Internet Information
Random things to know about the internet.
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- URL is an acronym for...
- Uniform Resource Locator
- How do sites get to the top of a results' list in Google?
- One factor Google uses to rank sites is popularity. It counts the number of links from sites all around the Web. For example, if a large number of sites has a specific keyword somewhere on their Web site along with a link to a particular site, Google counts the number of times the keyword appears along with the number of links to a particular site. The higher number of links to a site, the higher Google will rank that site on a list of results. There are several additional factors as well, including but not limited to the title of the site, the site's meta information and the actual content of the site.
- Why might you use quotation marks when conducting a search?
- Use "quotation marks" to ensure your keywords appear in your search results in the order you have specified. You would use them if you wanted to research a given phrase. For example, if you conduct a search for global warming, a search WITHOUT quotation marks would find sites that include the words "global" AND "warming" - the words do not have to appear together and you will get more hits than you probably want.
- What is a wiki?
- A wiki is computer software that allows users to easily create, edit and link web pages.
- How do you find the history of any given Web site?
- Use the Wayback Machine. Go to www.archive.org and type the URL of the web site you would like to research into the search box.
- What clues in a Web address might indicate you are on a personal Web site?
- Look for a tilde "~" or the "%" sign or a personal name "jdoe" or the word "user" after the domain name and the first forward slash "/"
- What is a blog?
- Blog is short for weblog - it is literally a log of the Web.
- How do you find the owner or publisher of a Web site?
- Go to www.easywhois.com and enter the URL of the site you would like to research.
- What is RSS?
- RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.
- Identify three Boolean search terms
- . AND, OR, NOT
- How do you find out who is linked to your school's Web site?
- Go to Alta Vista: www.altavista.com and do a link: command search. In the search box type link:your school's address.
- Identify these extensions and what they represent:
- .org, .com, .sch, .k12, .edu, .gov, .ac, .net, .co, .org - organization, .com - company, .sch - school (used outside of US), .k12 - most US school sites, .edu - US higher ed, .gov - US government (add country code for outside US), .ac - higher ed outside of US usually used with country code, example, ".ac.uk" , .net - network, .mil - US military, .co - Company (if paired with a country code, example ".co.uk," the state of Colorado or the country, Columbia)
- How would you conduct a search for the following: a list of Web sites of all the academic institutions in South Africa? (Hint: South Africa's country code is .za)
- Go to Alta Vista: www.altavista.com and type host:ac.za in the search box
- What is a podcast?
- A podcast is a digital media file, or a related collection of such files, which is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers.
- How would you conduct a search for the following: US higher education Web sites that contain the word turtle.
- Go to Alta Vista: www.altavista.com and type "host:edu + turtle" in the search box.