Daily Guide for Friday, July 9, 1999; Day 09
Digital Library Homeroom,
Web Institute for Teachers 1999
Daily Schedule
Homeroom Session
Regenstein Library Computer Training Room 153
9-noon
Lunch
Ida Noyes
12:15-1:30
Contents & Topics
Advanced Web Searching
Using the WWW for Curriculum
Designing Your Shelf
Start Your Teams and Team
Work
Advanced Web Searching
You know how to use a search engine to search. But how do you use a search
engine to really search? What good does it do you to know there
are 1,458,523 sites that may hold some information you want? You
need to learn some advanced search techniques.
How do Search Engines Work?
Search Engines compare your criteria against its database
When it finds matches, it takes those results and creates a web page
on the fly for your individual search
It then sends that web page to your browser
Notes about Results pages
Results pages may change, even moment to moment based on when you run your
search. Don't bother to bookmark them. (Although you can save them for
later reference.)
The results are only as good as a combination of
-
Your search
-
The quality of the search engine software
-
The quality of the database
Narrowing Search Results
Here are some tricks to narrow the number of results.
You can add more terms to your search; this may be enough to get you
efficiently to the results you want. But the default relationship beetween
different search terms for most search engines is the Boolean OR. This
results in searches that find web pages that have any one of your terms
in them
Your Search Friends #1: +
Typing + before each term means Boolean AND. This finds only those web
pages that have all of the terms that have + in front of them.
As you can see from this sampel above, we got 281,375 hits from AltaVista
on the search criteria.
By adding + before each term we got many fewer results:
How Computers Search
This is a wider concept than just web search engines. It has to do with
how computers search informatoin. Computers search based on text strings.
To a computer all files are one long string of characters. A text string
simply ploughs through this list looking for a match.
Your Search Friends #2: ""
If you know a specific thing youíre searching for and itís
a phrase, enclose the phrase in quotes.
Search Engines use spaces in search criteria to know when it's another
criteria. Including a space within quotes tells the search engine that
it should look for a text string exactly like what is inside the quotes,
including spaces. This narrows your search.
If you add quotes you get a very different result:
How to Save WWW Pages
Get to a WWW page you want to save
Pull down File and go to Save AsÖ
Specify a name and place where you
want the file to live
Specify a file type
TEXT
Just the typing. You get only the text for links, not the link or URL
SOURCE or HTML
If you open this kind of file in a web browser youíll still
have all the web formatting and click-able links
How to Save WWW Images
Put the pointer over a graphics
Press and hold the mouse button
When you get a pop-down menu, go to
Save This Image AsÖ
Specify a name and place where you want the file to live
Accept whatever file type it offers you
Usually .gif or .jpeg
You may open these files from inside your browser
Double click or do File Open
from within the browser
Welcome to the Oxford Teaching Method
Pick any three search subjects from any topics
Search out those items
Science
How many nuclear power plants are there in Illinois? In the US? In the
World?
How many robots does General Motors have in the US?
How much steel was used in making the Golden Gate Bridge?
Whatís the budget of the National Science Foundation? For each
of the past five years?
What is a CRT? Who invented the CRT? Where are CRTs used?
Whatís in the tunnel at Argonne? When was it built and at what
expense?
History
Find the full text of Eisenhowerís Farewell speech. The one with
ëbeware the military industrial complexí
There were some Spartan soldiers who died famously during the Peloponesian
war who sent a famous message back to their home land. What was that message?
Find the full text of the Magna Carta
Find a copy of the image of the naked little girl with napalm on her
(from the Vietnam war)
Find a table of all the dates the states of the United States joined
the Union
Find a map showing the locations of the Great Wall of China. What kind
of material is it built of? How much of it is in good (i.e.: tourist) shape
now?
Who was Tojo? What was his relationship with Hirohito?
Who was Arjuna of India? What is his significance?
What was Gandhi's profession? Where did he first work?
Medicine
What, exactly is pasteurized and where is it used?
What are the cautions (possible bad side effects) for Rogain(sp)?
Find me a picture of an Iron Lung
What is the maximum annual whole body radiation allowed for nuclear
power plant workers?
Whatís the medical school in the US with the cheapest tuition?
How many traumatic amputations occurred in the US in 1996?
Education
Where is John Dewey buried?
How many students does the Detroit public school system have? In each
grade this past year?
What role did Ross Perot have in Texas education?
Find the date as precisely as you can that the classics (e.g.: Homerís
Illiad) was no longer required reading in Americaís public schools
Find me a picture, from the Internet, of your school
Internet
What is a CyerCafe? How many are there now in Chicago?
Who invented TCP/IP? What is he / she / they doing now?
Iíve heard of a woman who has digital cameras showing her home
life, 24 hrs / day. Who is this and what is the URL to her web site?
Confirm that Hustler has be busiest web site in the world
How many books did Amazon.com sell during 1997? What profit did they
make?
What mutual funds invest in Internet stocks? How much money have they
made / lost in the past five years?
Find me the text of the latest speech by Al Gore on the Internet
Sports
Where was Jackie Robinson born? Where did he die?
How many away and home games have the Detroit Lions lost and won in
each of the last three years?
Which NBA franchise made the most money in 1996-97?
What was the most recent price paid for an NHL team franchise? When
and which team?
What two persons are in the Baseball Hall of Fame who, as far as we
know, never played or managed a professional baseball game in their lives?
How many and which events made up the classical Greek Olympics? How
many events made up the most recent summer Olympics?
Music
Whom did J S Bach play organ for during which parts of his life?
What was the best selling rock and roll album for 1995? The best selling
classical album (i.e.: CD) for the same year?
What were the top 10 popular songs on 7/1/98? 7/1/68? 7/1/48?
What is a viola de gamba? How does it relate to the other string instruments
in an orchestra?
Where could I hear a Gamelan? How many players are in an average Gamelan?
How did the Chinese Government use the tradition of the Chinese opera
over the last 40 years?
What famous move used zither(sp?) music?
Chicago
Which building is taller: Chicagoís Sears Tower or the building
in Malaysia? Why?
Find a map and the address of a place where I could donate blood in
Chicago
Find an illustration to explain why Chicagoís "Water Tower"
is a tower having to do with water
Find me a pie chart showing where the Chicago City budget goes, with
percentages
How many people were killed in the Fort Dearborn massacre
What do the four stars on the Chicago flag represent?
Find a chart of the percentage and number of Chicago residents of Polish
descent over the past 50 years
Using the WWW for Curriculum
Please go to the WIT
Homeroom Curriculum for Craig Cunningham's discussion of this subject.
The followin sections are especially important:
#5. What is a "complete curriculum?"
#6 The Curriculum development process
#7 CPS/IL Standards
#10 Creating lesson plans using Netscape Composer
Designing Your Shelf
A presentation by Ahmed Qurashi, eCUIP Digital Library Project
Start Your Teams and Team
Work