Library Online Surfing the Internet

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Library Online Surfing the Internet

• Web browser is a software application that
  locates and displays web pages from the Internet.
  
• There are several different web browsers one can
  use
• Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox
• Netscape
• Opera
• Safari
• West Central Technical College generally uses
  Internet Explorer as its browser

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What is the Internet?
A global network that connects millions of
computers. Countries around the world are
connected to this global network. The Internet
is decentralized. (Unlike business
emails/Intranet) An Internet computer is called
a host and is independent
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Network Service Provider (NSP) Internet
Service Provider (ISP)
NSP a company that provides Internet access to
ISPs. (e.g. bandwidth, bus, Network Access
Points) NSP companies ATT, BellSouth,
Comcast ISP a company that provides access to
the Internet ISP Covad, Earthlink, Juno, Net
Zero
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World Wide WebIs not the Internet

• The World Wide Web is one of the
  protocols/languages used to access information
  from the Internet
• HTTP is the protocol language used by WWW.
• Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
• It also utilizes browsers.
• Formatted in Mark Up Language called HTML
• (Hyper Text Markup Language).

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Graphical User Interfaces (GUI)

• Microsoft Windows
• Apple Macintosh

A program interface that takes advantage of the
computer's graphics capabilities to make the
program easier to use. Well-designed graphical
user interfaces can free the user from learning
complex command languages. http//www.webopedia.
com/TERM/G/Graphical_User_Interface_GUI.html

• pointer
• pointing device
• icons
• desktop
• windows
• menus

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SEARCH DIRECTORY

• A search directory is a program that can access
  information via Internet.
• It allows users to search information available
  on various web sites.
• The search directory indexes material according
  to subject or discipline, (e.g. librarian
  cataloging a book and placing it on a
  bookshelf).
• Examples
• http//www.yahoo.com
• http//www.looksmart.com

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Other Search Directories

• http//www.lii.org
• http//www.ipl.org/
• http//www.libraryspot.com
• http//www.refdesk.com
• http//www.loc.gov
• http//www.firstgov.gov

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Search Engines

• Search engines have a program called a
  spider/webcrawler, which searches through World
  Wide Web/cyberspace, or rather, detects
  vibrations within WWW.
• Spiders/webcrawlers fetch information from
  cyberspace by copying web sites from cyberspace
  and pasting them in a search engines server.
• Spiders/webcrawlers use algorithms/mathematical
  models that are proprietary (i.e. unique to each
  search engine) to accomplish this task.

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Examples of Search Engines

• Google.com
• Clusty.com
• Altavista.com

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Search Engines (continued)

• Ask.com
• Prefound.com
• Hotbot.com

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MEGA-Search EnginesSearch multiple search engines

• Dogpile.com
• Megacrawler.com
• Webferret.com/CNET/
• Search.com

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Directory of Search EnginesOther News/Journal
Source

• Searchenginecolossus.com
• Allyoucanread.com

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Visual Search Engines

• KartOO.com
• Mooter.com

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Social Search EnginesThe users set the relevancy
level

• del.icio.us
• Diigo
• furl.net/LookSmart
• MyWeb/Yahoo
• Shadows

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GALILEO

• GALILEO stands for GeorgiA LIbrary LEarning
  Online, an initiative of the Board of Regents of
  the University System of Georgia.
• A World Wide Web-based virtual library, GALILEO
  provides access to multiple information
  resources, including secured access to licensed
  products.
• Participating institutions may access over 100
  databases indexing thousands of periodicals and
  scholarly journals. Over 2000 journal titles are
  provided in full-text.
• Other resources include encyclopedias, business
  directories, and government publications.

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GALILEO is a collection of databases that can
access the Internet, but the Internet cannot
access GALILEO.

• www.galileo.usg.edu

Accessing GALILEO off campus requires a password,
and is subject to change. Obtain GALILEO
password from WCTC library staff.
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Recommended GALILEO Databases

• EBSCOhost
• ProQuest
• LexisNexis

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Internet sites that mimic GALILEO

• Findarticles.com
• Magportal.com