1. Link Checking: A Path to Quality Web Sites Paul Barron pbarron@umw.edu 540-286-8025 Library Manager University of Mary Washington College of Graduate and Professional Studies Copyright © 2005 Paul Barron All Rights Reserved Copies may be made for educational use only.

2. Link Checking 2 Presentation Objectives Demonstrate Link Checking Text – Yahoo Graphical – Touchgraph Google Browser (Related Pages) Ranking Thumbshots

3. Link Checking 3 Presentation Objectives Demonstate Link Checking’s Effectiveness as a: Search Technique Tool to Evaluate Web Information Demonstrate Finding Animated Images with Picsearch.com

4. Link Checking 4 Achieving the Objectives Link Checking Why am I doing this? Review the research Refining the link check with: Boolean expressions Top Level Domain and Country Code Domain limiters Why not Google!

5. Link Checking 5 The Web and Research “The Web moved from the periphery of a good researcher's awareness in 1998 to the very center of it in 2004.” “The only certainty is that we're going to need help finding anything for a long time yet to come.” Behind the Rise of Google Lies the Rise in Internet Credibility VERLYN KLINKENBORG The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/07/opinion/27FRI4.html

6. Link Checking 6 Size of the Surface Web “ Our [IBM] research labs project that internet-accessible data is increasing at an annual rate of 300%". Doug Elix Senior Vice President and Group Executive for IBM Global Services http://www.worldcongress2002.org (Day 2 ) Number of Surface Web Documents http://www.oclcpica.org/content/53/pdf/ 5yearinformationformattrends.pdf 13 Billion Pages Added per Day to the Surface Web Cyveillance Web Study http://www.cyveillance.com/web/us/corporate/white_papers.htm 7.3 M illion

7. Link Checking 7 Link Checking – The Research “A Web page author links to the best and most popular pages within the same category. This creates a small Web between pages with similar topics.” "Growing and Navigating the Small World Web by Local Content” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences October 2002 Filippo Menczer

8. Link Checking 8 Links Analogous to Citations Study - Examine links to research- oriented websites; determine if links are analogous to citations Results – In 57% of the links, the reason for linking was … to amplify the content of the source page Conclusion – Links to research-oriented sites are analogous to citations. Web Links as Analogues of Citations Information Research, Vol. 9 No. 4, July 2004 http://informationr.net/ir/9-4/paper188.html#Kim

9. Link Checking 9 The Power of Citation Linking “… [R]eferences cited by authors (which) have become the primary links in publishers' digital databases. The greatest advancements in linking have been the links to cited and citing references, the technical counterparts … of referring to other works. “ Linking on Steroids” PÉTER JACSÓ Information Today Vol. 21 No. 7 — July/August 2004

10. Link Checking 10 Link Checking: Why do it? Quality sites link to other quality sites. Link popularity search engines Effective search technique Indication of web site credibility (Sometimes!)

11. Link Checking 11 Link Checking Exercise http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/

12. Link Checking 12 Query Standardization Why? “Standardization yields predictable results.” Preparation for searching proprietary databases like Factiva How will queries be standardized? Phrases are enclosed in “quotation marks.” UPPER CASE Boolean operator format Reinforce an understanding of their function as an operator Some search engines, like Exalead (http://www.exalead.com) require UPPER CASEhttp://www.exalead.com

13. Link Checking 13 Query Standardization How will queries be standardized? Every segment of a query is joined by an operator. Complex Boolean expressions are nested; (enclosed within brackets). Example link:http://lii.org AND (phishing OR “identity theft”) AND site:org

14. Link Checking 14 AND AND – Both of the search terms are present in the Web documents.

15. Link Checking 15 OR OR – At least one of the search terms is present in the Web documents.

16. Link Checking 16 AND NOT or NOT AND NOT / NOT – Only one of the search terms is present in the Web documents.

17. Link Checking 17 Top Level Domains (TLD) PurposeTLD Commercial.com Educational.edu Government (State & Local).us Government.gov Military.mil Network.net Organization.org For TLD statistics, see The Verisign Domain Report, http://www.verisign.com/nds/naming/domainbrief/

