Give This To Your Parents: Search Engine Searching Explained March 3rd, 1999 Those of us who grew up in the time when doing research meant taking a bus to the closest city library and using the card catalog to find articles or books sometimes forget or don't realize just how much information can be obtained off the internet. Part of the secret of success is knowing how to ask for what you want and it can be frustrating when you can't figure out just how to do it. For example, do as I did for last week's column and go to your favorite search engine(s) and ask for information on "sounds", "Mac start up", "Mac sounds", "start up sounds", and "start up sounds for a Mac". Although you basically are looking for the same information each of those key word identifiers will give you totally different kinds of information. For instance the quest on "sounds" gave me sites for a movie sounds page, a government contractor resource center, a racing car site, a site on the meaning of words, a Samba home page, hard-core inline skating, car stereos, animal sounds, sports sounds, and cartoons among a myriad of other choices. The query on "Mac start up" directed me to a site for a leper colony, educational software, a cyber tour site for New England, a ninjas interactive game, a site for getting free stuff, a site for Nebraska migrant education, and several sites promoting specific products. "Mac sounds" offered a number of individual's home pages, a sound effects site, the Pangaea World Orchestra site, a site on eastern birds, a comedy page, and a page named 'screwloose.net' that advertises itself as a page that serves no purpose other than as a diversion from working. And last but not least the query for "start up sounds for a Mac" gave me zilch. Whew. It is a good thing that I have unlimited internet time with my ISP. In none of those searches utilizing 8 or 9 different search engines did I find any clear direction to a site that would give me a source for downloading start up sounds to add to my Mac. I finally found what I really needed by asking the right question. Stay tuned and I will tell you what it was. Lets look at some more examples. After all, you may as well benefit from my trial and error method of research. I am moving to a new home and being the compulsive Virgo that I am, I wanted to find out the exact zip code so I could order an address rubber stamp before I moved. This time I lucked out because I found the postal service site as soon as I asked for zip codes. The site is USPS ZIP Code Look up and Address Information <http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/> and it quickly gave me the 9 digit zip code I was seeking. I was able to find this site without much trouble because a zip code is a specific thing. It is like asking for a red coat with silver buttons as opposed to asking for coats or clothes. Suppose you want to find dessert recipes that don't use real sugar. What search keywords would you use. How about alternative sweeteners? Sugar free? Alternative sweeteners gave me links to specific products as did sugar free, I bet you're saying here that I should ask for sugar free recipes. You're right. I finally was linked to a number of sites that offer recipes that contain no sugar. Those two were not so hard, but.... Let us try to find information on something a bit more innocuous. How about eggs. That is a fairly innocuous subject you will admit. You shouldn't have any problem finding an over abundance of information. But what if you don't want to wade through pages and pages of related stuff to find what you want. Suppose I want to know better ways to preserve eggs and keep them fresh longer. That means I don't want to know what animals lay eggs, which ones taste good, the breeding habits of birds, healthy recipes, thrifty meals, war memories, facts about Belize, mountain mathematicians, decorating eggs, brands of pantyhose, dinosaur eggs, caviar, singing groups, egg art sculpture, or handmade hammocks. I was cheerfully directed to links on all those subjects when I used key words of "preserve eggs," "make eggs last", and "eggs". However, when I found the right combination of key words I found links that lead me to case studies, reputable recommendations, and ways to tell the freshness of eggs when you buy them. There is a secret to the success of finding information on the more obscure subjects such as the ones discussed today. This "secret" is especially helpful for users with limited experience using the internet as a research medium. Drum Roll.....the solution is to go to altavista.com to search. The reason for choosing AltaVista is that AltaVista allows and encourages you to just ask a question. How do I keep eggs fresh? and Where can I find startup sounds for a Macintosh Computer? both proved to be the magic identifiers necessary to give me what I really wanted. So by process of elimination, duh, I guess the secret between being directed to general information about something as opposed to getting the specific thing you really want is in thinking through what you really want to do. In the old card catalog system I could have looked under a subject index for Macintosh and been lead to where I needed to go. (Well, ok, maybe not Macintosh because we didn't have them and..... but you get the picture). Unlike the old fateful card catalog, the internet contains a bazillion sites so it is necessary to be as directive as possible. Many Observers have told me about Sherlock, the new search technology included in MacOS 8.5.1. These same readers have told me about how wonderful it is, but I am afraid that my old Mac can't run MacOS 8.5.1. Once I get my new iMac, I will be sure and tell everyone about Sherlock, but until then I will keep usijng Alta Vista. In the past couple of weeks I have found some interesting web sites that I think will have some universal appeal so I would like to pass them on. One is http://shn.webmd.com/index.html. This an easy to use and helpful site with health information. Health Topics A-Z is an alphabetical listing of articles. You can either search alphabetically (for instance you know Alzheimer's starts with an A, but after that you aren't sure of the spelling), or you can search by specific subject such as Anxiety Disorders. Self-Help Advisor gives a menu of everyday troubles such as acne, backaches, or chest pain and you can quickly read information of those specific subjects. The Medical Encyclopedia is a more elaborate alphabetical listing of entries on medical terms. For instance if you are going to have an EKG and you want to know what the test is for, or you get a list of the blood workup tests your doctor gives you at your annual physical and you want to know what you are being tested for. Drug Reference is an alphabetical listing for prescription drugs that tells you what they are for, side effects, etc., and it gives you the information in plain language. In fact, I found all the information at this site to be written for the average person as opposed to medical practitioners. On a lighter note I found a very good site for information on flowers. The site is sponsored by The Society of American Florists and the address is http://www.aboutflowers.com/index.html. You have access to information about the care of plants or flowers, how to use flowers to decorate (planning a wedding anyone?), how to order flowers when you don't know one from another, and even suggestions for wording on cards. The site is fast and unpretentious and I found it to be interesting. I think it is an advantage to have information before I go into a flower shop so that I am not overwhelmed by the options and can better control the price. I hope you have success hunting for what you want and that you will let me of your successes. If you have any tips, hints, or thoughts on these topics, make sure you write me so that I can share your thoughts with other readers.