LAB 4: Searching the Web

FIT 100

(or, Finding what you want, and no more!)

Spring 2001

Reading to be done prior to Lab 4:

Link to and read the sections on Search Engine Math and Boolean Searching at the Search Engine Watch website:

http://www.searchenginewatch.com/facts/index.html

After reading about Search Engine Math, check out this list as a reference for constructing your search:

http://www.searchenginewatch.com/facts/ataglance.html

Introduction:

Many of you have done a fair amount of browsing and searching on the Internet. But have you ever thought about how to search in such a way that you get only those sites you want and no more? Admittedly, constructing a search in a search engine that does exactly that is very difficult, if not impossible. However, you can learn to search the Internet in a way that brings back a smaller set of “hits” (web pages that match your search) that are more relevant than not.

Objectives:

· To use basic search strategies in a search engine and bring back sites with information on a topic.

· Learn to find the best search method to use in a particular search engine.

· Development of systematic and precise search skills.

Online Resources:

Some available search engines (but not the only ones!!!!):

Google: http://www.google.com/

Uses link popularity as a way to rank a web site. If 50 different sites link to one other site, this is a good indicator that it is a relevant page for the topic it covers.

AltaVista: http://av.com/

One of the largest search engines around. Allows searches just on images and other formats. Also has a translate feature.

DogPile: http://www.dogpile.com/

DogPile is a metasearch engine. It runs a search across other search engines to get results. It allows you to specify a search for images or audio files, etc.

Other popular search engines:

MSN: http://www.msn.com/

Returns results to user based on their location. Provides a directory, news, mail, and

a way to personalize the site for each user.

Ask Jeeves: http://www.askjeeves.com/

Directs a user to relevant sites by having them ask and answer questions. Pulls links

from a database of sites previously created.

Yahoo!: http://www.yahoo.com/

Directory setup. Provides email, news, etc.

Lycos: http://www.lycos.com/

Set up similar to Yahoo with a directory-style setup.

Excite: http://www.excite.com/

Includes a directory to browse and let’s you search photos, MP3’s, News services,

etc.

List of Search Engines

by function: http://www.searchenginewatch.com/links/

A useful page to go to lists of search engines.

A note on copyright and public domain images:

Images and other files and content on the Internet are protected in the same way as print materials and photographs. Use of digital images for purposes of alteration and display on the Internet has limited coverage under the conditions of fair use [http://www.benedict.com/basic/fairuse/fairtest.htm].

Public Domain [http://www.benedict.com/basic/public/public.htm] items are those in which the copyright has been lost, has expired, or the author of the work makes no copyright claims to reproductions or enhancements of the work.

If you use an image of a person for reasons of making a profit, you are responsible for obtaining permission from the person or their heirs. If you use a trademark image, you must also get permission.

To Do:

Work with a lab partner on this assignment. Do the searches separately, but go over the results in pairs to compare search strategy and results.

1. Using the Search Engine Math you read about, construct a search to find sites that contain Public Domain images. Use Google for this first search.

2. Do that same search across in AltaVista and Dogpile as well. Compare your top 10 hits. Do you get the same results?

· How are they similar?

· How are they different?

3. Do a search for images related to Seattle on the web. Alta Vista has a way to just search for image media on the web. Can you locate other search engines with this same feature?

4. Find an image of the Space Needle being hit by lightning. Which search engine had the best image and what number was it in the rankings?

5. Using the list of search engines by function at:

http://www.searchenginewatch.com/links/

What would be a good engine to use if you were looking for national news?

How about if you are searching for medical information?

6. Now look for images you would like to use in a website of misinformation (Project 1) and save them for manipulation in Adobe Photoshop later on. Remember to FTP all images saved using binary mode.