Number 39 - revised ed. July 1, 2006	A publication of Project Eagle, St. Petersburg College

Best Bets Archives

For a subscription to BEEP, contact the Project Manager: lechnerj@spcollege.edu

Google™ and Beyond:
Finding Information on the Web

2006 Revised Edition

"[Google]… many people still find it an incredible resource."
5th Annual Search Engine Watch Awards, 3/31/05

The first edition of "Google and Beyond: Finding Information on the Web" (Number 39) appeared on July 1, 2004 and has gone on to be the most-read BEEP issue in the publication’s history. Because use of BEEP 39 continues to grow even today, Project Eagle has decided to update the content of that issue to make it as useful and timely as it was two years ago.

Good links have been left untouched, dead or obsolete ones removed, and a section with links to new Google developments that have appeared in subsequent BEEPs added in what is usually the Best Bets section.

Google

The research for every BEEP since the first issue in October 2000 has begun with Google. It has been voted Most Outstanding Search Engine by Search Engine Watch four times. Last year it lost its title to Yahoo because of problems, which have since been resolved, with its image searching, Even as a runner-up, Google is the most popular choice worldwide for finding information, with Search Engine Watch reporting 91 million Google searches per day compared to Yahoo’s second-place 60 million.

"The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine." Seminal scholarly document, written in the late 1990’s, by Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page, creators of Google. It explains the structure of the search engine, then just a prototype of what it would later become.
Google Guide. A detailed online tutorial by Nancy Blachman that covers query input, understanding results, special Google tools, and more. Another Website that makes Google use easier is Soople, which offers a one-page starting point that covers any kind of Google search possible.
Google News. Google Website that tracks online news about itself, moment by moment. Of particular interest is the list of Industry Awards and Accolades for Google, back to 1998.

Alternatives to Google for Finding Information

With the exception of Grokker, all the alternate search engines listed in the original edition of BEEP 39 have disappeared or morphed into sites with purposes quite different from those described two years ago.

Alternate Search Engines. In addition to Google, with the lion’s share of use for finding information, current major players are Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and Ask (formerly Ask Jeeves).
SearchEngine Watch. An excellent source for news and other matters related to search engines. It includes reviews of single search engines, as well as meta-search engines like Jux2, Dogpile and Mamma. Another site, Search Engine Showdown, includes a comparative features’ chart of the major engines.
Subject Gateways. The term "subject gateways" to describe specialized search engines, portals, and directories has been largely dropped. Precise definitions of each term blur, but all refer to sites that link users to pages that have been selected and evaluated by subject experts from reliable sources. Those particularly useful for e-learning include Higher Education Search Engines; iberry’s Higher Education Links List (HELL), which includes both resources and downloadable courseware; SearchEdu.com; Search Engine Colossus: Academic, which includes Google Scholar and Google University Search; and the Virtual Learning Resources Center, which includes lesson plans on all subjects.

Deep Web (a.k.a. Invisible Web)

The once-popular term "invisible web" has mostly given way to "deep web," when describing Web-based information stored in databases usually not accessed by conventional search engines.

CompletePlanet. Premier example of a search tool devoted to finding deep web sources. Searches more than 70,000 databases and specialty search engines.
Deepweb.com. Comprehensive Wikipedia entry that defines the term as "pages on the World Wide Web that are not part of the surface web that is indexed by common search engines."
The Deep Web. Tutorial by the University at Albany, State University of New York.
Deep Web FAQ. Good starting point for deep web newbies at the BrightPlanet website.
"Deep Web Research 2006." Article by Marcus P. Zillman on LLRX.com, 1/15/06, that presents the history of deep web research, as well as various classified resources for seeking information only found by understanding how to search the deep web.
"The Invisible Web." Classic paper (2000) by Chris Sherman, who, with Gary Price, has become one of the IV’s foremost experts. Besides authoring a book, they maintain a very useful Website, The Invisible Web Directory, with a section on educational sources.
Invisible Web: What It Is, Why It Exists, How to Find It, and Its Inherent Ambiguity. Extensive examination by the University of California, Berkeley, library, designed to help researchers trying to find information from this source.
"Those Dark Hiding Places: The Invisible Web Revealed." Comprehensive and current website maintained by Robert J. Lackie, Rider University (NJ), with links to sources of all kinds.

Tips and Tutorials for Effective Web Searching

These are all the same excellent sources that appeared in the original BEEP 39.

Bare Bones 101: A Basic Tutorial on Searching the Web. Seventeen excellent lessons by the University of South Carolina library on effective Web searching - in English and Spanish.
Finding Information on the Internet: A Tutorial. University of California, Berkeley, library.
Guide to Effective Searching of the Internet. Tutorial by BrightPlanet.com that offers both a short and long version of instructions for optimizing Web searching.
Web Finding Tools. Well-organized Website by the Naval Postgraduate School (CA) library that lists links on search techniques, search and meta-search engines, specialized search sites and tools, the Invisible Web, subject directories and Webliographies, with a glossary of terms.

Updates on Google from BEEPs 40-51

(Numbers in parentheses indicate the BEEP in which this link first appeared.)

The Google Pack. Associated Press release, 1/9/06, about Google’s distribution of a free software startup kit, part of the trend toward increasing use of open source software. (49)
Google Earth. Yet another Google effort that "puts a planet’s worth of imagery and other geographic information right on your desktop." Basic service is free, with low-cost add-ons. (48)
"Google’s Book Scanning Hits Snag." Associated Press article on Wired News, 8/12/05, about Google’s decision to halt efforts to scan copyrighted books from several large universities. See also "Yahoo to Upstage Google’s Library Plans" in eSchool News, 10/4/05. (47)
"Google Maps Inspire Creativity." Article in eSchool News, 6/15/05, about a new Google feature that displays close-up satellite imagery of buildings and regions.(46)
Google Open Sources Code. Article by Matt Hicks in eWeek, 3/17/05, describing Google Code, …website with software development source code released to the open source community. (44)

The contents of BEEP were developed under a grant from the U. S. Department of Education (DOE). However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the DOE, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.