[Baynet] Infopeople's online course "Essential Tools and Tips for Success in Searching Today's Web"

[Linda Rodenspiel]

Many library staff members at all levels have told us they need training in
how to do more effective and efficient web searches. The course described
below is your opportunity to get that training from a master -- wherever you
are, at times convenient for you. Please note that this course accommodates
up to 75 participants; we will add sessions as necessary to meet demand, and
we will be offering the course again in six months. We will also be offering
an advanced search class, also taught by Joe Barker, starting in May.

Since some people who may be interested in participating might not receive
this notice directly, we would appreciate it if you would print and post or
route this announcement to staff and colleagues. Thanks!


Title:  Essential Tools and Tips for Success in Searching Today’s Web
(online learning course)

Dates:  February 26, 2008 - March 24, 2008

To register for this workshop:  Use the online registration form at
http://infopeople.org/workshop/367

Fee: $75 for those in the California library community and $150 for those
out-of-state.


"Google it" is the way a lot of people find information. Often, we (and our
users) "ask Google" and are amazed how often it works. But sometimes we get
too much. Or, even when we know the answer is on the web, we cannot
construct a search that pulls out just what we need. We get millions of
search results and wonder "What next?" We lack a search strategy for
navigating the billions of web pages and other stuff that's out there.

--What goes on in search engines? How do they "think" about searching? 
--What are today's best search engines after Google? Why are they the best? 
--What are the most useful search commands? Will they work beyond Google? 
--How can I create searches that effectively zero in on just what I need? 
--When is it time to turn from web search engines to subject directories
(like lii.org)? 
--How can I find good, specific directories on subjects my users or I need
to explore? 
--Is there a best search strategy for searching for a variety of
information? 
--How do I deal with the need to evaluate all the stuff on the web quickly? 


In this course, you will explore answers to all these questions and more. It
is designed for those who want to refresh their web search skills or are
fairly new to web searching. It consolidates the most productive essentials
for finding information of many kinds, based on the instructor's 12 years of
experience teaching web search.


Workshop Description: This four-week online learning course will help you at
the reference desk or in any situation where you think, "I bet that's on the
web; let's take a look." It is designed to enhance your speed and confidence
deciding where to search, why, and how.  Through online readings and
individual exercises, you will be able to apply and practice the essential
tips and tools of web searching. The instructor will provide cheat sheets
that can be used after the course.

During the course, you will be doing exercises and taking quizzes to help
you verify your grasp of the tips and tools explained in the weekly
readings. You will also participate in online discussion forums and have a
chance to submit a real question from your own experience to be searched and
answered by another student in the class. We will discuss your successes and
frustrations with this "ready for anything" exercise in terms of the search
strategies offered in this course.


Preliminary Course Outline: Using your web browser and your Internet
connection, you will log in to the Infopeople online learning site and
complete the following learning modules:

Module One: The Best Web Search Engines Today 
--How search engines work 
--Strengths and weaknesses of Google, Ask, and Yahoo! 
--Essential search principles shared by almost all search engines 

Module Two: Using Limiter Commands to Focus Your Search Results 
--Essential limiter commands and how they work 
--Building effective searches using and combining limiter commands 

Module Three: When to Turn to Subject Directories 
--The best general subject directories today 
--The essentials of evaluating what you find on the web 
--Using Google to find specialized subject directories and link-rich pages 

Module Four: Being "Ready for Anything" 
--Developing search strategies for different kinds of questions 
--Analyzing questions, learning as you go, and remaining flexible 

Instructor:  Joe Barker.  Until June 2007, Joe worked full time as a
reference and instruction librarian at the University of California,
Berkeley, in the Doe library and the Moffitt undergraduate library. He also
maintained an online web searching tutorial which remains one of the most
heavily used resources for finding and evaluating information on the web. He
has been teaching web searching for Infopeople, especially in connection
with answering reference questions, since 2000 on topics such as
PowerSearch, State of the Art Web Searching, Extreme Googling, Making the
Most of the Post-Google Web, and Web 2.0: Searching Innovations. 

Online Learning Details: 
This four-week course will be taught online using the web. When you
register, you will receive a registration confirmation that will include the
URL to get to the course, as well as a username and password. 

Every student proceeds through the online learning modules at his or her own
pace. Students should expect to commit to spending a minimum of 2 to 2½
hours per week on this course in order to be successful. You can work on
each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night. However, you
will be expected to log in to the course each week to do that week's
assignment. We ask that you log in sometime during the first week of the
course to begin the course work.

Your instructor will be available for limited consultation support for two
weeks after the official end date of a course, and the course material will
stay up for an additional two weeks after that, to give those who have
fallen behind time to work independently on the course. However, you will be
expected to accomplish the majority of the course in synchronization with
your peers during the first four weeks.

Who Should Take This Course: Anyone from the library community with an
interest in improving his or her skills and efficiency at finding
information on the web. This course covers the essentials of using search
engines and subject directories and shows how to integrate them into search
strategies to find what you need. It also succinctly covers evaluating web
information. It will be followed by an Advanced Searching online course
scheduled to begin in May 2008. 

Prerequisites:
This course is taught over the web. You must:

--Have an Internet connection and Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher. 
--Be able to save Microsoft Word .doc or Adobe .pdf files to your computer
and print them out. (For .doc files, a free Word Viewer is available at
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en. Search for
"Word Viewer." For .pdf files, a free Adobe Acrobat Reader is available at
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html). 
--Be comfortable navigating on the web and navigating back and forward on a
website that uses frames. 
--To be most successful in this course, be willing to share information with
your colleagues and be willing to spend time reading and participating in
the weekly discussion boards. 

System Requirements: The online learning product that Infopeople uses is
called Angel. The following are minimum system requirements for using Angel.
You will need access to a computer that has at least these specifications to
participate in an online course: 

Windows: 
--Internet Explorer 6.0 and above, Netscape 7.1 and above, or Firefox 1.5
and above 

Macintosh: 
--Mozilla 1.4 and above (which is the same engine as Netscape 7.1), Safari
2.0 and above, or Firefox 1.5 and above 
--OS X and above (OS 9 will NOT work with our online learning product)

If you are not comfortable with any of the above, please consider taking
this course with a colleague who does meet these requirements.

To view a complete list of Infopeople workshops and for general information
about Infopeople Training opportunities, go to the main Infopeople Workshops
page at http://www.infopeople.org/workshop

If you have questions about registration or scheduling of workshops, please
contact Linda Rodenspiel, the Infopeople Project Assistant, at
assist at infopeople.org or by phone at 650-578-9685.

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