World Wide Web

The Basics	Teaching Ideas
World Wide What?	Using Web-pages offline
Save Time Searching!
Effective Search Techniques

The Basics

World Wide What?

The World Wide Web has many names; WWW, the Web, W3 and so on. You're currently using the World Wide Web (WWW), and so probably don't need to be told much about it! Basically the WWW is a massive collection of interactive documents which are all linked together. To view these pages you need a piece of software called a 'Web-browser', and you're probably running Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator (PC users) or ArcWeb (archie users).

Web browsers themselves are actually free - the companies that market them are keen for you to try them due to the marketing possibilities that arise. You'll be bombarded with literature and CD-ROM's to 'try this browser'. As consumers, we benefit. I find that the best strategy (if you have the hard-drive space) is to have a couple interlude. This is because different browsers offer different levels of sophistication regarding what's displayed onscreen. Depending on which browser the author of a Web-page used to preview his or her page can have dramatic effects on the layout of that document.

As a teacher, you'll spend most of your time on the WWW and your students will too. This is because it contains an incredibly diverse range of information and this information is available in a relatively accessible fashion. What could be more simple than clicking your mouse pointer on a link, and being transported to the document associated with that link? But what use is this if you can't sift out the information you require? The sheer number of pages on the WWW means that unless you hone your search skills, you're likely to waste a great deal of time looking for the content you require. And teachers don't get a whole lot of free time, right?!

Save time searching!

Searching begins with a search engine, and a little background information can save you a lot of time! A search engine is a Web-page which enables you to ask a database to search for sites which contain certain keywords or phrases. Basically, there are two main types of search engine - search indexes and search directories.

Indexes

The first type is a search index that visits every Web-page on the Internet and catalogues each page's contents in a massive database. It is that database that you search. Examples of search indexes include Altavista, Infoseek and Excite.

Directories

Though they look the same as indexes, directories are different. They contain links to pages which have submitted to the site. For example, it you've just written your home page, and want as many hits (visits) as possible, you want you site to be accessible. So you submit a description of your site, together with it's address (URL) to a search directory. Directories tend to organise their links into categories. One of the most logically arranged search directories is Yahoo. Oh, and there's a UK version too, to save you download time when the USA is awake!

Get the picture? Indexes actively search out Web-pages, directories are passive recipients of submitted Web-page addresses that are arranged in categories and sub-categories. Great!

Effective search techniques

The keyword here is 'keywords'! When you search an engine, you submit keywords which you hope will lead you to that ever-elusive gem-of-a-site. Here are some tips to help save your valuable time!

	Be specific A vague search give millions of pages. Suppose you've got 20 minute free at lunchtime and you're looking for bang up-to-date information on 'national parks in the USA'. You fire up a computer and send off a search engine with the keywords 'parks'. Back comes a list of three or four million sites which match your search criteria. Nineteen minutes left. Better hope it's a fast computer or you're dead. Try again with 'national parks USA'
	Don't use frequently used words You know the ones I mean - 'this', 'that', 'net', 'internet', 'program' or (Heaven forbid) 'the'!
	Learn to modify your search For example, re-run your searches using different keywords. Use 'national parks USA', if that doesn't work, use 'national parks America'. Keep plugging, that page is there somewhere!
	Use quoted phrases Search terms in quotes " " will return sites with exact matches for that quote. For example "national parks in the USA" will return only sites with that exact phrase in the title.
	Use uppercase letters when appropriate Thought search indexes and directories weren't case-sensitive? Wrong!
	Get to know your search tool Search engines have special feature specific to them. Get to know them by clicking on the relevant link.
	Use Boolean Queries See below.

Boolean Queries (AND, NOT and OR)

Many search tools (but not all) support the use of Boolean Queries in your searches. They let you be much more specific than by using just keywords. You can specify sites not wanted by using the NOT command, etc. Some examples would be useful I think.

Japan AND energy	Will return all sites that contain both keywords.
Japan AND energy OR fuel	Returns sites containing 'Japan' and 'energy', or 'Japan' and 'fuel'.
Japan AND energy NOT nuclear	As the first, but omits all sites with 'nuclear' in the title.

Get the picture? Searching can be much simpler if you employ some of these strategies. And if you still can't find that site, check out the links in other Teaching Web-pages - someone else may have stumbled across that 'gem' you're looking for and decided to share it with you!

Teaching ideas

So, you're great at searching the WWW to find useful information, what now? How do you use these resources to teach Geography? Below are some ideas.

Using Web-pages offline

You don't have to be connected to the Internet to view the content of Web-page. Many modern word-processors (Microsoft Word 7 for example) enable you to see these pages once you've viewed them in your browser and saved them to an area where the student's can access them. Even the hyperlinks will still work. Disable the links that lead to pages that haven't been downloaded.

Or preferably, you could put a series of pages onto your school Intranet, so that they look and feel more like web-pages. Students could gain useful skills without being exposed to potentially inappropriate material on the WWW.

Ideas for specific pages will be added soon

This page was last updated on Friday April 10, 1998 11:37

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