As access to research collections grows and grows, the problem becomes more and more how to mange and select the most appropriate materials for any given project.
Search engine technology has grown by leaps and bounds in the last ten years, and continues toexpand. Google dominates the world, and it is a rare person indeed who doesnt visit Google.
Directories:
The above have one thing in common, the all use robot programs to prowl around the interenet to locate programs, organize them, determine their popularity (and relevance to the searcher's goals), and signs that the content has changed. Directories on the other hand are created by real live people who review, recommend and annotate the websites they find. No directory contains more than a small proportion of the sitea on the web, but they are useful for weeding out some of the noise and focusing on the sound.
Mike Swanson Writes:
I want to spend a few minutes checking to see how people are coming selecting the particular essays they wish to present as individuals or teams across the coming weeks. I'll also spend a few minutes checking whether people have found anything interesting in terms of their search in Making of America.
Then about 3:55 we'll adjourn to GHH G01 (next to Starbucks) for the presentation of "Research in Progress".
One lucky class member will get to go to dinner with Professor Stein, the Speaker, another student, and myself.
Online Libraries:
Brittany Writes:
I found a few items of interest in the first two volumes of the American Whig Review. I used a number of search words and variations, including 'slavery,' 'negro,' 'abolition,' 'emancipation,' and 'education.' The last two turned up nothing of relevance. Below are some of the articles I found that included some keywords.
Vol.1/Issue 1 January 1845: "Mr. Clay - The Texas Question," "Theodore Frelinghuysen," and "The Infancy of American Manufactures."
Issue 2 February: "Alison's History of Europe."
Issue 3 March: "The Twenty-Eighth Congress," "My First Day with the Rangers."
Issue 4 April: "About Birds."
Vol. 2/Issue 1 July: "Cases of Conscience: Political Abolition," "Sketch of the life and character of John Jay."
Issue 2 August: "Sketches of Zanzibar."
Issue 4 October: "Human Rights according to Modern Philosophy."
Issue 6 December: "The Whig Party, Its Positions and Duties."
And
I've decided to look into Chinese education on the U.S. Civil Rights movement before 1979 for my research topic. Dr. Franklin had briefly mentioned a lecture tour in China in 1979 and had expressed his surprise and disappointment at how biased and uninformed they were. Upon reading this, I was genuinely surprised that China had even allowed such a lecture tour and also somewhat disappointed that Dr. Franklin failed to recognize the role of censorship and propaganda in that country. If there is enough information available, I would like to learn more about what and how the Chinese were taught about the U.S. through government approved education and media (the only information available at the time.) I have an appointment to meet with Susan McMullen this week. She was also kind enough to refer me to the archivist, Mary Wu, who has expressed her willingness to give me a personal interview on her own education in China. I have a feeling I may have to pursue personal interviews at an integral part of this paper, if I am able to pursue it at all.
After looking over the collection of essays, Race and History, I think I would like to further research and present the essay entitled, "Edward Bellamy and the Nationalist Movement." Published in 1938 in the New England Quarterly, this was one of his earliest works. Dr. Franklin describes how Bellamy's utopian novel, Looking Backward, inspired a socialist movement in the United States.
I've linked the logo to the right to the advanced search features, and I recommend you get used to using them. For example, always use the "exact phrase" to search for proper names. The ability to restrict searches to specivid kinds of domains (education, government, military, and the likeis also very useful.
Yahoo operates very much the same way that Google does. It has a couple of user-friendly features: instead of writing in the type of domain, one can click a button. Yahoo also allows one to check how recently the website has been maintained. This is probably less important for historical sites, but it is worth noting.
Dogpile is a metasearch engine. In other words, it searches several search engines simultaneously and collates the results into a single list. Several smaller search engines have bit the dust since Dogpile came online, and it isn't as useful now as it was once. Curently, it searches google, yahoo, bing, and ask. It, too has an advanced search function. The interface is cute, and easy to use.
Clusty approaches the search process differently. Using a proprietary forumula it clusters research results into affinity groups. For example, it will group biographical information into one cluster and publications into another. It lacks some of the more sophisticated advanced search features. But a few tricks can help the search around this problem. For example, enclosing the search phrase in quotation marks obtains the same result at using an "exact phrase" box
Alta Vista has some interesting and useful features. For one, it lets one restrict research domains to those in the United States. For another it links finds to Babelfish--an internet translating service which is very useful for those of us who are language impaired.
And Finally:
Pandia is for search addicts, for those who want to know more about how searching works, and who won't feel satisfied until they've tried nearly every search engine in the world. Thank for Norwegians for this one. It has a no fancy interface, just links, links, and more links.
Brought to you by the University of California Library systems, Infomine can be both searched and browsed. Not all materials located are free.
Librarians' Internet Index (LII) is a publicly-funded website and weekly newsletter serving California, the nation, and the world.
Every Thursday morning we send out our free newsletter, New This Week, which features dozens of high-quality websites carefully selected, described, and organized by our team of librarians. Topics include current events and issues, holidays and seasons, helpful tools for information users, human interest, and more.
Search or browse by topic. Over 500 references related to black resources, and much more here. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter and be brought up to date on what's new.
The Internet Scout PRoject Comes to us via the University of Wisconsin in Madison. It can be searched or browed by Library of Congress headings. Currently over 20,000 websites are annotated.
Finally
The web continues to grow at staggering rates. Automated search engines are increasingly unable to turn up useful results to search queries. The small paid editorial staffs at commercial directory sites can't keep up with submissions, and the quality and comprehensiveness of their directories has suffered. Link rot is setting in and they can't keep pace with the growth of the Internet.
Instead of fighting the explosive growth of the Internet, the Open Directory provides the means for the Internet to organize itself. As the Internet grows, so do the number of net-citizens. These citizens can each organize a small portion of the web and present it back to the rest of the population, culling out the bad and useless and keeping only the best content.
In other words, DMOZ is generated by the same impulses which generate Wikipedia and other web efforts relying on volunteers. In this case, the folunteers rewiew the websites, but don't write them. L:atest number of websites reviews is 4, 579, 437, though that number will likely be out of date by the time you check the website out. As is the case when using work generated by amateurs, the content heeds to be scrutinized with a carefull eye. Remember that certain domain names, .edu, .gov, and .org, for example (or their equivalents in the other countries) are usually but may not always the most reliable.
Next Year the Internet Public Library will merge with the Librarian's Internet Index. It will be the surviving organization so now is as good a time as any to get used to it. The navigation bar at the left highlights the various collections and services available. The index is searchable, but I'm a browser by habit, and I recommend that you prowl around a little. History is located under Arts and Humanities. I'll give you that much of a hint.
I've already directed your attention to the journals collections at Making of America Cornel and Making of America University of Michigan. Journals are not the only sources they've put on line, however. There are 267 important 19th century books on line at Cornel (linked above) and 10, 28i volumes at the University of Michigan (Linked Below)
