Tutorial 4: Information Resources on the Web

Finding Current and Specific Information on the Web

• Use a search engine that  allows date-range searches
• Comes news portals are dedicated to "current" news.
• News aggregation Web sites collect and display content from several other news Web sites.
• A wire service is an organization that gathers and distributes news to newspapers, magazines, broadcasters, Web sites, and other organizations that pay a fee to the wire service.

 Finding Up-to-date Weather Information

There are local, nationwide, and worldwide weather forecast Web sites. 

Features:

• Live Radar
• Graphs
• 10-day forecasts
• Trip planners
• Severe weather reports
• School Closings
• Satellite Views
• Desktop weather apps
• Video Forecasts      

Find People and Businesses Online

Search by name of person or business, location, phone number, type of business, and more...

 

Yellow Page Directories: Web sites that store information about businesses only, similar to the printed yellow pages phone book.

White Pages: Let you search for individuals’ names, addresses, and telephone numbers

–Collect information from published telephone directories and other publicly available information and index it by last name

–Some Web sites make unpublished and unlisted telephone numbers available for public use

–Response to concerns about privacy violations has led most white pages sites to offer people a way to remove their listing.  If it concerns you, you can request removal from the white pages directory itself

Find Products and Services Online

E-commerce: The process of developing, marketing, selling, delivering, servicing, and paying for products and services online.  

• Some retailers have both a physical location and a Web site; others are online only without a storefront/brick-and mortar store. 

Examples of "online only" companies: Amazon, Ebay, New Egg

Copyright and Fair Use

Copyright: Government granted rights to the author or creator of an original work.

Intellectual Property: Creations of the human mind.

Public Domain: Once a copyright has expired, anyone can use the work without requesting permission from the original author.

Fair Use: U.S. copyright law allows  people to use portions of copyrighted works without obtaining permission from the the copyright holder.

Fair Use Determinants

1. The purpose and character of the new work
2. The nature of the copyrighted work
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
4. The effect of the use on the potential market, or value, of the copyrighted work.    

Plagiarism: Failure to site the source of material the you use

• Plagiarism is a serious legal violation that can lead to a failing grade, being expelled from school, being fired from a job, or being subjected to a hefty fine or prosecution

  

Tutorial 3: Searching the Web

Types of Search Questions

Specific Questions: Can be answered with a single fact or set of information. 

Exploratory Questions: Search starts with general questions that lead to other, less general questions.

Steps to Searching the Web

1. Formulate and state your questions (specific or exploratory).
2. Select the appropriate tool(s) to use in your search.
3. Translate your questions into a search query.
4. Run the query and evaluate your results.
5. If results do not answer questions: 

For specific questions:
Continue the search with a different search tool or revise and narrow the questions an repeat the steps. 
 
For exploratory questions: 
If results do not answer the question, formulate and state additional questions and repeat the process until there is sufficient information to answer the question

 

Web Search Tools 

Search Engine: A Web site that finds other Web sites and pages based on a word or phrase.

•  Search expression/query: The word or phase you enter.
• Results page: List of hyperlinks (Web sites) that contain text that matched you query
• Hit: Web page that is indexed in the search engine’s database and that contains text that matches a specific search expression.

 

Directory: A listing of hyperlinks to Web pages that is organized into hierarchical categories. The combination of search engine and directory is sometimes called a hybrid search engine directory.

Metasearch Engine: A tool that combines the power of multiple search engines.

Bibliographies: Also called resource lists, subject guides, clearinghouses, and virtual libraries

–Can be very useful when you want to obtain a broad overview or a basic understanding of a complex subject area

–To search for a Web Bibliographies for a particular subject, include the search term along with the words subject guide in the search expression

How Search Engine Companies Make Money 

Sponsored Links: Links that appear to be hits, but are actually paid placement links.

Banner Ads: Advertising that appears in a box on a web page.

Example: