Quality in cyberworld Maureen Henninger [email protected]

Quality in cyberworld

Maureen [email protected]

SLAV, September 2004 ©Maureen Henninger

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Quality of informationQuality of information

Peter Steiner (1993). The New Yorker, 69 (20) p. 61


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Is it out there somewhere?Is it out there somewhere?

Don’t assume that it exists in digital form

Don’t assume that it exists on the Web

Don’t assume that it is free

Don’t assume that it is true or has quality

Do use trusted, value-added

resources/services


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Cyber somewhereCyber somewhere

The Web Approximately 4-5 billion documents Collected into directories Indexed by search engines

The invisible Web Approximately 550 billion documents Stored in databases NOT indexed by Web search engines


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Trusted, value-added resourcesTrusted, value-added resources

Evaluated resources Similar to an academic library Selection criteria for inclusion e.g. BUBL, Infomine

Resources with added metadata for detailed searching, e.g. author, ERIC subjects

Subject gateway Specialised collection Selected by subject experts Evaluated & annotated resources Similar to an art library e.g. Artifact

http://www.bubl.ac.uk/link

http://infomine.ucr.edu/

http://www.artifact.ac.uk/


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What are you looking for?What are you looking for?

Searching for specific information or documents

Looking for general information ‘Just browsing’ ‘I need a fact’ Monitoring


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A library mental modelA library mental model

Searching for a specific document

Just browsing Looking for general

information Need a fact Searching for specific

information Monitoring trends

Catalogue, author or title

Classified sections Encyclopaedias

Reference book Catalogue or indexes —

subject or keyword Latest journals — new book

shelf, alerting services


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What are the discovery tools?What are the discovery tools?

Two general categoriesSearch engines

General Specialised (by subject)

Directories General (catalogues of resources) Specialised (subject gateways) Directories of directories, databases


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Directories vs search enginesDirectories vs search engines

Catalogue of resources created by humans

Most popular are commercial, eg. Galaxy, Open Directory

Use for broad subject treatment

Often indiscriminate in quality

Database of keywords created by computer robots

Huge databases — Google points to 4+ billion documents

Use for unique documents, highly specific information

No quality control


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Searching for a specific documentSearching for a specific document

‘Publisher’ site e.g. Department of Education, Science and Training

Search engine e.g. Google Database eg. ERIC [Eductational

Recources], National Geographic Publications

http://www.dest.gov.au/

http://www.dest.gov.au/

http://www.google.com/

http://www.eric.ed.gov/

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/publications/


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ExamplesExamples

A homepage Use Google to find Artifact, which is part of the

Resource Discovery Network in the U.K. – use I'm Feeling Lucky!

The Australian report “Rural Teacher Education"

Use Yahoo "rural teacher education" AND inurl:au Limit the search to pdf format

http://www.google.com.au/


http://www.yahoo.com/


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Browsing, general information Browsing, general information

Specific resources e.g. Oxfam’s Cool Planet for Teachers

Directories General e.g. Galaxy, Open Directory Evaluated e.g. BUBL Link, KidsClick,

Infomine Subject gateways e.g. GEM, Artifact,

ERIN

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/

http://www.galaxy.com/

http://www.dmoz.com/

http://bubl.ac.uk/link/

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!/

http://infomine.ucr.edu/

http://www.thegateway.org/


http://www.deh.gov.au/


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ExamplesExamples

1. General directoryUse Open Directory to find information on

dinosaurs

2. Directory of evaluated resourcesUse BUBL to find Web resources on

dinosaurs

http://www.dmoz.com/

http://www.bubl.ac.uk/link


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Examples of subject gatewaysExamples of subject gateways

Aboriginal Studies WWW Virtual Library

AGRIGATE (Australian) Artifact ERIN Gateway Antarctica

http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVL-Aboriginal.html



http://www.agrigate.edu.au/



http://www.deh.gov.au/

http://www.anta.canterbury.ac.nz/


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Specialised education gatewaysSpecialised education gateways