18. Link Checking 18 Top Level Domains (TLD) PurposeTLD Air-transport Industry.aero Businesses.biz Cooperatives.coop Unrestricted Use.info Museums.museum For Registration by Individuals.name Accountants, Lawyers, and Physicians.pro

19. Link Checking 19 Country Top Level Domains Canada.ca France.fr Germany.de Italy.it Japan.jp United Kingdom.uk

20. Link Checking 20 Country Codes http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/ factbook/appendix/appendix-d.html

21. Link Checking 21 Yahoo Search Template http://www.search.yahoo.com

22. Link Checking 22 I want to use Google! Google is Gog!

23. Link Checking 23 L ink C heck w/ B oolean E xpression NOTE Google’s link syntax does not mix (well) with other limiters.

24. Link Checking 24 Simple Link Check NOTE The Yahoo link check syntax must include the http//. link:http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu

25. Link Checking 25 Simple Link Check NOTE Among the first four results are.edu and.com sites. NOTE The George Mason University History Matters site is also on ALA’s 2004 list of Best Free Reference Web Sites. “Quality sites link to quality sites.”

26. Link Checking 26 Where is the link?

27. Link Checking 27 T op L evel D omain- l imited C heck NOTE Both the AND domain: and the AND site: syntax will work. link:http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu AND site:edu

28. Link Checking 28 T op L evel Domain-limited C heck QUESTION Is there a syntax that will exclude the virginia.edu sites from the results? NOTE All of the results are.edu sites.

29. Link Checking 29 Excluding Sites within a Domain link:http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu AND site:edu NOT site:virginia.edu

30. Link Checking 30 Excluding Sites within a Domain NOTE The number of results dropped to 307 after excluding the virginia.edu sites. RECOMMENDATION If the site description has the words: links, references, resources, sites, webliography, or websites, review it!

31. Link Checking 31 L ink C heck w/ B oolean E xpression QUESTION Why did this search fail; what did I forget?

32. Link Checking 32 L ink C heck w/ B oolean E xpression link:http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu AND “lesson plans”

33. Link Checking 33 L ink C heck w/ B oolean E xpression NOTE “lesson plans” is boldfaced KWIC; one site is from a k-12 school in … ?

34. Link Checking 34 Complex Nested Check link:http://valley.vcdh.edu AND (“u.s. history” AND “military history”)

35. Link Checking 35 Complex Nested Check

36. Link Checking 36 C omplex (un) N ested C heck link:http://valley.vcdh.edu AND “u.s. history” OR “military history”

37. Link Checking 37 C omplex N ested C heck link:http://valley.vcdh.edu AND (“u.s. history” OR “military history”)

38. Link Checking 38 D omain- l imited C heck w/ B oolean E xpression REMEMBER Both the AND domain: and the AND site: syntax will work. link:http://valley.vcdh.edu AND “lesson plans” AND domain:edu

39. Link Checking 39 D omain- l imited C heck w/ B oolean E xpression NOTE “lesson plans” is boldfaced KWIC in the.edu sites. NOTE Site descriptions state, “Best of History lesson plans and resources” and “TOP SOCIAL STUDIES SITES.”

40. Link Checking 40 D omain- l imited C heck w/ B oolean E xpression REMEMBER There are very good educational resources on.com sites. link:http://valley.vcdh.edu AND “lesson plans” AND domain:com

41. Link Checking 41 D omain- l imited C heck w/ B oolean E xpression http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn

42. Link Checking 42 URL - l imited C heck w/ B oolean E xpression link:http://valley.vcdh.edu AND “lesson plans” AND inurl:k12

43. Link Checking 43 URL - l imited C heck w/ B oolean E xpression RECOMMENDATION When searching for material for a specific grade, use: “elementary school” or “middle school” or “high school” or “college prep.” NOTE All the results are from k-12 schools.

