10 Tips for Teaching How to Search the Web

THE POSSIBILITIES PROLIFERATE, CONSIDER ADOPTING A QUERY-BASED APPROACH

Teaching how to search the Web is hot--it's become standard practice in public-service librarianship. We teach classes, hold workshops, distribute handouts, mount tutorials on the Web. We know our sources and don't hesitate to help. Do you want a list of the top search engines? The most substantive directories? Good places to find deep Web content? No problem!

Still, basic questions remain. How are we going about teaching search tools? Are users taking away information they can really use? Does our instruction hold up over time?

From what I've seen, I have concluded that many of us take a descriptive approach to teaching the Web. We are masters at identifying search tools and describing their salient characteristics. We routinely detail their query options, search syntax, and results-ranking schemes. Our instruction is loaded with facts.

The answer lies in the question
As admirable as this approach is, it is ultimately unproductive. Description isn't much help in an environment in which search tools and their features are madly proliferating on an ever-burgeoning Web. There is simply too much to remember, and too much change. How many of us have expended good time and effort giving an in-depth review of a search tool's features, only to see these features mutate or disappear? This is frustrating to us, and it leaves our users with little that they can use.

I propose that we take an approach that is more apt to provide knowledge that endures. I call this a query-based approach because it is based on the individual query. If we teach search tools for their usefulness with specific types of queries, we are giving users a reason to return to these tools. We are identifying needs and finding solutions. Each tool becomes not just a bundle of characteristics but something that fits into an information-finding context. In short, we are providing users with a strategy.

Here are 10 tips for shaping a query-based approach.

1. Apply what we know about library resources to search tools on the Web. Librarians understand the characteristics of library-based research tools and when it is appropriate to use them. With library resources, it is a matter of routine to match the query to the tool. We need to approach Web-based tools in the same spirit. When teaching how to do research on the Web, we should evaluate its information-finding tools based on the queries they support, and recommend them accordingly.
2. Help users find what they need. Users tend to view Web search tools as an amorphous, undifferentiated whole. By the same token, many users believe that there are tools that can answer all queries. If they try a certain tool and are disappointed, they tend to fault the tool rather than their decision to use that tool. It's our job to explain that different search tools serve different purposes and to help users identify which tools match their needs.
3. Define searching broadly. To teach query-based searching, we need to view searching as a process that begins with the quest for information. It is far more than the act of constructing a search statement--in fact, that step comes last. Users should begin the search process by analyzing their query. Do they want to begin with a broad topic and become familiar with its subtopics? Is their topic targeted to a narrow concept or made up of multiple concepts? Are they looking for a specific Web site? Do they want a targeted set of data? Dynamically changing information? Multimedia?

Based on the answers to these kinds of questions, we can help users explore the tools that might bring them results. Once they have chosen the right tool, we can address the matter of constructing search statements.

4. Teach search tools, not just search engines. The Web offers three major types of information-finding tools: directories, search engines, and the deep Web. Teaching search engines alone is not enough. A query-based approach to Web searching encompasses all types of Web-based tools. We need to familiarize users with the full range of tools and the kinds of queries they can address. Search-engine training is limiting, while search-tool training opens up a world of possibility.
5. Teach users to analyze their queries and identify the tools that support them. The following illustrates how useful a query-based approach can be. Here are three queries, all on the topic of American architecture, each of which requires a different type of Web-based tool.

I'm looking for: sites on American architecture.

Use: A professional directory created and annotated by experts.

I'm looking for: the site of the Society of American Registered Architects.

Use: A peer-ranking, human-mediated engine such as Google or Direct Hit.

I'm looking for: a list of architects in Baltimore.

Use: A database on the deep Web such as a phone book.

These examples demonstrate the advantage of analyzing the query first, then choosing the search tool as a second step. Tips 6, 7, and 8 cover each major type of tool in greater detail.

6. For general queries or for topics that need exploring, recommend directories. Directories, especially those compiled and annotated by experts, are appropriate starting points for broad topics. A few examples are the Argus Clearinghouse, InfoMine, and the Librarians' Index to the Internet. These tools give users an opportunity to see what the experts have to say about the best resources available on their topic. With their hierarchical subject listings, directories are also good for browsing. Listed subtopics can help users become familiar with the scope of their topic for further refinement. In addition, directories often include meta pages that are jumping-off points for topical research. It's important to teach directories as human-mediated tools that tend to offer substantive content.
7. For targeted, ambiguous, and sometimes broad queries, recommend search engines. Traditionally, search engines have worked best for targeted or multi-concept queries. Because we are searching the full text of millions of files, we are able to pick up specific and often obscure information. With the current crop of engines, an even wider range of queries is supported. The following examples illustrate this point. These queries range from the specific to the very broad.

Query type: targeted to a narrow topic.

Query: I'd like to view sites about the Hubble telescope.

Use: Peer-ranking, human-mediated engines.

Examples: Google, Direct Hit.


