2. Characteristics of Information on the Web Dania Bilal IS 530 Spring 2006

3. The Web Heterogeneous Heterogeneous Dynamic Dynamic Hypertext & hypermedia Hypertext & hypermedia cognitive overload cognitive overload disorientation disorientation

4. The Web Structure of information Structure of information Information overload Information overload Authority Authority Inappropriate materials Inappropriate materials Filtering issues Filtering issues

5. Web Spaces Search /directory space Search /directory space Web browser space Web browser space Navigation efficiency Navigation efficiency Variables Variables Navigation effectiveness Navigation effectiveness Variables Variables

6. The Web Text-centered (mostly) Text-centered (mostly) Efforts to read texts online Efforts to read texts online Advertisements Advertisements Instant gratification Instant gratification Exploration & discovery Exploration & discovery

7. The Web Plagiarism Plagiarism Evaluation of retrieved information Evaluation of retrieved information Relevance judgment Relevance judgment Social issues Social issues Information literacy Information literacy

8. The Web The Web Mental maturity (content vs. ads) Mental maturity (content vs. ads) Reading long texts online Reading long texts online Sifting through K-Z of results Sifting through K-Z of results Composing adequate search strings Composing adequate search strings Identification of authoritative information Identification of authoritative information

9. Web Databases Lacks structure (no thesauri, controlled vocabulary, etc.) Lacks structure (no thesauri, controlled vocabulary, etc.) Lacks authority Lacks authority Sponsored sites may appear first Sponsored sites may appear first Well-structured (thesauri, controlled vocabulary, metadata standards, etc.) Well-structured (thesauri, controlled vocabulary, metadata standards, etc.) Authoritative Authoritative No sponsored sites No sponsored sites

10. Web Databases Information overload Information overload Cognitive overload Cognitive overload Gratification vs. affect Gratification vs. affect Engines more general in nature Engines more general in nature Item availability is questionable (dead links, error codes) Item availability is questionable (dead links, error codes) <information overload <information overload Cognitive overload varies Gratification vs. affect Many specialized databases Many specialized databases Item availability depends on link resolver, policy? Item availability depends on link resolver, policy?

11. Engines & Directories Crawler-based search engines Crawler-based search engines Human-based web directories Human-based web directories Hybrid search engines Hybrid search engines Mixed results from crawler- and human-based Mixed results from crawler- and human-based

12. How Search Engines Work? Three parts 1. Crawler or spider Visits a Web page Visits a Web page Reads a Web page Reads a Web page Follows link on a Web page Follows link on a Web page Spider returns to site on a regular basis for changes

13. How Search Engines Work? 2. Gathered information goes to the database Information is indexed Information is indexed 3. Matching algorithm Matches a user query to information in database Matches a user query to information in database

14. Search Engine Resources http://searchenginewatch.com/ http://searchenginewatch.com/ http://searchengineshowdown.com http://searchengineshowdown.com http://searchengineshowdown.com Search features Search features Search engine news Search engine news Statistics Statistics Reviews of search engines Reviews of search engines Search strategies Search strategies

15. Research Read this latest article Read this latest article http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/artic le.php/3598011 http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/artic le.php/3598011 http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/artic le.php/3598011 http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/artic le.php/3598011 Reports on search behavior of Web users Reports on search behavior of Web users