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Speaker: Presented by Marcy Phelps. Marcy is the founder of Phelps Research (www.phelpsresearch.com). She is a former librarian who no longer bookmarks Web pages because she finds it's faster to search instead.
Phelps focused on five aspects of refined Web searching, all supporting her goal to help attendees find better information in less time. If surfing for information about Microdermabrasion rubs you the wrong way, it helps to know the secrets of navigating the "Invisible Web" (a.k.a. Hidden Web or Deep Web).
Use multiple engines and compare results. The indexes of competing search engines do not overlap very much. In fact, a search for "Microdermabrasion" yielded about 650,000 results with Google, 358,000 with Yahoo!, and 235,100 through Teoma.com. The same search found 220 through Vivisimo.com and three "clusters" for Mooter.com. If you really want to compare search engines, try SearchEngineWatch.com. When you see the names Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman associated with search research, you're on the right track (they're reputable folks who edit and produce SearchEngineWatch.com).
Vivisimo.com and Mooter.com "cluster" results so you can dig through categories before diving into pages. On the right side of a Teoma.com results page, you can use one section to refine your search, and another section includes collected links as defined by "experts and enthusiasts."
You can narrow your Google search to academic sites by clicking Advanced Search, choosing "Only" from the Domain drop-down list in the Find results area, and entering ".edu" in the field.
No apparent differences across standard browsers, although each has its own behavior. Safari, Internet Explorer, Netscape, Firefox (Marcy's default).
Directory administrators evaluate sites before including them in their online directories, which helps weed out unreliable sources. Directory sites also present the information differently. For example, dmoz.org (an "open directory project") arranges links by subject heading.
Unfortunately, a directory of directories doesn't exist.
Use associations to find experts and gather industry stats. The domain suffix for most associations is ".org."
Question: How to avoid eighth-grade homework postings?
Stay away from sites with a tilde in the address, although you might miss out
on free publications from professors. Also, see "Evaluating Web Sites"
below.
Online databases collect a variety of information, including news articles, trade journals, press releases, and company directories.
Subscriptions can be expensive (e.g., $6,000 annually for LexisNexis). But you can use local library resources to access certain databases. For example, if you go to the Denver Public Library Web site (http://www.denver.lib.co.us/), choose "research resources" on the left side to access Databases A-Z.
Or, Jefferson County residents with library cards can use EBSCOhost.com, a database available via the JeffCo library. With EBSCOhost.com, you can search hundreds of newspapers at the same time. The libraries in public universities also have database access.
Database access fees vary (price and payment options). In addition to annual subscriptions, researchers can buy day passes or pay by the document.
Question: What happened to CARL?
This inter-library database no longer exists, but sites such as http://prospector.coalliance.org/
consolidate links for Colorado libraries.
The United States government is still the biggest publisher, although it has scaled back output since 911. Marcy said the volume has been reduced, but the information is better organized today.
Firstgov.gov is a gateway to government information.
Google.com/unclesam: Again, the results only reflect the pages Google chooses to index. So, it's good to use multiple sources, and if you use Google, limit the domain to .gov pages.
Accuracy: If a site cites sources, cross-reference. If the site doesn't cite, contact the administrators and ask where they got their information. If you don't have a mechanism to ask, be careful. Also, see if the site lists editors.
Authority: Is the site produced by a reputable publisher? Do reputable organizations link to the site? To find out, use the Google Advanced Search and enter the site name in the Links field within the Page-Specific Search area. You can also try Linkpopularity.com.
Objectivity: Does the site publisher have a bias? Do they promote microdermabrasion techniques or condemn them? Again, cross-reference with other sites.
Date: Check for "last updated" information. Although sites don't explicitly indicate update dates as much these days, you can look for other clues like press releases and copyright markings to get a sense of the site.
Coverage: Is the topic covered adequately? If so, does it target an audience with an appropriate reading level and scope of detail?
Concluding Question and Answer Session
How to navigate fee-based and free information?
The trend seems to be toward fee-based information sharing. To consolidate the
financial investment evaluation, maintain a Word document with links that require
fees, and evaluate them together.
How to verify credibility?
One way is to look at term usage. Some phrasing can reveal that a site hasn't
kept up with changes. If you want to validate terminology, try Wordstracker.com.
Also, Google ranks by popularity, so this may give a false impression of credibility
for search results sorting. Kartoo.com, however, does not sort results according
to popularity ranking. Like the clustering of Mooter.com and Vivisimo.com, Kartoo.com
creates a visual map of the search results.
Parting Quotes and Thoughts
When in doubt, ask a librarian.
Don't discount books.
Download: Beyond
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