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the TopThe world wide web has endless amounts of information, and it would be impossible to access specific information without a database that organizes this information. A web search engine is a searchable database that looks for things throught the world wide web, e-mail, usenet, gopher, etc. To use an analogy, a web search engine is like the database of a library catalog. All you need is a couple of key words in order to conduct a search. A search engine will compile all the pages posted on the internet that either contains those key words or has topics related to it.
There is a whole variety of web search engines that organize their information in different ways. Some access key information by key words and related topics, while others organize information by categories that are already given. There are different web search categories available to make your search simpler. These categories are:
Back to
the TopMy first experience using a search engine was a result of my curiosity, I wasn't interested in searching for anything specific. I was fooling around on the internet and clicked on a link called "net search." I was then given a whole array of categories such as business, sports, arts, etc. There was also some words like excite, yahoo, webcrawler, etc. I clicked on yahoo because it looked like an interesting word. The screen I came up with looked like the previous screen with a variety of categories that could be clicked on. I am a sports junkie so I then hit the link called sports. The first link that caught my eye was ESPNET Sportszone Headlines, I proceeded to click on it and then clicked on scoreboard. I was given options to the type of sports I wanted for updates on scores. I chose basketball and had an updated score on a Laker game that was ongoing. What amazed me was that a few minutes later I clicked on it again and the score was updated. I was getting live score coverage on the internet!!
I found this first experience to be exhilarating and enlightening. I was excited to be able to access sports scores live on the internet. The web search engines are very user friendly, because I was a computer illiterate when I first did this search. In fact, I was a technophobic, who didn't even know how to use a word processor! The search engine was so organized that all I had to do was click on the words that interested me and it would lead me from one screen to another until I got what I desired. Later, I also learned to type the word espnet in the search window and I would get that page directly without having to go through multiple screens.
Back to
the TopWhen you are using search engines you must develop some patience. If you are impatient the experience will not be enjoyable because negative emotions will ruin it. The engines will take a long time to access information at times. However if you put into perspective the amount of information it has to search through and the amount of time it takes (not more than a minute), it is amazing! So be appreciative that a web search engine can do this for you. Another tip is to type key words directly into the search window if you want get your topic more quickly. If you just want to browse and find related topics, I would recommend clicking on the categorical links and see where it takes you. Have fun!!
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the TopStudents of previous generations have also had good experiences with search engines like myself. Dalybeth Kadala (G3a) tells of her favorable experience in searching for her topic, "Because Miracles are so closely related to Religion I decided that my best bet was to click on this.When the screen came, I immediately typed in the search box ,"Miracles". I thought this was the most precise and straight to the point word for my search. It was exactly what I was looking for. I also saw that I could choose either to do the search in all of Yahoo or specialize on Society and Culture and because that is specifically the area of Miracles I am Interested in, I clicked on the little bubble next to Society and Culture. So far everything seemed very simple and straight forward that I did not feel at all the need to check instructions. My confidence in my abilities to understand and do this search were very high."
Curtis Nakao (G2) recounts his experience using web search engines, "As far as the assignment goes it was pretty simple. Just a little more time consuming than usual. There were no real problems or negative emotions to speak of. The knowledge that can be gained is invaluable . . . I think that I might be getting pretty good at all of this and my satisfaction with the computer and Internet is fairly stable." Curtis' experience was very favorable and it seemed to have boosted his confidence in using the internet as a whole.
Beverly Diaz (G1) describes her experience, " Well, I had lots of fun with this assignment. I'm not through surfing the Net...Who is? There so many things to see and places to go. Isn't this fun?" Seems like Beverly really loves web search engines and probably found it to be easy because there is no frustration or negative emotions in this statement. I think that the majority of the students in previous generations and in the present generation feel that web search engines are very easy to use. There is also a sense of enjoyment to be searching for topics on the search engines that interest each student.
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the TopTo find out how web search engines work and which engines are recommended for specific searches go to searching the internet. There are many articles to link to from this page that give advice on which web search engines are the best to use for your purposes. I clicked on Understanding WWW Search Tools by Jian Liu and got some information on web search engines. Liu divides the search engine into two major types of databases. The first, arranges internet resources into classificatory schemes such as: alphabetical, chronological, geographical, subject-oriented, and combination type orders. This database is good for browsing because it provides a wide selection of topics that are related to one another, and options by categories. The second database attempts to collect and index resources in an automatic fashion. It minimizes human intervention by being able to do automatic searches by arranging and collection information related to key words. The information is constantly collected and updated by automated robots that roam internet sites on the world wide web, gopher, ftp, and usenet sites. It then brings back these resources and sorts, indexes, and creates a database out of them. Therefore, the web search engine acts as an interface between the human searcher and the indexed database of resources.
