UKeiG Workshop: Searching the Internet - Google and beyond

Venue: The John Rylands University Library, University of Manchester
Date: Wednesday, 1st April 2009, 9.30 - 16.30

Some comments from delegates attending this meeting in 2008:
"Fascinating insight into the world beyond Google " "One of the best workshops I've ever attended".. "A revelation! - enjoyed every minute"

Course Outline

With the major search engines claiming coverage of over 20 billion web pages in their databases, it is becoming increasingly difficult to locate relevant information. Most of us head straight for Google when we want to search the Internet but Google is not the only search tool. This workshop looks at recent developments at Google and the alternatives, especially the new kids on the block and Web 2.0 'stuff'. Karen Blakeman will take you through the best of the search engine world and highlight how they can be used to significantly improve your results. By the end of the day, participants will have a vital toolkit to help them search more effectively, including key search tools, comparisons, top tips and essential search techniques.

Topics to be covered include:

• different types of search tools and how they work
• making the most of Google and new features
• alternatives to Google
• advanced search techniques to help you track down the so-called "hidden web"
• image, audio, video and news
• blogs, RSS, wikis and Web 2.0 resources
• setting up your customised search engine
• tracking down pages that have disappeared

Delegates will have ample opportunity to test out advanced search techniques and to compare different search engines. A significant part of the day will be taken up with practical sessions; exercises will be provided but delegates are free to try out searches of their own. This workshop is suitable for all levels of experience. The techniques and approaches covered can be applied to all subject areas.

N.B. Places on this course are strictly limited because of access to PCs so please book early to avoid disappointment

Course Presenter: Karen Blakeman

Karen Blakeman has worked in the information profession for over twenty years and has been a freelance consultant since 1989. Her company (RBA Information Services) provides training and consultancy on the use of the Internet, and on accessing and managing information resources. Karen writes for "Business Information Searcher". She also publishes a monthly, electronic newsletter called "Tales from the Terminal Room". Her publications include "Search Strategies for the Internet". She is a Fellow of CILIP and in 2002 received the Information World Review Information Professional of the Year award.

Costs (including lunch and refreshments):

UKeiG members £160 + VAT (£188.00); others £190 + VAT (£223.25)

Further information and a booking form are at http://www.ukeig.org.uk/training/2009/April/GoogleandBeyondManchester200904.html

Top Search Tips - May 2008, Liverpool

UKeiG's recent Liverpool Internet search workshop was filled to capacity. It was a packed day with a significant amount of new content and plenty of time for participants to try out the tools and techniques for themselves. At the end of the day they were asked to compile a list of their top tips. There were the usual suspects but the Google Custom Search Engine was new. It is the first time that we have covered Google CSE in the workshop and it generated so much interest that UKeiG will be producing a fact sheet on it. The full list of top tips is as follows:

1. Use the 'site:' command to search individual web sites that have appalling navigation and useless site search engines.

2. Search for file formats to narrow down and focus your search. For example search for Word documents or PDFs if you are looking for government or industry reports; xls for data and statistics; ppt or pdf for presentations.

3. Try something else other than Google. Have one Google free day or hour a week. Change the home page in your browser if it is set to Google.

4. Use the OR command in combination with the site: command to search more than one site or type of site. For example,

"carbon emissions trading" filetype:ppt site:ac.uk OR site:gov.uk

5. Don't believe all you see, especially when it comes to people searches and mashups. [Mashups combine information from several different sources to produce a single new resource.]

6. If the information is critical, always cross and double check the accuracy of the information with independent sources.

7. Books are still relevant. For example, if you are new to a subject or industry sector try and find an introductory text that can help you with the terminology. They are also excellent for historical information. As well as Amazon, try Google Books (http://www.google.com/books/) for older texts, and Live Books (http://search.live.com/books/).

8. Use services such as Zuula or Intelways to remind you of the different types of information that are available and their appropriate search engines. Type in your search once and click on the search tools one by one.

9. Build your own Google Custom Search Engine for collections of sites that you regularly search, to create a searchable subject list, or to offer your users a customised, more focused search option.

10. Try good old fashioned Boolean. Yahoo, Exalead and Live support AND, OR, NOT and 'nested' searches, but don't go overboard. Remember to type in the operators as capital letters. otherwise the search engines will ignore them as stop words.

