Will everything be
there eventually
What
is a URL (and other important terms)?
How do
we evaluate what we find?
How do
we save our favorite websites
The
Internet is really a network of
networks; it is what we call all the computers around the world that have been
connected together. What links computers together into the Internet is an
assortment of telephone lines, cable lines, and satellite connections.
It is important to
understand that the World Wide Web is not the same thing as the Internet. The
Web is the part of the Internet that provides images, sound, video, text, and
much more. It is also the fastest growing part of the Internet. There are
other activities, or protocols, that take place on the Internet including
e-mail, telnet, and FTP or file transfer protocol.
From
homepage of Hostos Community College Library, DiMartino and Zoe, 2001
Propaganda – know how to
distinguish propaganda from information
Entertainment – movies,
music (some available legally, others not)
Why do
we use the internet to look for information?
Who can put
information on the internet?
How can
we tell who put the information on the internet?
Why
would you use the web for your information needs?
- It's
fast. (Sometimes)
- It's
up-to-date. (Sometimes)
- It's fun.
- It's
visually pleasing.
- It often
contains unique information.
Why not use the web for
everything, all of the time?
- It's slow
going if you don't know exactly what you are looking for.
- It can be
frustrating and inefficient.
- If you
are looking for a short answer to a factual question, a reference book may
be faster.
- The
information may not be as current as you think. (is the site being
constantly revised?)
- The
information may not be as reliable as it looks.
- Ask the
question "Who is providing the information?"
- Some
commercial sites may be very useful
- Some
educational sites may NOT be useful (sixth grade term papers, course descriptions
from other colleges, etc.)
From Virgil (Internet Tutorial, Westchester Community College Library,
2005)
- Educational
institutions
- Corporations
- Government
agencies
- Non-profit
organizations
- Individuals
- including:
- fans of
authors, celebrities, etc.
- Eight-year-olds
whose parents can mount websites
- Eight-year-olds
who can mount their own websites
- People
who have political, social, economic agendas to share
- People
who have other things to share
Try a google search for
“egg donors”.
Who put the information on the internet?
Why?
- .edu -- educational site
(usually a university or college)
- .com -- commercial
business site
- .gov -- U.S.
governmental/non-military site
- .mil -- U.S. military
sites and agencies
- .net -- networks,
internet service providers, organizations
- .org -- U.S. non-profit
organizations and others
Client/server
The World
Wide Web is a server. To access the Web, you
need client software. This client/server model is a form of distributed
computing where one program (the client) communicates with another program (the
server) in order to exchange information.
Microsoft
Explorer is a client software called a
"browser" that allows one to access the World Wide Web. Another
browser is called Netscape.
Software, such as Internet Explorer,
that allows you to access and navigate the World Wide Web.
Hypertext
Any medium that can be accessed non-linearly. A hypertext
document contains links known as HYPERLINKS which allow the reader to navigate through the document using a
number of paths. Hypertext is not just a Web-based phenomenon but has existed in
conceptual form since 1945 when the American information scientist Vanevar Bush
described it in a seminal paper, and in implementations described in the 1960s.
However, the use of hypertext ideas within the HTML language used to describe WORLD WIDE WEB documents has meant that something that was an academic
curiosity up to the early 1990s has become the main information medium on the
Internet. The term ‘hypertext’ gives the impression of links solely occurring in plain text
documents; the term HYPERMEDIA has superseded it since links in Web documents can be embedded
in both text and graphics.
"hypertext" A Dictionary of the Internet.
Darrel Ince.
URL
uniform resource locator An address used by Web BROWSERS in order to locate a resource on the Web. An
anchor in a WEB PAGE specifies the URL a browser will transfer to when the link
associated with the URL is clicked.
"uniform resource
locator" A Dictionary of the Internet. Darrel Ince.
The domain is part of
the url.
Home Page
The home
page is the document that appears when your first open your browser. Most computers at the college are set to use
the college home page. Every website has
a home page. The home page is a menu of
what is available at the site.
1. If you know
the URL (address of the site), type it in.
e.g. www.cuny.edu, www.irs.gov
2. Sometimes you find hyperlinks on a page. Clicking on a hyperlink will lead you to
another page. Usually the back button on the browser will take you back to the
previous page.
Sometimes a new browser
window is opened.
E.g. On the Kingsborough page, click on
“Schedule of Classes”
On the page that comes up, click on
CUNY Schedule of Classes”. A new window
has opened.
~do not search the whole web. They search very large databases of websites.
~cannot find everything
~have different rules for ranking
“hits”. Creators of websites sometimes
know how to “tag” their site so that it ranks high on a search.
~usually work by keyword searching
~do not always do truncation
~usually use Boolean logic
~find information that is free
4. Subject directories – web sites that list
selected sites by subject categories.
A good list of subject directories is
found at http://library.albany.edu/internet/subject.html
Brooklyn Public Library also has a good
subject directory
http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/internet_links.jsp
How do I know which search
engine or directory is best? Or should
we just use google for everything?
Some suggestions can be found at http://library.albany.edu/internet/started.html
- Look at the domain
name. What kind of institution
created this site?
- Is it a personal page?
Personal pages: A
personal page requires extra scrutiny. It really could be anyone: a 6th
grader, an expert, a kook. A URL containing a personal name and a tilde (~) or
the word “personal” indicates a personal page.
For example: 
3. Who is
responsible for the page?
~Read
the “About us” section if there is one.
~Can
you get the name of the person or organization responsible for the content of
the website, not just the name of the webmaster?
~Is
there an address, not just an email address?
~Is
there any information about the credentials of the person or organization who
created the website? We can use a search
engine, a library database, or the Encyclopedia
of Associations to find more information about the producer of the website.
4. What is the date on the website?
5. Who is the intended audience? Do the producers of the website state their
purpose?
Sometimes we find a website that we know that we will
use again. We can save it on our Favorites list.
Click Favorites on
your menu bar. Choose “Add to
Favorites.” Make sure that the name is
something you will recognize. If not,
change the name to something you will recognize.
You can organize your Favorites
into folders. Name the folder,
e.g.
Using the
Library on the Web
People
sometimes use the internet because they do not have time to go to the library
or they find libraries confusing.
Libraries
today offer many things on the internet and we try to make user-friendly
webpages!
At
Kingsborough, most of our periodicals are available online, on or off
campus. We also have a ready reference
collection available online (http://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/kcclibrary/DBLibrary/dbsubject.htm#GeneralandReference).
Brooklyn
Public Library (http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/)
also has a good collection of online resources.
Everyone should get a library card.