The searches can be done exclusively through a search window or by clicking on links to arrive on the desired information. The search engine offers the option of searching through different databases, which can be accessed by clicking on the links called "options.": The amount of information in a search can be minimized to be more specific by using boolean logic. This option should also be under the "options" screen. Boolean logic works by incorporating the concepts of and, or, or not in sorting out the combination of key words. It can minimize or maximize the scope of a search by applying these concepts to your combination of key words.
Back to
the TopMostly all search engines work in different ways and are specific to certain topics depending on the kind of information desired. Some search engines may be more efficient or comprehensive in searching specific topics as compared to others. I decided to examine how the search engines Yahoo and Excite work.
Yahoo has the most comprehensive subject index of all the search engines. It presents two ways to conduct a search. The first way is by browsing through the categories that Yahoo makes available. Yahoo organizes its information by giving broad categorical links that your topic may fall in. These categorical links can be go from broad categories to more specific categories until the desired information is obtained. If you fail to find the desired information by this method, Yahoo also has a search window that search for your topic by key words. If you have no matches in Yahoo from the search window method, Yahoo provides links to other search engines on the bottom of the page. One click on these search engines will conduct the exact same search automatically in these search engines. Yahoo also provides the option of using boolean logic to minimize the search results and getting more precise results. There is also the option of searching in other databases like usnet newsgroups and e-mail. Another benefit available through Yahoo is the access to updated hourly news, weather, sports, and stock reports.
Excite offers a unique of searching the web by concepts. Like most search engines, Excite provides a query box to search the exact words typed into it, but it also provides the added benefit of searching for words and topics closely related to the words in the box. This feature can help to broaden your search. The Excite help screen gives an example of this:
Back to
the TopTo illustrate the differences between Yahoo and Excite, I attempted to conduct a search in each engine on the same topic. The topic I chose was "spiritual experience in ritual and worship" which I obtained from the World Ideas Bank by Generation 3.
I began my search in Excite by typing in the phrase "spiritual experiences in ritual and worship" in the search window. I obtained 379,220 documents related to this phrase. The results were listed in order of highest "confidence" to lowest "confidence." The Excite search engine deems which documents are most closely related (confident) to my phrase. The results are listed ten at time on each page with a link and a comprehensive summary of each. It would not be feasible for me to browse and read through all 379,220 documents. I remembered Excites unique option of sorting by sites so I decided to click on this option. The results presented were able to fit on one page and there were no cumbersome summaries for each link. Since I was specifically interested in spiritual experiences through prayer, I clicked on the site called Prayers. I got an article titled "Ritual Prayers a personal perspective" by Jim Quraishi. The article was well-written and very insightful, but I was disappointed to have only one perspective and no other results. I just wanted to point out that Hawaii's own World Ideas Bank was listed on the results page sorted by sites. I found this to be amusing and surprising, because it reinforced my belief that our generational curriculum can make a difference.
I then tried my luck in Yahoo. I began by trying to find my topic through the categories that Yahoo organizes. The first category I clicked on was Society and Culture. I then proceeded to click on the category of Religion and was presented with a listing of every type of religion in the world, from Hinduism to Christianity to satanism to atheism. I then clicked on Pers onal Experiences and obtained a listing of 25 different links with a short synopsis explaining each link. I was interested in spiritual experiences through prayer and found a great link called True Life Encounters. This page presents true stories of people receiving God into their lives and having their prayers answered. Overall, I was much more satisfied with the results I obtained through Yahoo. However, If I conduct the search a couple more times in Excite by using different strategies or databases, I would probably obtain different results that may be better than Yahoo's results.
Back to
the TopI have learned that web search engines can be very different from each other. Some may be more useful than others in searching for certain topics. There is also a difference in results when the exact same topic is searched through different search engines. Therefore, I have learned that in order to get the largest array of results I should conduct my search in different search engines. I have also learned through my experience in searching that the world wide web is incredibly large. Thank God, that we have search engines that act like library databases to organize and search for specific topics. I also learned that the search engines can provide different types of results by searching through different databases such as: e-mail, usenet newsgroups, etc.
I have learned that my online personality is pretty much the same as my personality in the physical world. I tended to search for topics that I am normally interested in, such as sports headlines and scores. However, I did learn that the internet brings out impatience in my online personality (I am usually a very patient person). I know I preached about having patience in my second report, but talk is cheap. I need to learn to be patient so I do not cause unneeded negative emotions while I am on the internet. I also recognize the fact that I have available to me practically all the information in the world. I can go through this information without inhibition or physical barriers. The information is accessible from any computer terminal connected to the internet, and at anytime. This provides me with an opportunity to expand my mind, thereby, changing my online personality and my regular personality. Knowledge is power!!
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