44. Link Checking 44 State-limited Check link:http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn AND ("teacher resources" AND "middle school") AND inurl:k12.va

45. Link Checking 45 State-limited Check

46. Link Checking 46 Country-limited Link Check NOTE Countries like Moldova sell the use of their top level domain. For instance,.md is purchased for medical-related sites. link:http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn AND site:uk

47. Link Checking 47 Country-limited Link Check NOTE In the UK,.ac =.edu.

48. Link Checking 48 A cademic S ites A round the W orld NOTE To locate other countries that use.ac for educational institutions, run the query: inurl:ac

49. Link Checking 49 G raphical D isplay of W eb C ommunities http: // www.touchgraph.com / TGGoogleBrowser.html valley.vcdh.virginia.edu Enter the Web address without the http://.

50. Link Checking 50 Touchgraph Display Touchgraph fuzzy clusters the results into web communities.

51. Link Checking 51 Touchgraph Display – Site Info

52. Link Checking 52 Loading Additional Sites NOTE Double click a site to retrieve surrounding links. will appear indicating which links are being fetched. NOTE Double click a site to retrieve surrounding links. will appear indicating which links are being fetched. Loading

53. Link Checking 53 An Ocean of Information

54. Link Checking 54 Information Evaluation “Our No. 1 story on the 'countdown' tonight: A five-year study just concluded at Indiana University suggesting that upon the birth of their first child, 100 percent of parents lose at least 12 IQ points, and the average loss is 20. The loss may not be reversible. It may be compounded for each child you have.“ MSNBC talk-show host Keith Olbermann's Sept. 7 Broadcast

55. Link Checking 55 Source of the Information http://www.hoosiergazette.com/

56. Link Checking 56 Hoosier.com Disclaimer “Hoosier Gazette articles are …fictitious or satirical [and] use invented names. [U]se of real names is accidental. The reader should suspend belief for the sake of enjoyment.” Josh Whicker, a schoolteacher, makes mischief by writing bogus stories on the Hoosier Gazette.

57. Link Checking 57 Verifying Site Credibility http://www.gatt.org

58. Link Checking 58 Verifying Site Credibility http://www.wto.org What domain-limited check might verify the real World Trade Organization site?

59. Link Checking 59 Verifying Site Credibility

60. Link Checking 60 Verifying Site Credibility

61. Link Checking 61 Search Engine Overlap “No search engine indexes more than about 16% of the web.” Accessibility of Information on the Web STEVE LAWRENCE AND C. LEE GILES Nature 400, 107 (08 July 1999)

62. Link Checking 62 Search Template http://ranking.thumbshots.com/

63. Link Checking 63 Results Overlap (or Lack of …)

64. Link Checking 64 picsearch Advanced Search NOTE Animated images can ONLY found in Advanced Search. NOTE Animated images can ONLY found in Advanced Search. Click on the image. http://www.picsearch.com

65. Link Checking 65 picsearch Returns NOTE Click on the “Image URL” to view only the animated image. REMINDER Let the image load completely so that you can see the animation. Copyright law applies! NOTE Click on the “Image URL” to view only the animated image. REMINDER Let the image load completely so that you can see the animation. Copyright law applies!

66. Link Checking 66 Let’s summarize! Tell me again why I am doing link checks. Quality sites link to other quality sites. Sites link to amplify the content of the source page. Link checking is analogous to citation searching. Link checking may be an indication of website credibility.

67. Link Checking 67 Summation Evaluate, evaluate, and evaluate. Bookmark, bookmark, and bookmark. Amazon’s A-9 (www.a9.com) Backflip (www.backflip.com) FURL (www.furl.net) Portaportal (www.portaportal.com) Collaborate, share, collaborate.

68. Link Checking 68 For more information see … “Link Checking — A Path to Quality Web Sites” MultiMedia & Internet@Schools VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1 January/February 2005, Page 12