Course Modules:
Comprehensive
Web Search
Strategies
Searching Beyond the Surface Web
While the World Wide Web offers an incredible array of resources, there are some online resources that are not readily accessible from the commonly used search tools. Searching specifically for these resources can add another layer of information.
- Gophers
were text-based research tools that flourished before the development
of the web. It appears that all of the gophers have now been abandoned
so this option is no longer possible.
- Usenet or
Newsgroups date back to the earliest days of the Internet and
contain a world of information from the communication corner of the
Internet. Specialized search engines like Google's Groups Search can
ferret out ongoing discussions on every topic imaginable.
- Listserve/Mailing
Lists offer the same array of ongoing email based discussion groups.
Directories of all known listserve/mailing lists can give you the information
you will need to join these discussions.
- Blogs have
increased exponentially in the past several years. Much of the discussion
that used to take place on the Newsgroups and Listserves has moved
over
to the Blogs. Several Blog Search Engines have recently become available.
These search engines specifically target Blogs and make it possible
to find information that is usually not available on other search
tools.
- FAQ’s
(Frequently Asked Questions) have been collected on many topics of interest
to web researchers. Believe it or not, many of your questions have been
asked before. Using a specialized FAQ search engine will locate those
archived FAQ’s and allow you share the combined knowledge of those
who have asked and answered the same questions earlier.
- The
Invisible Web - There are thousands of web databases that are not
typically indexed by the popular search engines. Specialized Invisible
Web search engines allow you to explore these resources.
Explore the Searching
Beyond the Web links to gophers, Newsgroups, Listserve and FAQ’s.
Record your observations in your digital logbook and bookmark appropriate
resources that you find.
Send me an email message. Share your observations about searching Beyond the Surface Web.
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| last revised 11.28.16
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