Discovering The World From Your Laptop

1

2009 Gold Rush Writer's ConferenceMokelumne Hill, Calif.May 1-3, 2009

Laptop 1:

Navigating The World From Your Laptop

Tom JohnsonInstitute for Analytic JournalismSanta Fe, New [email protected]

2 Gold Rush Writers Workshop © J.T.Johnson 2009________________________May 2009

What we’re aiming for today

Major changes in datasphere Open Source Web 2.0 (aka “Cloud Computing”)

Effective search-and-keep tools Refining and refined search engines

(Hot Tip: Google ain’t the answer.)

If time….look at some non-text web sites Enrich your research Bring new levels of truth, detail, verisimilitude

to your writing


What’s going on in the “datasphere”?

Open Source People writing applications, add-ons,

widgets for FREE Web 2.0 (aka “Cloud Computing”)

Applications moving from your computer hard drive to cyberspace Places more “intellectual” demands on the

browser and browser extensions/add-ons Need Broadband Be careful in cyberspace!

http://www.techcrunch.com/tag/deadpool/

http://www.techcrunch.com/tag/deadpool/


What all this means to writers

Datasphere is constantly changing Tools to navigate datasphere

constantly changing We can be better at what we do if we

constantly adapt to those changes

Data In Analysis Info Out


How to navigate cyberspace?

Current - and updated - browsers On how many of your computers? Do you need portability? (USB drives)

Bookmark and note-keeping apps Sophisticated, flexible search

engines “Invisible web” resources

What’s behind the closed digital doors?


Alternative Web Browsers

Major Browsers: Firefox, Opera, Safari, Google Chrome

More Cross-Platform Browsers: Mozilla and Flock

Windows Browsers: K-Meleon Macintosh Browsers: Camino,

OmniWeb and iCab Linux Browsers: Konqueror, Galeon

and Epiphany

http://www.alternativebrowseralliance.com/browsers.html#cross

http://www.alternativebrowseralliance.com/browsers.html#cross2

http://www.alternativebrowseralliance.com/browsers.html#windows

http://www.alternativebrowseralliance.com/browsers.html#mac

http://www.alternativebrowseralliance.com/browsers.html#linux


All of these ALT browsers feature:

Tabbed browsing; automatic updates Modern web pages with HTML, CSS, SSL,

and JavaScript Cookies and cookie management Plug-ins and Java Ad blocking and/or pop-up blocking Download Managers Integrated Search Favorites/Bookmarks and import (and

export)


Finding bookmark utilities

Google Search words: [+free +bookmark +programs]

Surfpack http://freebookmark.surfpack.com/ (scroll

down to see list)

Tucows (keyword: "bookmark") Windows has 498 hits (last year 209). Mac

has 27 (last year 25)

http://www.google.com/

http://freebookmark.surfpack.com/

http://freebookmark.surfpack.com/

http://www.tucows.com/


Effective search-and-keep tools

Establish your criteria Are tools browser specific or generic? Bookmarks on YOUR hard drive and/or in

the digital cloud Degree of control Make folders and sub-folders Annotate Add tag words Import/export entries E-mail full or partial set of bookmarks


Evaluation sites and tools

Search Engine DirectoryInternet search engines categorized by topic as general and specialty search engines. Also resources and tools for exploring the deep web, performing advanced research, and for learning about using search engine tools and technology. http://www.searchengineguide.com/searchengines.html

Social Bookmarking Social Bookmarking Faceoff --

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/social_bookmarking_faceoff.php

http://www.searchengineguide.com/searchengines.html

http://3spots.blogspot.com/2006/04/why-social-bookmark.html





Some major Bookmark tools

FireFox’s Bookmarks Good organization after capture: “Organize

Bookmarks” Good export. Install “FoxMarks” extension to synch multiple computers.

Scrapbook (Firefox add-on) Pros: Save Web pages or parts of. Major features are: Save Web site hotlinks and

other file format documents (i.e. PDF); Organize the collection in the same way as Bookmarks; Full text search and quick filtering search of the collection. Good highlight and annotation tools. Cons: can’t synch to online or other computers. Difficult to tag and save in multi-folders.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

http://my.foxmarks.com/

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/427


Some major Bookmark tools

Diigo.com (TJ’s current favorite) Good highlighting, annotation and tagging.