AwesomeLibrary EDNA Educator’s Reference Desk European Schoolnet GEM MarcoPolo SOSIG: Education

http://www.awesomelibrary.org/

http://www.eduref.org/

http://www.eun.org/eun.org2/eun/en/index_eun.html

http://www.eun.org/eun.org2/eun/en/index_eun.html

http://www.thegateway.org/

http://www.marcopolo-education.org/

http://www.sosig.ac.uk/


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Selected directories of gatewaysSelected directories of gateways Australian Subject Gateways BUBL Link BIOME PINAKES WWW Virtual Library

http://www.nla.gov.au/pathways/subject.html

http://www.bubl.ac.uk/

http://www.hw.ac.uk/libWWW/irn/pinakes/pinakes.html

http://www.vlib.org/


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ExamplesExamples

1. Use MarcoPolo to find algebra lesson plans for 6-8 grades students

2. Use the WWW Virtual Library to find an information literacy subject gateway



http://www.vlib.org/


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Monitoring - keeping upMonitoring - keeping up

News search engines eg. RocketInfo Journal scans eg. Ingenta Subject gateways

often have the “latest news” Education monitoring services

Australia.edu

http://www.rocketinfo.com/

http://www.ingenta.com/

http://australia.edu/


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ExamplesExamples

1. Use RocketInfo to find the past week’s cricket scores in Zimbabwe

2. Use Australia.edu to see what happened today in history

http://www.rocketnews.com/news/index.jsp

http://australia.edu/


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Search strategiesSearch strategies

Know who has the information

Need general information

Need specific information

Best results

Go to the site

Use subject directories

Use search engines

Use advanced searching techniques

Use subject gateways


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Search enginesSearch engines Only two major general ones

Google and Yahoo End of 2003 AltaVista and AlltheWeb

purchased by Yahoo Killed off April 2004

Minor ones, e.g. HotBot and Teoma

Specialised ones, eg. RocketInfo, GoogleNews (news), AskJeeeves

for Kids,SportQuest, Topica (discussion groups)


http://www.yahoo.com/

http://www.hotbot.com/

http://www.teoma.com/


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Best results with search enginesBest results with search engines

‘Conceptualise’ your search Use advanced searching techniques

Boolean operators Proximity operators Field searching, e.g. in the title

Why use advanced searching techniques To get more precise/relevant results Techniques are used in database searching,

e.g. ERIC


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Search exampleSearch example

I need information on Australian or New Zealand government policy for social justice in education

Searching with each set of concepts would return different documents

1st set of concepts 2nd set of concepts 3rd set of concepts

education policy education education

social justice social justice social justice

government government policy government

Australia Australian policy Australia

New Zealand New Zealand policy New Zealand


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Boolean & proximity operatorsBoolean & proximity operatorsBoolean OR

broadens the search (any one term must be present)

use for synonyms Boolean AND

narrows the search (all terms must be present) Boolean NOT

term must not be present (can be problematical) Proximity

specifies contextual relationship, eg. phrase system specific


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Searching with YahooSearching with Yahoosocial justice education 6,380,000

social AND justice AND education 6,380,000

"social justice" AND education 1,230,000

("social justice" OR "social capital") AND education 1,400,000

“social justice” AND “social capital” AND education 16,700

intitle:"social justice" AND intitle:education 462

(intitle:"social justice" OR intitle:"social capital") AND intitle:education

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(intitle:"social justice" OR intitle:"social capital") AND intitle:education AND (Australia OR “New Zealand”)

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Death of AltaVistaDeath of AltaVista Died April 2004 Most sophisticated search syntax

Similar to that used in databases, eg ERIC Used proximity operators and truncation

“ ” = a phraseNEAR = a bi-directional adjacency

e.g. blind venetian, venetian blind

within n = within n words of each othercomput* = computer, computers,

computerisation, computing


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Advanced searching techniquesAdvanced searching techniques

Search request Results

library OR libraries 7,580,000

library AND design 4,290,000

“library design” 111,000

library NEAR design 784,860

(library OR libraries) AND design 5,100,000

(library OR libraries) NEAR design 1,850,000

title:library AND title:design 8,490

title:“library design” 1,620

“library design” NEAR school 9,225

“library design” NEAR (school* OR educat*) 12,650

(library NEAR design) AND (school* OR educat*) 14,000

(library NEAR design) NEAR (school* OR educat*) 236

Six trends in library design

Previews and overviews in digital libraries: designing surrogates to support visual information seeking

School libraries: a design recipe for the future

Inaccessible Web design from the perspective of a blind librarian


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('library design') :Title 12

