Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Internet 102: Other Search Tools

A brief note. I will add to Other Search Tools as I find more tools.

Searching is also a learning experience. You try to find things online, you learn about the things you find.

The Internet is a vast school room and you are both teacher and student. You learn from others and use the information for yourself. You collect pieces to your own puzzle, your search project. While you do this you are learning how to use the Internet as well. You share what you learned with others and are the teacher. The circle is complete.

You act on this information after you have judged its worth to your project. Be open to misnakes you make. Typing the rong word can land you in a different world altogether. Don't berate yourself. Pause on the search page and see what is there.

When we begin many searches, we use directories like Yahoo, the Open Directory and dozens of others such as The Librarians Internet Index, http://lii.org/ . There are other forms of directories too.

One is http://about.com/ . Unlike most directories, About has paid guides that collect links for you. They also update these links, write topical articles on their interest field and do much more. A small caveat, definately turn your pop-up blocker ON when you visit. This site offers an adequate search utility to the guide's articles and links. Its a learning and teaching site and should not be ignored just because you have gone beyond the basics.

Here is an interesting search and learning tool, http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/ You can do tutorials on a range of topics, add your own links to the tutorial then you follow the entire tutorial with your own input.

Some sites co$t of course and why not? They are offering even the most remote learner / searcher resources only a few libraries in the world have. Click http://www.questia.com/Index.jsp then About Questia. You will see the wealth of information available for $.30 a day. Now that is a bargain.

Another tool I have used is a client search engine, http://www.copernic.com/ . "The Search Engine for your PC," is how they promote this software. It has many parts. The main part is free and it searches your PC and the Internet. Adding parts, you get the ability to keep up to date on any site you choose. You can do this with other tools combined and there is much online about " rss " and google alerts, http://www.google.com/alerts . Copernic just helps you do these automated searches and organize the results. Its definately worth DLing the free version to see how it fits YOUR needs.

A couple of sites I stumbled on. Click here for symphony information: http://library.thinkquest.org/22673/ It looks like a project at http://thinkquest.org/ and it is a fine learning tool for students.

Newspapers from around the world with a click: http://www.newspapers.com/ http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/ http://www.newspaperlinks.com/voyager.cfm for American newspapers.

I will add more later. Now think about this. You must pace yourself in any task. Take breaks, drink some water, chat with a friend or family member. Then get back to work. Eat, sleep, then work. Take a shower, do the laundry then work...

No comments: