Session Eight
Search Engines











9:00-9:30 Bridge Activity: Internet Hunt Results
                                                    Search Strategies
                                                    Virtual vs Real Library Toss Up         "...Now visit a real library ( USM or your local library ) and ask for help in finding three articles on the same topic. "

   Georgia O'Keefe, Radiator Building, 1926 Permission Pending 
 

9:30-9:45 Special Sites Exercise

Newspapers.com
World Cat
 Internet Traffic
  • Is this a good time to download?
  • What country seems to have chronic online traffic jams?


    • 9:45-11:30 Search Engine Exercises

    What is your favorite Search Engine?
  • Jot down the name of your favorite Search Engine. Describe the features you like about it. Post your answer to our Webboard under the title  "My Favorite Search  Engine and Why."
    • How do search engines work?
  • Use Altavista to search for the phrase, Georgia O'Keefe's art  Record the number of web pages returned to you. What happens when you use the phrase, Georgia O'Keefe's near art ?  How about using the phrase, Georgia O'Keefe's +art?  Finally what happens when you enclose the phrase, Georgia O'Keefe's art, with quotation marks?

    •  
  • Let's check out a few of Altavista's advanced features including Images, Discussions and Translation (Giovanni Verga)
  • Using Webcrawler, I searched for information about Italian fathers. The engine returned over 13,000 web pages. One of them was titled Augustine. Why did Webcrawler find that one when I asked it to locate information about Italian fathers?

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    Are all search engines equal?

  • Let's find a copy of Joe Perham's, "The Legend of Mollyocett." Go to Webcrawler and enter the entire phrase (no quotation marks please). Record the results. Next, put quotation marks around  the phrase and search again. Record the results. Now do the same search using Joe Perham. Did you find the legend? Any generalizations about using search engines?
  • Road Trip! Create an overview map with text for getting to Tut's, North Waterford Maine-- home of the best blueberry pancakes in the state of Maine--from your current address.


    • What's the difference between Web Guide Engines e.g., Lycos and engines like AltaVista?
     

                  Excite: http://www.excite.com

                   Enter phrase: blueberry pancakes
                   Hit Search Button
                   Check Out:
    Selected Words
    Show Titles
    List by Web Site
    More Like This
    Metacrawler: http://www.metacrawler.com
    Enter the phrase: blueberry pancakes bread and breakfast Maine $70.00 winter
    Choose the ALL  Button and search.
    Record the number of web pages returned to you.
    Choose one that fits your bill. How long did it take to find it?
    Now do the same search with the PHRASE button on. Record the results.
    Do the same search with Newsgroups. Revise your  phrase if nothig is found.
    Conclusion(s)?

    Infoseek: http://www.infoseek.com
    Check out :Personalize News

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  • And the BEST search engine on the net is......?
    •  ALL4one--simultaneous searching of four major search engines with a single click
    http://www.all4one.com/

    Yahoo--the most complete subject index on the Web
    http://www.yahoo.com/

    Thunderstone--headlines, business news, sports, science and international news in real time
     http://www.thunderstone.com/

    Hotbot
    http://www.hotbot.com/

    Ask Jeeves--just type a question and click "Ask!"
    http://www.askjeeves.com/

    Virtual Search Engines--over 1,000 search engines within 50 categories
    http://www.dreamscape.com/frankvad/search.html
     

  • Brainstorming with Iseuth
    • Each Spring as the recess approaches, I try to expand my students' horizons by wishing them both a Happy Easter and a Happy Passover. Inevitably, some child asks what is Passover. I begin by talking about matzo and the flight of the Hebrews from Egypt. On Thursday, a student asked, "What is matzo?" Seizing the 'teaching moment', I turned to the rest of the class and inquired "Does any one of you know what matzo is?"

    One young man furrowed his brow for a moment and with a smile, waved his hand in my general direction.

    "I know" he said. Urging him to speak to the class, I bade him to explain to us what matzo was. He grinned from ear to ear and proclaimed, "Isn't that the stuff they put on top of pizza?" Before I could even respond to this erroneous declaration, I heard an exasperated voice from behind me say, "That's not matzo, that's mozzarella, you idiot! After a hearty round of laughter, I told the class we had found the perfect Jewish-Italian food group!

    Search the term: life and culture of the lower east side

    Search the term: Jewish-Italian food

    Search the term: Jewish-Italian neighborhood and "Jewish-Italian neighborhood"