Why? The Web is a community of content creators and users of this content. People who link to external sites from their Web pages exercise judgment about the relevance and value of these sites. Google's relevancy ranking measures this activity. Direct Hit tracks the sites that users select from their search engine results. The collective judgment of millions of these searchers adds up to a continual and dynamic peer ranking. Both types of rankings work quite well when we are searching a narrowly-defined topic.


Query type: targeted to a specific site or other restriction.

Query: I'd like to view NASA documents about the Hubble telescope.

Use: Engines with a searchable site field.

Examples: AllTheWeb, AltaVista, HotBot, IxQuick Metasearch, Northern Light.


Why? Engines that offer "site" or "URL" as a field restriction allow us to retrieve documents from a specific site. These limits may be put into effect through search syntax or menu choices in a search template. This idea can be extended to other types of field delimiters such as geographic location ("I want to see documents from South Africa about Nelson Mandela"), date last modified, language, file type, etc. A number of search engines work well for these types of targeted queries.


Query type: ambiguous or terminology-seeking.

Query: I'm interested in learning about stocks.

Use: Concept-processing, thesaurus-creating engines.

Examples: Excite, SurfWax.


Why? Ambiguous words are always a challenge in a database search. Thesaurus-creating engines can help us narrow our concept to our intended meaning. These engines offer a choice of meanings based on the initial search, from which users can select for a subsequent search. Thesaurus-creating engines, like their library-based counterparts, can also help users choose appropriate terminology for a search.


Query type: general, in-depth.

Query: I'm doing research on renewable energy.

Use: Concept-clustering tools that parse topics into component subtopics.

Examples: Northern Light, Guidebeam, Query Server, Vivisimo.


Why? Concept-clustering tools process a search and return results that are organized into subtopics and relevant sites. This can be very useful when you want to become familiar with different aspects of a topic, are unfamiliar with a topic, or want to be sure you are examining it in depth. In this respect, these tools and directories serve a similar purpose.

8. For information stored in databases or non-textual files, recommend the deep Web. Fixed Web pages are only one part of the content available on the Web. The much larger part is held in databases or nontextual files. Data, graphics, software, dynamically changing information, and multimedia are examples of deep Web content.

This content may be retrieved in a variety of ways. Many databases on the Web are searchable from their own sites, and these sites can be retrieved from directories and search engines. Also, many search engines offer deep Web searches as featured options. For example, it is not unusual to be offered searches for news, multimedia, stock prices, airline tickets, items in Web stores, and much more. A few sites specialize in gathering a collection of links to searchable databases on the Web, for example the Invisible Web. Others, such as ProFusion, search the content of selected databases from a single interface.

9. Avoid getting bogged down in teaching search-tool features. Features come and features go. Trying to keep track of which ones belong with which tool is very difficult. If this is a challenge for us, what about our users? Even if we could keep track of everything, teaching features in and of themselves has little value. We should avoid an approach that says, "This tool does this, that tool does that." This leaves users with numerous details but no grounds for using the tool once they're on their own. It's much better to say, "Search engines have features and they change." Then, give advice about the features to look for based on the nature of the query. Remember: context is everything.
10. Be realistic--and relax! It's amazing to think that we are still in the early years of information-finding tools on the Web. The volatility of this world is sure to continue. Absolve yourself and your users of the burden of tracking a multiplicity of details. Instead, teach what is useful in the actual process of finding information. Rather than elaborating on features, put your attention on the query. This is a lesson that will stand the test of time. degrees7degrees
Steps for this search and those to come:

• Define the nature of the quest.

• Choose the most useful tool.

• Construct the proper search statement.

SEARCH TOOLS AND THEIR URLS

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

AllTheWeb: alltheweb.com

AltaVista: http://www.altavista.com/

Argus Clearinghouse: http://www.clearinghouse.net/

Direct Hit: http://www.directhit.com/

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

Guidebeam: guidebeam.com

HotBot: hotbot.lycos.com

InfoMine: http://www.infomine.com/

Invisible Web: http://www.invisibleweb.com/

IxQuick Metasearch: http://www.ixquick.com/

Librarians' Index to the Internet: lii.org

Northern Light: http://www.northernlight.com/

ProFusion: http://www.profusion.com/

Query Server: http://www.queryserver.com/

SurfWax: http://www.surfwax.com/

Vivisimo: vivisimo.com

By: Cohen, Laura B., American Libraries

A Train of Your Own

When business titans and blond heiresses with pet chihuahuas need to get from A to B, there is no more sumptuous and speedy a medium than the private jet. But it’s not so long ago that even those with ample means had no choice but to take a luxe mode of transport far slower than the speed of flight. When the likes of Cornelius Vanderbilt (in the mid-1800s) and Rudolph Valentino (six or seven decades later) made their way across the landscape, it was often in the carriage of a private train.