Private or shared links. “Save and e-mail” feature.

del.icio.us Allows access to the same bookmarks from

any computer; add bookmarks from anywhere. Use tags (i.e. keywords) to organize and remember your bookmarks, which is a much more flexible system than folders. [Well, maybe.]

http://www.diigo.com/


Note-taking tools

Criteria? Just one desktop or multiple computers? Browser accessible? Synchronization? Export to ????

Backup storage flashdrive, HD or web “locker”? E-mail to yourself or others?

Receive notes sent via phone - text or pics? “Search within” functions?


Major note-taking tools

Eluma - www.eluma.comCollect, organize and share all of the information you find on the Web, or through Eluma. Keep all of your Web stuff in one place -

favorite Web sites, RSS feeds and podcasts, blogs you read, etc. Organize your favorites by creating collections and/or assigning tags

Discover new content; subscribe to collections created and recommended by other Eluma users.

Subscribe to real-time alerts Synchronize favorites automatically across all

your computers.



Evernote - http://evernote.com/ Capture the things you want to remember using

what you already use — your Windows or Mac computer, the web, and your mobile phone.

Run everything through the recognition technology; synchronize it across your devices. You can then organize and tag the notes.

When you want to find something, just search or filter for it.



Microsoft OneNote – (60 days$100)http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/default.aspx

One place to gather notes and information; search to find what you are looking for quickly

Shared notebooks so that they can manage group work

Multiple computers? Use MS Windows Live to backup and synchhttp://www.officelive.com/ and https://sync.live.com/home.aspx


First lesson of online research!

Have a web-search strategy UCB “Five-Step Search Strategy”

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Strategies.html

Understand how the search engine(s) work Google: Always begin at “

Advanced Search” and “Advanced Search Tips”

YahooMore”All Search Services” Ask.com Advanced Search Tips



http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en

http://www.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=searchguides.html&ctx=advanced&hl=en

http://tools.search.yahoo.com/about/forsearchers.html

http://help.ask.com/en/docs/about/adv_search_tips.shtml


The Deep - “Invisible” - Web #1

Deep Web Research 2008http://www.llrx.com/features/deepweb2008.htmMarcus P. Zillman: “The Deep Web covers [approx.] 900 billion pages of information located through the world wide web in various files and formats that the current search engines on the Internet either cannot find or have difficulty accessing. Search engines currently locate approximately 20 billion pages. “This article and guide is designed to give you the resources you need to better understand the history of the deep web research, as well as various classified resources that allow you to search through the currently available web to find those key sources of information nuggets only found by understanding how to search the "deep web".

http://www.llrx.com/features/deepweb2008.htm


Navigating the “Invisible Web”

Start with reference librarians UC Berkeley Library’s excellent site

www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/InvisibleWeb.html Note search examples for Google and Yahoo keywords

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/InvisibleWeb.html

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/InvisibleWeb.html


Desktop Search Engines

Copernic Desktop Search 3.2 Find files and emails fast along with its wide

network deployment options http://www.copernic.com

Google Desktop Search your computer as easily as you search

the web with Google Find and launch applications and files with just

a few keystrokeshttp://desktop.google.com/

http://www.copernic.com/en/products/desktop-search/index.html

http://www.copernic.com/

http://desktop.google.com/

http://desktop.google.com/


Citation Management Tools

Digital Research Tools Wiki (DiRT) Zotero - www.zotero.org

Zotero is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources. It lives in the web browser itself.

NoodleBib - http://www.noodletools.com/index.php Accurate MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian formatting Latest editions of the MLA Handbook, APA Publication

Manual, and Turabian's A Manual for Writers Export directly to Word Auto-alphabetization of entries Custom sort orders (media type, publication date, or

primary/secondary source classification)

http://www.zotero.org/


Bibliographic Tools

EasyBib Pro - http://www.easybib.com Seamlessly switch between APA,

Chicago/Turabian, and MLA styles Harvard system author-date format supported

through APA Footnote & parenthetical citation wizards Import citations from third-party databases $8.99 per year


Quick summary

Major changes in datasphere Open Source Web 2.0 (aka “Cloud Computing”)

Effective search-and-keep tools Refining and refined search engines

(Hot Tip: Google ain’t the answer.)

Look at some text and non-text web sites Enrich your research Bring new levels of truth, detail, verisimilitude

to your writing

Discovering The World From Your Laptop

Education

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