places to do your research. But how do you eliminate them? Any keyword you
exclude from your search could legitimately appear in an objective, general-information
page.
Other tips for searching:
· Be as descriptive
as you want when searching. The search box for nearly all engines holds as many
words as you like. Words like "the," "those" and "a"
will be automatically stripped out by the engine. Try a question like: “How
do I register to vote?”
· Double check your spelling. Even a small
error can skew results.
· Capitalize proper names, like John Doe (instead
of john doe) when looking for them and most search engines will only return pages
where they are capitalized.
37.com: http://www.37.com/
All The Web: http://www.alltheweb.com/
Bare Bones 101: A Basic tutorial on Searching the Web: http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/bones.html
Best Search Engines Quick Guide: http://infopeople.org/search/guide.html
Dogpile: http://www.dogpile.com/
Excite: http://www.excite.com/
Fazzle: http://www.fazzle.com/ is a new new search engine that searches Wisenut, Altavista, Teoma, Lycos, Yahoo, MSN, and Netscape. Free registration to get advanced search features. You can bookmark or email search results
Go.com: http://infoseek.go.com/
Google:
http://www.google.com/
Google
lists search results based on how many places are linked to a page. The
more links, the higher on the search result list. It works kind of like
a popularity contest. Google then takes into account the importance, measured
in popularity, of the sites that are linking to the page. Links from popular
sites are given more weight than links from obscure sites. If a lot of important
sites establish links with the page, the reasoning goes, it must be important
too. Google even offers an “I’m Feeling Lucky” button
that does not even bother to return a list of search results—it deposits
the user directly onto the site with the highest relevancy ranking.
Hotmail: http://www.hotmail.com
Infoplease: http://www.infoplease.com/
Lycos: http://www.lycos.com/
Mamma: http://www.mamma.com/index.html?cb=Mama
NBCi: http://nbci.msnbc.com/nbci.asp
Search.com: http://www.search.com/
WebCrawler:
http://www.mckinley.com/
The most accessible
tool for the Web novice is the subject directory, like WebCrawler and NBCi (http://nbci.msnbc.com/nbci.asp)
. These directories aren’t really search engines proper, although they’re
often lumped together with them. They have search engines as well, but they generally
don’t search well for sites outside the directory’s database. On the
plus side, directories use human beings to sort sites. The downside is that this
process takes time, so directory databases tend to include fewer sites and be
the least up-to-date.
Web Searches:
The Fix Is In: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_40/b3852098_mz063.htm
Google doesn't have paid inclusions in its search results, Yahoo does.
And just what is a "paid inclusion"? Marketing lingo for an ad. "In
the last year, a host of search engines, including MSN and Lycos, have sprinkled
growing numbers of paid corporate Web pages into the search results, accepting
money each time one of these so-called paid-inclusion links is clicked,"
Business Week
reports. "This practice is a booming business, one expected
to double this year, to $200 million, and to reach $600 million by 2007,"
BW adds. Of course the problem for us Web searchers, says one analyst BW quotes,
is that this "dilutes the relevance and accuracy of the search results. But
Yahoo argues that "paid inclusion can provide users with better information"
and that its search results
are "still displayed in order of relevance."
In any case, the millions of people out there who use the Web for research need
to know their search results are turning up a healthy dose of advertising too,
whether or not "relevant."
WiseNut: http://www.wisenut.com/
Yahoo:
http://www.yahoo.com/
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This
site began in March 1998 by Janet Luch.
Email questions and comments to studyplans@yahoo.com.