(librar* adj design*) :Title 23

(librar* NEAR design*) :Title 52

(librar* NEAR design*) :Title NOT (librar* adj design*) :Title 29

(librar* w/5 design*) :Title 78

•Six trends in library design

•An analysis of seven academic libraries designed by Perry Dean Rogers

•Maintaining and designing library buildings to provide transcendent spaces

•Information systems design: the librarian's role

•Designing and maintaining your library's Web site

AskEricAskEric


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Current search syntaxCurrent search syntax

Search engine

Simple search

Advanced search

Boolean Nesting Proximity Truncation Field search

Google

Yes

Yes

OR AND is automatic use – (minus) for NOT

No

" "

No ~ for plurals

intitle: inurl: link: site: filetype:

Yahoo

Yes

Yes

OR AND NOT

Yes ( )

" "

No

intitle: inurl: domain: linkdomain: filetype:


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YahooYahoo

Since August, Yahoo’s algorithm seems to have changed Full Boolean operators do not always work the way

you expect AND is the default filetype: does not work

You must select the format from the Advanced search Possibly it is better to use the advanced

search, but some difficulties with phrase searching


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Example - YahooExample - YahooInformation on bullying in Australian schools pain


(bully OR bullying OR bullies) AND (school OR schools) 2,180,000

(bully OR bullying OR bullies) AND (school OR schools) AND Australia 293,000

(intitle:bully OR intitle:bullying OR intitle:bullies) AND (intitle:school OR intitle:schools) AND intitle:australia

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intitle:school OR intitle:schools intitle:bully OR intitle:bullying OR intitle:bullies AND Australia

237


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Example - GoogleExample - GoogleInformation on bullying in Australian schools pain


bully OR bullying OR bullies school OR schools 598,000

bully OR bullying OR bullies school OR schools Australia 104,000

~bully ~school ~Australia 137,000

allintitle:~bully ~school ~Australia 12

intitle:~bully intitle:~school intitle:~Australia Many of these are not correct

49,7000


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Specialised search enginesSpecialised search engines

AskEric (education) AskJeeves for Kids Bartleby (reference books) Biographical Dictionary OneKey (“Google for kids”) PeachPod


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ExampleExample

Use OneKey to find Web information on Australian rainforest frogs

allintitle:~frog ~australia rainforest


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Databases via the WebDatabases via the Web Information stored in databases

Tend to be scholarly information Bibliographic data, eg.

abstracts of journal articles conference proceedings full text of journal articles technical reports library catalogue records

Statistics, eg. census & demographic data Reference data, eg. chemical properties


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Examples of educational databasesExamples of educational databases

AskERIC CHID (Combined Health Information

Database) Education-line (electronic texts in education

& training) Home Economics Database World Data on Education (UNESCO)


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ProblemProblem

Suppose you want authoritative information about Australian natural resources Search for “natural resources

database” Australia on Google

Results — list of 2,080

Which is the ‘best’ one?

If you knew of ANRO

Use Google’s I’m feeling lucky


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Discovery & accessDiscovery & access

A two step process

1. Finding a database which may have the required information

2. Formulating, issuing and refining a search query in the database


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Directories of searchable databasesDirectories of searchable databases Academic Info

BUBL Collection of Special Search Engines Direct Search Infomine Internet Public Library Invisible Web (Intelliseek) DADI (Les bases de données gratuites sur

Internet) Librarians' Index to the Internet


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ExampleExample

Authoritative information on amphibians Use AcademicInfo to find an appropriate

database(amphibia OR frog) AND database

ORuse the index Sciences > Environmental Studies > Biodiversity > Databases


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Field searchingField searching

General search engines title, url, file format

Specialised search engines date, document type

Databases many fields, depending on the record

structure Eric, CHID


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ERIC interfacesERIC interfaces AskERIC

baldry*:author author bully*:title title bully*:maj,min all ERIC subject heading 200*:publication_date publication date

Ovid baldry$.au. (truncation allowed) bullying.sh. subject heading journal$.pt document type 2002.yr. publication year


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Cyberworld qualityCyberworld quality

Use subject gateways and evaluated directories

Use search engines with caution Use Boolean operators and field

searching Use specialised search engines Use databases

Find them in database directories Use advanced searching techniques

Documents

Quality in cyberworld Maureen Henninger [email protected]