Internet Basics 2
A presentation
of the
Elmhurst Public
Library
Class Objective
Building on skills and knowledge
from Internet Basics 1, you will
learn more about searching,
Internet security and Internet
privacy.
Overview
Searching the Web
Useful Web Sites
Additional Web Features
Web Safety and Security
Searching the Web
Subject Directories & Search Engines
Librarians
Meta Search Engines
Subject Specific Directories
The Invisible Web
Ask the Expert Services
Web Rings
Mailing Lists and Discussion Groups
Subject Directories &
Search Engines
Subject Directories are a lot like
phone books for the WWW. Look
up Web sites by subject or
name.
Most allow you to browse by subject
or search using keywords.
Ipl2 (http://www.ipl2.org/ )
Yahoo! ( http://www.yahoo.com/ )
About.com ( http://www.about.com/ )
Subject Directories &
Search Engines
Search engines are tools that allow
you to search an index to the text
that appears on Web pages.
– The index is only to pages it has found.
– The index could be hours, days or
months old. There is normally no way to
tell.
– You type words into the search box and
the engine returns a list of pages that
contain those words.
Subject Directories &
Search Engines
You could just type in words without
thinking much and often you will get
good results. But sometimes it’s good to
have a little madness to your method.
How to Search with a Search Engine:
1. Think about your question.
2. Imagine a Web page that will contain
your answer.
3. Type words and/or phrases (in “”) that
most likely would appear on your
imaginary page into the search box.
4. Review results and modify search.
Subject Directories &
Search Engines
Google ( http://www.google.com/ )
Bing ( http://www.bing.com)
Teoma ( http://www.teoma.com/ )
Like with subject directories, every
search engine is owned and
controlled by a different
organization and operates
differently.
Subject Directories &
Search Engines
Search engines have more pages
(billions vs. millions), but
subject directories tend to have
only important sites. This is
because real people make
decisions about what goes into
a subject directory.
Search Tips
• Use unique search terms
• Use synonyms
• Put words in different order
• Put phrases in quotation marks
• Search online versions of print
sources
Search Tips (Cont’d.)
• Use lower case (and alternative)
spellings of search terms
• Limit your searches (images,
video, MP3 files)
• Use different search engines
• Read the “help” section or
Advanced Search to focus your
search
Librarians:
The Best Search Tools
Why use a reference librarian?
Librarians go to graduate school
to learn to do their jobs.
Librarians have years of
experience searching and helping
people search for information
every day.
You’ve already paid your taxes for
the library, so why not use it?
Meta Search Engines
Submits your search to multiple
search engines and displays the
results for you.
Search engines only search their
own index, but you may get better
coverage if you search across
more than one.
Dogpile ( http://www.dogpile.com/ )
Vivisimo ( http://www.vivisimo.com/ )
Subject Specific Directories
This is like a subject directory
except that it is limited to a
specific subject, type of
information, group of people, etc.
Artcyclopedia (http://www.artcyclopedia.com/ )
Yahoo! Get Local (
http://cityguides.local.yahoo.com/ )
FirstGov ( http://www.firstgov.gov/ )
HealthFinder ( http://www.healthfinder.gov/ )
The Invisible Web
There are many parts of the Web
that for various reasons are not
searchable by search engines.
These parts altogether are
referred to as the “Invisible Web”.
Included in the Invisible Web are the
library’s many subscription
databases.
http://www.elmhurstpubliclibrary.org/
The Invisible Web (cont’d)
National Parks Guide:
( http://www.nps.gov/findapark/ )
Guidestar Nonprofit Database:
( http://www.guidestar.org/search/ )
U.S. Census:
( http://factfinder.census.gov/ )
U.S. Legislative Information:
( http://thomas.loc.gov/ )
Ask the Expert Services
Many Web sites have people who
have subject expertise answer
questions as a service to their
users.
One place to find these services is
at the Virtual Reference Desk
AskALocator:
http://www.refdesk.com/expert.html
Ask the Expert Services
Mad Scientist Network:
http://www.madsci.org/
Ask Dr. Math:
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/
Go Ask Alice:
http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/
Web Rings
Some Web sites choose to associate with
each other by linking to one another.
An organized fashion of doing this is
by joining a Web ring.
A directory of Web rings is at:
http://dir.webring.com/
Amateur Photography Ring:
http://hub.webring.org/hub/amateurphoto
Crafts Connection Ring:
http://a.webring.com/hub?ring=craftsites
Mailing Lists & Discussion
Groups
Mailing lists, often called LISTSERVs™,
can be either newsletters or open
discussion forums that occur through
e-mail. In order to use a mailing list,
you have to register with it. They are
available for all sorts of subjects.
To find a mailing list on a subject of
interest to you, check out:
http://www.lsoft.com/catalist.html
Mailing Lists &
Discussion Groups
Discussion groups work much like
mailing lists, except that they are not
used through e-mail. Discussion
groups are accessed through the Web
or via special programs for viewing the
messages.
To find out more about discussion
groups and find ones of interest to you
see:
http://groups.google.com/
Organizing Your Web
Experience
Save Favorites
Use “Favorites” feature on browser to create and
organize a list of regularly used websites.
• Saves on current computer
• www.delicious.com Saves “in the Cloud” and is
available on any Internet-accessible computer
Cloud Computing
Allows access to files and data from any Internetaccessible computer.
Examples: www.dropbox.com and www.shutterfly.com
Useful Sites to Know
Consumer Information
E-mail Providers
Government Sites & Services
Getting Local
Health Information
News & Current Events
Money & Finance
Travel
Consumer Information
Consumer Reports
http://www.consumerreports.org/
Epinions
http://www.epinions.com/
Federal Trade Commission
http://www.ftc.gov/
Federal Citizen Information Center
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/
Federal Citizen Information Center
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/
USA.gov: Consumer Guides and Protection
http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Consumer-Safety.shtml
E-mail Providers
Accessing electronic mail is one of the
most popular uses of the Internet.