11. Make use of proximity searching.

a) Double quote marks around your search terms to force a phrase search works in all of teh search engines. For example

"carbon emissions trading"

b) In Google, use the asterisk (*) to find your terms separated by one or more terms but close to one another. There is no information in the help files on the maximum separation. Increasing the number of asterisks is not supposed to make a difference but it does and it appears that one asterisk stands in for one word.

c) The Exalead NEAR command finds words within a maximum of 16 terms within each other. You can control the degree of separation by using NEAR/n where 'n' is a number specified by you. For example

climate NEAR/3 change

12. Try social bookmarking services to track down other people's research lists on a subject. For example del.icio.us, Furl, Connotea, Citulike,

13. If you are looking for formatted files search Yahoo as well as Google. One participant tested several searches on both and found that Yahoo consistently came up with more. This could be due to different coverage of the two services but is more likely to be down to the fact that Google indexes the first 100K of a document but Yahoo indexes 500K. [Karen Blakeman comments: also search in Live.com. I recently found two unique documents via Live.com that contained vital information on a company that I was researching].

14. The Internet Archive (Wayback Machine) at http://www.archive.org/ for pages, sites and documents that have disappeared. Ideal for tracking down lost documents, seeing how organisations presented themselves on the Web in the past, and for collecting evidence for a legal case.

15. Partially Answer your question in your search strategy. For example

"A hippopotamus can run at"

UKeiG workshop (Liverpool):Searching the Internet - Google and Beyond

Due to a last minute cancellation we now have one place available on our workshop 'Searching the Internet: Google and Beyond'.

Venue: The Foresight Centre, University of Liverpool, 1 Brownlow Street, Liverpool

Date and time: Friday, 16th May 2008, 09.30 - 16.30

Workshop outline:
http://www.ukeig.org.uk/training/2008/May/beyondgoogle.html

Please contact Christine Baker if you are interested in attending.
Tel & Fax: 01969 625751 +44 1969 625751
Email: CABaker@ukeig.org.uk

Further details:

With the major search engines claiming coverage of over 20 billion web pages in their databases, it is becoming increasingly difficult to locate relevant information. Most of us head straight for Google when we want to search the Internet but Google is not the only search tool, and the competition is hotting up. This workshop looks at recent developments at Google and the alternatives, especially the new kids on the block and Web 2.0 'stuff'. There will be advice on locating serious blogs, RSS feeds, audio, video and podcasts of news broadcasts and interviews. Karen Blakeman will take you through the best of the search engine world and highlight how they can be used to significantly improve your results. By the end of the day, participants will have a vital toolkit to help them search more effectively, including key search tools, comparisons, top tips and essential search techniques.

Topics to be covered include:

* different types of search tools and how they work
* making the most of Google and new features
* alternatives to Google
* advanced search techniques to help you track down the "hidden web"
* image, audio, video and news
* Blogs, RSS, wikis and Web 2.0 resources
* tracking down pages that have disappeared

Participants will have ample opportunity to test out advanced search techniques and to compare different search engines. A significant part of the day will be taken up with practical sessions; exercises will be provided but delegates are free to try out searches of their own. This workshop is suitable for all levels of experience. The techniques and approaches covered can be applied to all subject areas.

Course Presenter: Karen Blakeman

Karen Blakeman has worked in the information profession for over twenty years and has been a freelance consultant since 1989. Her company (RBA Information Services) provides training and consultancy on the use of the Internet, and on accessing and managing information resources. Karen writes for "Business Information Searcher.” She also publishes a monthly, electronic newsletter called "Tales from the Terminal Room.” Her publications include "Search Strategies for the Internet,” now in its sixth edition. She is a Fellow of CILIP and in 2002 she received the Information World Review Information Professional of the Year award.

Business Information on the Internet - repeat workshop

The UKeiG Business Information workshop being held on April 2nd is now full but is being repeated on April 8th. There are a few places still available.

Venue: Kings College London, Guy’s Campus, London Bridge, London

Date and time: Tuesday, 8th April 2008, 9.30 – 16.30

Course outline:

This one day workshop looks at key sources of business information available on the Internet. It will compare what is available for free with pay-as-you-go and subscription services, and highlight quality, coverage, functionality and price.

Topics to be covered include:

• key starting points, evaluated listings and portals
• company information, including information on SMEs
• directories and marketing resources
• news, blogs, alerts and RSS
• official statistics and market data
• key search techniques

Throughout the day, there will be practical sessions during which you can work through exercises or try out your own research. Each delegate receives a comprehensive set of notes. The workshop will benefit anyone who plans to use, or already uses, the Internet for gathering business information.

Course Presenter: Karen Blakeman

Further details and a booking form are available at http://www.ukeig.org.uk/training/2008/April/BusinessInformationLondon20080408.html