Today, you can follow in their tracks, as it were–and discover along the way the joys not only of being pampered silly, but of being pampered silly at a nice, slow chug. “I’m a Type A personality; I can’t sit still for more than five minutes,” says Warren Barhorst, president of Barhorst Insurance Group, in Houston. So last year, when his wife, Lisa, suggested the couple hire a private two-car train for an eight-day round trip between Los Angeles and Seattle to celebrate his 40th birthday, Barhorst was sweet but firm. “I said, ‘Honey, I can’t go on a train for that long.’ I said, ‘Honey, I’ll go crazy.’”

Before their trip was up, in fact, Barhorst was crazy for the pleasures of life on the rails–so much so that on the way back to L.A., he phoned Patrick Henry, who runs Creative Charters Inc., to ask if they could continue on his train to hometown Houston. (Sadly, Henry’s cars were already booked.) “It’s just very, very relaxing,” says Barhorst, whose getaway included a winery tour, on-board gourmet meals, visits with friends and family who bedded down each night in the six-bedroom sleeper car, and a lot of scenery-filled leisure. “There aren’t many vacations where you end up truly rested these days,” Barhorst adds. “I’m telling you, this is one of them.”

In an age where everybody just wants to get there, riding a private train is all about getting there. And getting spoiled rotten en route. Along with your own executive chef, many of the 100 or so private railcars that criss-cross North America come stocked with one or two stewards, full room service, private call buttons located in domed observation lounges, complimentary bars, and open-air platforms for watching the world roll by. The cost: generally between about US$5,000 and US$7,000 a day, depending on the train-although that does cover the needs and appetites of up to a dozen or so guests.

All the trains are owned by members of the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners, and are inspected and certified annually by Amtrak. To operate, they are usually attached to the tail end of Amtrak trains and–decreasingly, thanks to new restrictions introduced in the past couple of years–to those of Via Rail. Nearly everywhere Amtrak goes, and within Via’s Windsor-Montreal corridor, you can fashion a trip of your own, and trundle on into the horizon.

Such is the world of “private varnish,” a term that derives from two characteristics shared by pretty much all privately owned railcars: a fastidiously buffed external cladding, and a hand-rubbed interior heavy on stainless steel, brass and exotic woods. On Henry’s two cars, on which I stayed overnight during a recent visit to Chicago (they were berthed, between trips, at the city’s Union Station) that interior also included a 12-seat dining room, its built-in glass cabinets gleaming with silver and crystal; a clubby bar sporting wraparound sofas and a big-screen TV; an upper-level observation dome that seats 16 in banquettes and swivel tub chairs; and, of course, that sleeper car.

Also on board was Dave Kugler, the executive chef of another pair of cars, the Northern Sky and Northern Dreams, hooked up to Henry’s for their stay in Chicago. Built for the Union Pacific Railway in the 1950s, both were purchased and refurbished by Wisconsin businessman and lifetime train buff David Hoffman, in the 1990s.

Sitting in the Northern Sky’s deco-inspired living room one evening, Kugler described his method of tailoring his talents to the tastes of Hoffman’s clients. “I send menus,” he said, “of 20 soups, 20 salads, and 20 entrees each of beef, pork, lamb, chicken and seafood.” Hosts can then e-mail back what they’d like served, at which point Kugler begins mapping out where he’ll buy provisions, from Grade A beef, say, at his favourite Milwaukee butcher, to fresh seafood from Seattle’s Pike Place Market. He also preplans breakfasts (grilled grapefruit with brown sugar and rum is among his personal faves), appetizers and lunches, all with an eye to clients’ tastes and local, seasonal strengths.

Amid all that eating, of course, a prime lure of life on the rails is watching the countryside go by, often along otherwise inaccessible routes. For the novice trainer, Henry recommends Chicago to San Francisco, a trip that takes you through the Rockies, past Lake Tahoe and along San Francisco Bay, all in three days. He also has a soft spot for Vancouver to Seattle to Chicago, a three-day journey that traverses Montana’s Glacier National Park. More hard-headed travellers can do New York to Chicago in a day.

Spectacular scenery can be the perfect backdrop not just for a personal holiday, but for corporate affairs, too: about 60% of Henry’s clients book his cars for business-related functions. Coors Brewing Company, for one, chartered a trip to this year’s Super Bowl, in Detroit. Last year, one Denver-based company held its annual board-of-directors’ meeting in Henry’s dining room and dome car, taking to the sleeper as each night rolled around, and arriving in San Francisco after two days on the rails.

If you are considering shining up your corporate image (or brightening up an otherwise dull confab) with such private varnish, bear in mind that no matter how fastidiously blocked out the details, the rails can deliver the unexpected, too. On their trip along the American West Coast last year, the Barhorsts report they were able to see the moon in the bright light of day–several moons, in fact, as a highschool soccer team in Northern California greeted the train with their own rear platforms bared for all on board to see. “We really laughed,” says the newly converted train buff. “I have to say, they formed a very straight line.”

By: Dwyer, Victor, Canadian Business, 7/17/2006