Many users have free accounts from
providers like the ones in the list
below.
Yahoo! Mail ( http://mail.yahoo.com/ )
Hotmail (http://www.hotmail.com/ )
Lycos Mail ( http://mail.lycos.com/ )
Google Gmail (http://mail.google.com)
The library offers classes about E-mail.
Government Sites
& Services
Internal Revenue Service
http://www.irs.gov/
Illinois Department of Revenue
http://www.revenue.state.il.us/
State of Illinois
http://www.illinois.gov/
DuPage County
http://www.co.dupage.il.us/
City of Elmhurst
http://www.elmhurst.org/
Getting Local
School District 205
http://www.elmhurst205.org/
Park District
http://www.epd.org/
City Centre
http://www.elmhurstcitycentre.com/
Chamber of Commerce
http://www.elmhurstchamber.org/
Model Railroad Club
http://www.emrrc.org/
Art Museum
http://www.elmhurstartmuseum.org/
Chicago Reader
http://www.chireader.com/
Metromix
http://chicago.metromix.com/
Health Information
American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org/
American Heart Association
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/
Medline Plus
http://www.medlineplus.gov/
Cancer Wellness Center
http://www.cancerwellness.org/
Mayo Clinic
http://www.mayoclinic.com/
News & Current Events
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Dziennik Polski
http://www.dziennik.krakow.pl/
CNN
http://www.cnn.com/
Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/
Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/
ABC 7 Chicago
http://www.abclocal.go.com/wls/
Elmhurst Press
http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/elmhurst
Slashdot
http://www.slashdot.org/
Money & Finance
CNN Money
http://money.cnn.com/
MSN Money
http://moneycentral.msn.com/
Yahoo! Finance
http://finance.yahoo.com/
Community Bank of Elmhurst
http://www.communityelmhurst.com/
Big Charts
http://www.bigcharts.com/
Travel
Orbitz
http://www.orbitz.com/
Travelocity
http://www.travelocity.com/
Lonely Planet
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/
Illinois Bureau of Tourism
http://www.enjoyillinois.com/
Southwest Airlines
http://www.southwest.com/
Travel Library
http://www.travel-library.com/
Bed & Breakfast Inns of North America
http://www.inntravels.com/
Additional Web Features
The Web on a basic level is simply
hypertext, but the modern Web has
been enhanced with many features.
• Animation, Video, Sound & Plug-ins
• Frames
• Forms
• Pop-up Windows
• Fake Messages
Animations, Video, Sound &
Plug-ins
Browsers are designed to display Web
pages. Anything beyond displaying
Web pages will require that the
browser work with another program.
In some cases the browser itself is
enhanced by a program, called a
plug-in. In other cases, the browser
simply uses a program that already
exists on the computer.
A few examples of plug-ins are:
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Macromedia Flash Player
Frames
Some pages are actually more than one
page combined together. These
pages are called frames.
Forms
When you want to send information to the
author of a Web site, you use forms. The
Library’s E-mail Contact Us form is one
example of a form. Search engines are
another example of forms.
Pop-up Windows
Having new windows pop up over your
browser is a very common
occurrence when surfing the Web.
Sometimes the pop-up windows are
important information and other
times they are advertisements.
The solution to them is pop-up
blocking software, but that
sometimes blocks good pop-ups.
Fake Messages
Another common occurrence with popups is a when you get a message
that appears to be an important
system message from your
computer.
Note the title bar of the message.
Web Safety & Security
dd
• Personal Privacy
• Computer Security
• Personal Safety
Personal Privacy
dd
• Cookies
• Adware & Spyware
• Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
Cookies
dd
Cookies are a way for a Web site
to remember that you’ve visited
before. The site leaves a piece
of data on your computer that
only they can read and then
when they see that data again
they know it is from the same
computer.
Cookies (cont’d)
dd
Used to your advantage:
– Would you be interested in a book
about fish?
– Welcome back, Mrs. Smith!
However, cookies can also be
used to track your behavior
online.
Cookies (cont’d)
dd
You can delete or limit your
cookies.
Adware and Spyware
dd
Software installed on your
computer than monitors what
you do (programs you run, keys
you type and sites you visit).
– Can be as benign as monitoring
your behavior and focusing ads at
you based on it.
– Can be as dangerous as collecting
your personal information and
sending it to others.
Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
dd
Encrypts data you send over the
web to protect your privacy.
When you are using SSL the Web
address should start with “https”
instead of “http”. Also, the
browser will display a lock (
)
on the bottom right corner.
This is initiated by the Web site.
Computer Security
dd
• Viruses, Worms & Trojan Horses
• Adware & Spyware
• Antivirus programs
• Firewalls
Viruses, Worms & Trojan
Horses
dd
Viruses – attached to a program
or file and replicate themselves.
Worms – Programs that run
independent of other programs
and damage your computer.
Trojan Horses – Once they get
into your computer they let
outsiders in.
Adware & Spyware
dd
Hostile versions of adware and
spyware, often called malware,
are generally considered to be
viruses.
Many spyware programs don’t do
much more damage than slow
your computer down.
Antivirus Programs
dd
You can buy programs that will
run on your computer and
protect it from known viruses.
This software must be regularly
updated with new viruses.
Firewalls
dd
Blocks people and programs from
entering your computer through
networks or the Internet without
your permission.
Can be software running on your
computer or a piece of
hardware, called a router.
Personal Safety
dd
• Chatting
• Filters and Nannyware
• Use common sense
Conclusion
dd
Play
Play
Play!!
Evaluations can be turned in at any
time at any service desk.
Good luck!