Log of Google SuperSearcher class at PCL
Search engines are the most popular information
retrievers. Google and similar engines use "spiders"
to go through the web and take a snapshot of web pages to
send back to the Google database. It then goes through the
links on those pages and repeats the process. The results
on the search page show up by how many times they're linked
(more links apparently mean more substance). So getting the
top of the results page is sometimes a popularity contest.
Clicking on the "cached" link gives the photograph
the spider took and highlights the searched terms on the photograph.
AskJeeves boast of "natural language searching".
Directories - Yahoo is the most popular directory.
The good thing about directories is that they're chosen and
categorized by humans. Directories can be searched now with
specific search boxes. Directories also suggest other relevant
topics. Other good directories are Librarian's Index to the
Internet and Infomine
Metasearch enginges - these search the results
of search engines. They can give you a mix of results from
Google, Yahoo and AskJeeves.
Invisible web - A lot of the things that search
engines skip over when giving out results. Examples include
library catalogues, proprietary databases, and company intranet
databases.
Google Scholar can be used to find articles
owned by UT (through a contract).
Web Evaluation - this is important to determine
the validity of the information. ".gov" websites
are generally more reliable than ".com" sites. Other
things to keep in mind are the name of the author/publisher,
the currency of the content, and the accuracy of the content.
Wikipedia comes at the top of search result
pages. It's good for general information but not a good source
for research because we don't know who the author is and anyone
can edit the page. Controversial topics get edited and re-edited
all of the time. Wikipedia generally has good references at
the bottom of topics, which can be used for research.
".org" domains have no oversight.
So any company can buy a domain and try to come off as having
no bias.
Google displays paid results in a light blue
box at the top of the page. Other search engines may not make
this distinction, so it many be difficult to distinguish actual
results from paid ones.
The "advanced search" page is a great
way to narrow down results. Searching for entire phrases instead
of just keywords helps. This can be done on the main google
page by simply putting quotes around the phrase.
The Boolean terms "AND", "OR"
and "NOT" are important for database searches. AND
means looking for all of the terms. OR is used when entering
synonyms. NOT weeds out results that are unwanted.
Google Book is a really cool feature. You can
search for a specific phrase and get pages from real books
with the search terms highlighted.
I think this was a pretty useful class. Unfortunately,
I spend way too much time on the internet and had stumbled
across most of the things we were taught before.
Cymbeline
I tried to go watch this show on Friday night,
but the threat of a storm forced a cancellation of the performance.
I went again last night, and I am so glad that I did.
The show keeps the original plot of Cymbeline, but
incorporates lines from all of the other shakespeare plays and
one sonnet. I was amazed at how much they were able to do with
so few props. All of the actors performed extremely well, but
I was most impressed by the five girls credited as the "dancing
trees". Not only were there dances completely filled with
energy, but they were a vital part of the setting during the second
half. They were dressed in browns and greens and held large wooden
sticks to become trees in the forest. The characters weaved around
them to get to each other, and often they moved in the middle
of a scene to give the audience alternate vantage points.
The Italians were hilarious. They danced, sang,
were merry and randomly yelled out "MAMA MIA!". They
brought chairs on their heads when they came on stage, making
for very clever set changes. My favorite set change however, had
to be when there were six chairs on stage, and "Rosenstern"
and "Guildencrantz" come on pretending to joust with
these huge sticks, pass the sticks through the backs of all of
the chairs and carried them off stage.
All in all, this play had to be the least prop-heavy
production of shakespeare I've ever seen (with absolutely no set
to speak of), yet one of the most creative. Never during the show
did I doubt the scene the characters created with the clever placement
of a few sticks or chairs, and the dialogue was witty and appropriate.
Random lines from famous plays were placed in a completely different
context, so I had a lot of fun playing 'spot the quote'.
If you haven't seen Cymbeline yet, for goodness'
sake please do! It's free, it's fun and it's smack dab in the
middle of nature!
