My first reaction to this task was something along the lines of “There are hundreds of other search engines on the internet; I’ll just use one of them instead!” In doing so, I will still be expanding my knowledge of internet content and improve my ability to locate information.
1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus?
ANSWER: Onel de Guzman, 24, a computer school student in the Phillipines, was the creator of the “lovebug” virus and he admitted to writing the password-stealing program as a school project.
Search Engine: HotBot (http://www.hotbot.com/)
Search Criteria: lovebug AND virus AND creator
Source: CNN
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/06/29/philippines.lovebug.02/index.html
Is the source reliable?
CNN is a worldwide provider of news and has a name and reputation to uphold. The article referring the lovebug virus contains no bias or opinion, and therefore it can be assumed the source is genuine.
2. Who invented the paper clip?
ANSWER: Johan Vaaler, a Norwegian, has been identified as the inventor of the paper clip
Search Engine: Yahoo
Search Criteria: paper clip inventor
Source: About.com
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blpaperclip.htm
Is the source reliable?
About.com is a neighbourhood of experts sharing their knowledge online. Unlike Wikipedia, not everyone can contribute to the website and therefore the information displayed is restricted to the wisdom of those with expertise in the field. This collection of information is not only useful but most likely truthful.
3. How did the Ebola virus get its name?
ANSWER: The Ebola Virus, found in Africa and the Western Pacific, was named after the region of Congo (Kinshasa) where it was first identified in 1976.
Search Engine: Answers (www.answers.com)
Search Criteria: dictionary: ebola virus
Source: Answers (excerpt from the Colombian Encyclopedia)
http://www.answers.com/topic/ebola?cat=health
Is the source reliable?
“Answers” is a renowned search engine but the use of excerpts from various encyclopedias, including the Columbian encyclopedia, ensures its reliability as a source.
4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake?
ANSWER: The only earthquake in the 20th Century to reach or exceed 9 on the Richter Scale was the May 1960 earthquake in Chile, which registered 9.5. The greatest loss of life, however, came from the 8.2 quake which struck China in July 1976, killing nearly 250,000 people.
Search Engine: Open Directory (http://dmoz.org/)
Search Criteria: earthquakes
Source: TLC - Dicovery
http://tlc.discovery.com/convergence/quakes/articles/tremortech_08.html
Is the source reliable?
This website represents the Discovery channel – available on pay TV. Although the site itself has no credibility in the field of seismic activity, it presents information from documentaries compiled by known experts in the field.
5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?
ANSWER: 1 Terabyte is equal to 1073741824 kilobytes
Search Engine: A9 (http://www.a9.com/)
Search Criteria: kilobyte AND terabyte
Source: Byte Converter - File Size Calculator
http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/calculate/byteconverter.shtml
Is the source reliable?
T1 shopper is an internet service provider so they have experience in the field of computers and technology. Their “Byte Convertor” is based on mathematics and therefore is most likely more accurate than any estimates which can be offered by an actual person.
6. Who is the creator of email?
ANSWER: Ray Tomlinson
Search Engine: Yahoo
Search Criteria: “creator of email”
Source: TechDirt
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20011206/0140215.shtml
Is the source reliable?
Techdirt employs a team of analysts with a broad range of experience and their mission statement is to “get the right information to the right people at the right time.” From this we can assume the information they provide is accurate and correct.
7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it?
ANSWER: Storm Worm is a Trojan which infects computers through a seemingly innocent email and initiates large amounts of spam email to be sent from these systems. The infected computers form a network and communicate with each other, with the email addresses stored on each station being harvested. As of January 22 2007, five days after its initial appearance, the storm worm accounted for 8% of all infections worldwide. Storm is estimated to comprise of 1 – 10 million PCs worldwide.
Search Engine: AltaVista
Search Criteria: “storm worm”
Source: About.com – Antivirus Software
http://antivirus.about.com/od/virusdescriptions/a/stormworm.htm
Is the source reliable?
About.com is a neighbourhood of experts sharing their knowledge online. Unlike Wikipedia, not everyone can contribute to the website and therefore the information displayed is restricted to the wisdom of those with expertise in the field. This collection of information is not only useful but most likely truthful.
8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of Australia directly, what is the most efficient way?
ANSWER: There are many various methods of contacting PM Kevin Rudd displayed on the official Labour Party website. Some include:
- Parliament House:
o Tel (02) 6277 7700
o Fax (02) 6273 4100
- Griffith Electorate House:
o Tel (07) 3899 4031
o (07) 3899 5755
- Postal Address: PO Box 476A, Morningside, QLD, 4170
Search Engine: Yahoo (www.yahoo.com)
Search Criteria: contact Kevin Rudd
Source: Official Website of the Australian Labour Party
http://www.alp.org.au/people/qld/rudd_kevin.php
Is the source reliable?
This is the official page for PM Kevin Rudd on the Labour Party’s website so wee can therefore assume this information is genuine.
9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of?
ANSWER: the Black Assassins
Search Engine: Yahoo
Search Criteria: Stephen Stockwell Band
Source: Dr Stephen Stockwell
http://live-wirez.gu.edu.au/Staff/Stephen/default.html
Is the source reliable?
This page is created by / dedicated to Stephen Stockwell… it doesn’t get much more accurate than that!
10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words?
ANSWER: Web 2.0 is the term given to a second generation of the World Wide Web which advances on HTML code to improve user-focused applications and open sharing of information.
Search Engine: Yahoo
Search Criteria: define: web2.0
Source: Webopedia
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/Web_2_point_0.html
Is the source reliable?
Webopedia is an online encyclopedia dedicated to computer technology. With its reputation based upon accuracy, the source is presumably reliable.
This exercise was beneficial to me because I feel I rely on Google and Wikipedia a great deal when locating information. Even if I need to confirm a definition or locate a city that was referred to I usually jump straight to Google of Wikipedia; simply because its quick and I have familiarised myself with these two sites. Wikipedia is not very reliable however, because the content can be altered by any user and therefore may not be accurate.
• How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?
Firstly, web spiders form a list of words and/or phrases found on web pages so that search engines have a database to search. This process is known as web crawling.
The web pages found by search engines are then ranked by relevance. Not even search engines can get it right every time however, and non-relevant pages can potentially be displayed.
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/search-engine1.htm
• Who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?
Crawler-based search engines determine relevancy (or usefulness) based on a set of rules known as an algorithm. The main rule of a ranking algorithm is the location and frequency of keywords. Individual search engines vary their results to those of a rival search engine by indexing more or less web pages. Websites may be penalised if search engine spamming is detected. The web crawling process ensures that different search engines return unique results.
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2167961
• What are some of your favourite search engines? Why do you like one more than others?
Personally, I prefer to use Google or Wikipedia simply because they are easy to use and return the most relevant results with minimal criteria. Although Wikipedia may not provide guaranteed accuracy, I find it is a great reference point to gain basic information on unfamiliar topics. Google is then used to confirm the claims made by Wikipedia with more reliable information. These two search engines excel above the others because (in my opinion) they are easier to use and more concise than their competitiors.
‘Guess the Google’
http://grant.robinson.name/projects/guess-the-google/
I really enjoyed this game. It reminds of a traditional “spot the differences”- type game… only the opposite by having to spot the similarities. ‘Guess the Google’ highlights how important it is to be specific when searching for text or images as any broad variety of (potentially unrelated) results could be returned.
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