[Baynet] Infopeople's online course "Advanced Web Search Tools & Tips for 2009"

Fri Feb 20 15:09:28 PST 2009

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:  Advanced Web Search Tools & Tips for 2009 (Online learning course)

Dates:  April 7 – May 4, 2009

To register for this workshop:  Use the online registration form at

http://infopeople.org/workshop/423 

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

Do you use the web for reference or research of any kind? Do you know what's
new and hot in web search engines? Do you know that all the search engines
offer useful, largely secret advanced search commands? Do you know how and
when to search for answers within blogs, wikis, video, and photo sites? Do
you have a search strategy that encompasses all the formats and types of
websites that exist today? 

In this course you will learn these things and more: 

• What's new in search engines and when to use the latest innovations 

• How and when to use web search engines' best advanced search techniques,
including obscure limiter commands and other tools search engines rarely
tell about 

• The value in research and reference of subject-specialized search engines,
databases, and web pages, and how to find them 

• How to create and find your own searchable custom search engines to
full-text search within almost any set of websites on almost any subject 

• When to go beyond directories like lii.org and Infomine to explore the
"invisible web" of databases and websites that can be useful in research and
reference 

• The likely future of web searching and tools for keeping up with the
changes 

This course will make you a more efficient and effective searcher able to
use the latest as well as the most useful advanced search techniques.

Workshop Description: This four-week online learning course will provide,
through individual written exercises and the instructor's feedback,
explanations and practice developing the skills listed above. The instructor
will provide cheat sheets and a webliography, as well as practical, useful
tips that can be applied immediately. You will have a chance to try to find
answers to questions submitted by other students in the class. 

During the course, you will be doing exercises and taking quizzes. You will
also participate in online discussion forums as part of the online learning
process. 

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: What's New, Changing, and Useful in Search Engines 

The best search engines at this time for advanced and basic searching 

Obscure commands and limiters 

• Module Two: Subject-specialized databases, search engines, and websites 

Searches and directories to find specialized search engines, websites, and
useful searchable databases 

When to use and how to find the growing "invisible web" 

• Module Three: The new participatory web and reference 

Creating your own search engines and finding Custom Search Engines 

Mining the "new web" for useful information – when to consider turning to
wikis, blogs, video, or photo sites. 

The place at the reference desk for social networking and sharing sites like
MySpace and LibraryThing and 43Things or 43Places 

• Module Four: Being Prepared for Any Question 

Advanced search strategy 

Keeping up and the future of web searching 

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.
Joe Barker 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 2 ½
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 who uses the
Internet to find information, either for research or reference. This is not
an introductory course. Students who enroll should be familiar with basic
web searching, either through some ground or online web searching class or
through considerable web searching experience. 

Prerequisites:

This course is taught over the web. You must: 

•   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 you should 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: 

Microsoft Windows XP or Microsoft Windows Vista 

Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and above 

Phishing Filter disabled (IE 7) 

• Macintosh: 

OS X and above (OS 9 will NOT work with our online learning product) 

Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and above, Safari 2.0 and above 

• General 

High speed Internet connection (dial up not recommended) 

Java enabled (from Sun Microsystems not Microsoft) - test my computer
(http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp ) - Java download latest
version (http://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp )

Pop-up blockers disabled 

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

If you would like to subscribe via RSS and be notified whenever new
Infopeople training events are available, you can use these links:

**For new on-ground or online workshops: http://infopeople.org/workshop/rss

**For new podcasts: http://feeds.feedburner.com/InfopeoplePodcasts      

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://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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