search

= WWW Search Strategies: Learning​ =

Some of my favorite search engines include:

 * Google
 * Ask
 * Momma
 * Bing

//After reviewing the web site, Search Engine Watch, I found two search engines to add to my favorites:// [|AlltheWeb] //and// [|AOL]//external search site. All the Web's search engine reminded me of the interface of Google. It was easy to read, and I like the summary of what the website is about. AOL had a nice, easy to read format; but I noticed it was power enhanced by Google. That might explain why I liked that one as well. In the end, Google is still my favorite.//

Using quotation marks will narrow down the search considerable. After using a two-word search in Google, I found **7,860,000** hits when I didn't use the " " around the words, but only **1,980,000** when I did use the quotations. It is important to have a well planned search before you begin researching to save time and having information overload. Little tricks as simple as quotation marks around a string of words will contribute greatly.

Using [|Google], I did a Boolean search with the AND, OR, and NOT. AND is going to be the most restrictive. If you want to make sure your words appear in the document, be sure and try the search with the AND boolean search technique. I didn't have much luck with the search engine, boolify. I went back to Google.

I use the web site, [|easyWhoIs], in my classroom. When teaching students about purchasing a domain name, we use this site to see if the name they would like to use is available. Once they determine if the site is available, we then use [|godaddy]to look about the purchase price for a domain. GREAT site....highly recommended!

Above is a list I found in Wikipedia listing the top level domains. I liked this table because it identified the domain as well as gave a description of who might use that domain. Some domains are exculsive to certain individuals; however, some are open for anyone to purchase. It is very difficult to find a .com domain name under $500. But if your willing to use.net or .info your purchase price is much less expensive.
 * ~ [|gTLD] ||~ Entity ||~ Notes ||
 * [|.aero] || air-transport industry || Must verify eligibility for registration; only those in various categories of air-travel-related entities may register. ||
 * [|.asia] || Asia-Pacific region || This is a TLD for companies, organizations, and individuals based in the region of Asia, Australia, and the Pacific. ||
 * [|.biz] || business || This is an open TLD; any person or entity is permitted to register; however, registrations may be challenged later if they are not by commercial entities in accordance with the domain's charter. ||
 * [|.cat] || Catalan || This is a TLD for Web sites in the [|Catalan language] or related to Catalan culture. ||
 * [|.com] || commercial || This is an open TLD; any person or entity is permitted to register. ||
 * [|.coop] || cooperatives || The .coop TLD is limited to cooperatives as defined by the [|Rochdale Principles]. ||
 * [|.edu] || educational || The .edu TLD is limited to accredited postsecondary institutions (nearly all 2 and 4-year colleges and universities in the U.S. and increasingly overseas, //e.g.//, Australia and China). ||
 * [|.gov] || U.S. governmental || The .gov TLD is limited to U.S. governmental entities and agencies (mostly but not exclusively [|federal]). ||
 * [|.info] || information || This is an open TLD; any person or entity is permitted to register. ||
 * [|.int] || international organizations || The .int TLD is strictly limited to organizations, offices, and programs which are endorsed by a treaty between two or more nations. ||
 * [|.jobs] || companies || The .jobs TLD is designed to be added after the names of established companies with jobs to advertise. At this time, owners of a "company.jobs" domain are not permitted to post jobs of third party employers. ||
 * [|.mil] || [|U.S. military] || The .mil TLD is limited to use by the U.S. military. ||
 * [|.mobi] || mobile devices || Must be used for mobile-compatible sites in accordance with standards. ||
 * [|.museum] || museums || Must be verified as a legitimate museum. ||
 * [|.name] || individuals, by name || This is an open TLD; any person or entity is permitted to register; however, registrations may be challenged later if they are not by individuals (or the owners of fictional characters) in accordance with the domain's charter. ||
 * [|.net] || network || This is an open TLD; any person or entity is permitted to register. ||
 * [|.org] || organization || This is an open TLD; any person or entity is permitted to register. ||
 * [|.pro] || professions || Currently, .pro is reserved for licensed or certified lawyers, accountants, physicians and engineers in France, Canada, UK and the U.S. A professional seeking to register a .pro domain must provide their registrar with the appropriate credentials. ||
 * [|.tel] || Internet communication services ||  ||
 * [|.travel] || travel and tourism industry related sites || Must be verified as a legitimate travel-related entity. ||

I did a search for museums in Greece. Using altavista, I searched using "host:.gr museum" //(exclude the quotes).// Alta Vista found 776,000 hits of museum information with the .gr domain. Great information to know when doing international searches. Since I chose the option for English, most of the sites were written in English or gave me an opportunity to choose between Greek and English.

Using the top level domain .travel, I searched for sites about Greece. The first seach I did retrieved 275,000 sites, so I narrowed the search to "host:travel + greece + athens" and got the search down to 18,000 sites. All websites listed were using the .travel in their URL. .travel is exclusively for the travel and tourism industry and must be a legitimate travel company.

Google is one of the most amazing sites available to teachers. They continually update with academic-related tools as well as fun and creative things to do on the web. Some of the features I like are
 * [|Wonder Wheel]. It drills down a search. For example if you want information over World War II, you put in the term and then spiders out in a wheel, topics you may want to know about. You click one of those topics and wheels out more topics about that one. You can work your way down to something very specific.
 * [[image:http://www.google.com/options/icons/maps.gif]]Maps: type a name of a place and retrieve an option of several maps that you may want.
 * [[image:http://www.google.com/intl/en/images/phone_img3.gif]]Area Code: not sure how educational it is, but could have use this one today when I student received a call and didn't recognize the area code and wondered if I knew where it came from. Type in an area code in the box, and links are created to the location of this area code.
 * [[image:http://www.google.com/options/icons/finance.gif]]Currency Conversion: Converts money to values in other currencies. This was is a little difficult to use if you do not know the name of currency used in other countries.
 * [[image:http://www.google.com/images/icons/health-35.png]]Health Conditions: A personal favorite! It is an easy way to retrieve information on a particular ailment without using another search engine.

Activity #9 ed.voicethread.com/share/893084/ Activity #10 ed.voicethread.com/share/893142/


 * Bonus Activity**: My specialized search engine called, A Flashy Search Engine. The was designed for web students looking for websites that help with creating hot, flashy websites.