Internet Informed Guidance for the Dedicated Searcher by David Novak an element of: The Spire Project FOR MY FAMILY AND FOR THOSE WHO SHARE THE UTOPIAN DREAM. Copyright © David Novak, December 2007 This book is copyright. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means including electronic, photocopying and internet without prior consent from the publisher. Specific permissions are already in place, as discussed on the last page of this book and at SpireProject.com/copyright/ Published by The Spire Project PO Box 60 Toorak, Victoria 3142, Australia and SpireProject.com Supporting art, testimonials and reviews at SpireProject.com/book/ Typeset in Gentium/Arial and printed by Ligare (Australia) Cover by Teknowledge Design (tekdesign.com.au) Cover Image “NGC2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf” was acquired by Howard Bond and Robin Ciardullo using the Hubble Space Telescope. Post-processing by Forrest Hamilton. The glowing ball near the center of the planetary nebula is a white dwarf, the remnant of an exploded star. It speeds away from the centre of the explosion at phenomenal speed. Image used with permission and courtesy of NASA, ESA, H. Bond (STScI), R. Ciardullo (Penn State) and F. Hamilton (STScI). Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Explorer are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. Google Brand Features are trademarks or distinctive brand features of Google Inc. Many further identifying names used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where these terms appear in this book, they usually start with a capital letter. Lastly, this book is not professional advice; rather a knowledgeable author writing candidly of his experience. While considerable precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the author and publisher assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions or for damages resulting from the use of the information herein. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Author: Novak, David, 1969- Title: Internet informed : guidance for the dedicated searcher / David Novak. Publisher: Toorak, Vic. : The Spire Project, 2008. ISBN: 9780975729915 0975729918 Notes: Includes index. Subjects: Internet searching--Handbooks, manuals, etc. Dewey Number: 025.04 ’Tis true. There’s magic in the web ... A sibyl ... in her prophetic fury Sewed the work.1 – William Shakespeare La Terre est couverte de gens ne méritent pas qu’on leur parle. The earth is covered with people not worth talking to. – Voltaire ____________________________________ PROLOGUE he midnight sky stretches overhead. Thousands ... millions ... billions of stars twinkle and shimmer. Each star shines through the velvet blackness of the night. Red, blue, bright, dim, near, far, new and old, each star reveals so much more than just the Ttwinkle. Each star also testifies to the long legend leading to its existence; to the age-old transit to our eyes; to the vast emptiness between us. A cascade of stories and histories fill our view. So vast. So beautiful. So inspiring. The internet reaches across a vast mental space stretching beyond all horizons. Thousands ... millions ... billions of bits of information sparkle and chime. Each piece of information shines its light on those seeking guidance. Detailed, superficial, incisive, trite, new and old, biased this way and that, each statement speaks of so much more than the facts contained. Each attests to the insight, perspective and effort bringing it to light; to the challenge of capturing our attention. Once again, a cascade of stories and histories fill our view. So vast, beautiful and inspiring. Let this be our metaphor. Let this image of an internet galaxy guide us. It will help dispel the trendy but misguided notion of the internet as a web – a web mostly of lost objects from near anonymous sources. Internet information certainly consists of more than facts. Indeed, one of the cen- tral themes to using the internet well is to reconnect information with its history; to reconnect with the people, purpose and perspectives that give rise to internet information. For example, encountering an internet statement of uncertain origin, I click a button on my web browser that reveals context. In essence, I retrieve a list of further publications by the same author and publisher Internet Informed : Prologue 5 found in the same directory as the page I am reading. This simple act – this single click – reveals more about the author and publisher than I would ever find within the page itself. Knowing an author and publisher in this way makes their information more vital, more valuable. Context helps us enormously. Context is also just one of about forty techniques that lead us to a more valuable internet experience. Let us return to this image of an internet galaxy. At first glance it may seem messy but this is no cloud of information; no ocean of facts. It is more than a web of interlinked pages. Our internet is a galaxy – a vast collection of information where each item of information has a location. These locations and the links between them are adequately described by computer science. Each item of information also has a history partly defining the nature of that information. This history arises from the information’s context, format and source; a history closely following the insights of library science. Furthermore, all this information, far from being objects, are indeed messages; presented with purpose; competing for attention. This offers us a third approach to understanding the inter- net embedded in the social act of publishing as seen through the eyes of sociology. Location, history and message – concepts like these lend the internet structure, order and organization. And just like our galaxy spread across the night sky – this structure, order and organization is not immediately obvious. Step back. We must view this creation from a distance to see clearly. Stars and the internet both display a holistic complexity ... and beauty; a beauty simply lost when we focus solely on the objects themselves. See this beauty and so much becomes clear. Sweep away the appear- ance of chaos for just beneath our feet rests a solid platform to support us. We may see only chaos at first. We may only suspect a degree of order. But there it rests – a firm foundation that bears our weight and more. In this book, we shall initially gather a collection of search techniques that extend our ability to collect and appreciate internet information. This will include the use of field searches, an understanding of prominence and endorsements as well the influences of context, format and source. I will also show you a very effective way to reveal quality on the internet. Internet Informed : Prologue 6 We will then adopt several ways to move more swiftly. We want to liberate ourselves from some of the drudgery as well as notice the many clues that already flash before our eyes. Following this, we will address the development of internet informa- tion from a sociological and historical perspective. The more we under- stand the internet, the less confusion will bar our way and the more we will feel at home. This also reveals one further elusive structure to the internet. Finally, we will discuss choreography, as we decide what to search for and how to frame our questions. A comprehensive or controversial search can be particularly tricky. Finding answers on the internet is not simple. If it were simple, we would just throw a few words at a search engine. A search would be straightforward; a three point plan; a task we undertake in our most sleepy hour. Such searching works only for the dullest of questions and search engines used in this manner only point to the most prominent resources; the most brilliant stars. While such searching offers occasional hints of brilliance and generally satisfies us, the best the internet has to offer so often hides from view. The comprehensive, illusive and challenging requires more from us than the tossing of a few keywords at a search engine. As we learn to demand more of the internet, what we find in this way will not impress us. There is talent to using internet information. This talent saves time; saves frustration. It leads us to better information. It also changes us. We become connoisseurs of information instead of consumers. We relate differently to information. We hold, hoard and value information differ- ently. This talent empowers us - empowers us to frame troubling chal- lenges in terms of questions we can answer. As we answer these questions, we overcome our challenges. All journeys start somewhere. I shall assume you know how to toss words at a search engine so we will start our journey with making our searches precise – a step that requires a technical understanding of internet fields and field searching. There is much worth achieving. Much more than you will at first suspect. Let us begin. Internet Informed : Prologue 7 CONTENTS Prologue____________________________________________ 5 _______ Part One: Foundations _______ Precision ___________________________________ 15 quotes__________________________________________________ 16 the plus and minus symbols _________________________________ 18 or (in capital letters) _______________________________________ 20 field searches ____________________________________________ 22 the title search ___________________________________________ 23 the url search