Module 4

Module 4 – Using the Infosphere: taking and organizing

(1) Invisible or Deep Web: What it is, why it exists, how to find it, and its inherent ambiguity
Barker, J. (n.d.). Invisible or deep web: What it is, why it exists, how to find it, and its inherent ambiguity. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved January 20, 2007 from
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/InvisibleWeb.html

This resource calls itself a tutorial, but reads more like an explanation. It gives a brief background to the invisible or deep web, then answers the questions posed in title. The ‘How to find it’ section is arguably the most important and contains useful external and internal hyperlinks to further information. Overall the text is well written, informative and objective. As a university site, it carries a high degree of intregrity and is aimed at staff and students to help them use the internet for work and study. The page was last updated in August 2006, so is obviously maintained and kept up to date.

What lets this page down is the design, or lack of. The layout is unimaginative. There are no graphics, just text and no effort has been made in the design department. The text runs the full width of the screen, making it uncomfortable to the eye. Different questions/sections should have been broken up more through design. One of the crucial points in the ‘how to’ section (searching the hidden web by using a keyword, then adding the word ‘database’) is buried in text and should have been highlighted. This interesting subject could have been better served in this webpage.

Author Joe Barker is a librarian at UC, Berkeley and web search instructor.

Concepts: Just knowing that the invisible or deep web exists and how to access databases is like searching in a whole new universe, especially to users who have only ever used the most basic features of a search engine like Google. Tertiary students and staff are exposed to the database of their own university library for example, but it’s a leap to then realize other organizations have databases that can be mined through searching the www.

(2) WebBrain
TheBrain Technologies Corp (n.d.). WebBrain – The smartest way to see the web. Retrieved January 20, 2007 from http://www.webbrain.com/html/default_win.html

This resource is an innovative, accurate and speedy way to search the web. Using visuals and the idea of association, WebBrain lets users ‘see’ their search. On first opening the site, 16 categories for searching are displayed alphabetically from Arts to World. The categories are shown as small text boxes with thin lines linking them back to a central WebBrain logo.

One of the most interesting and useful aspects of searching in this way is that many other possibilities are opened up to you at a glance. Instead of just typing in ‘bushwalking’ and seeing a text list of bushwalking sites of variable standards, you could start your search off by clicking Recreation from the main listing, then seeing another visually displayed alphabetical listing of different recreations, from Antiques to Travel, and including Bushwalking. On this page, you are also shown an excerpt of the previous page (the general categories listing), and other recreation categories such as Sports, Training and Arts – an arrow lets you scroll down these lists without impacting on the main display. As you move your cursor over an item, it is highlighted with a green box, black background and a yellow line linking it to back to the central topic.

In the bottom half of the screen the results are listed giving a hyperlink, a brief description of what the site actually is and the hyperlinked url. Giving a meaningful description of the site is incredibly useful for deciding if you want to visit it, as traditional Google searching is often guesswork.

This resource has many useful features too numerous to cover here and is highly suitable for both general browsing and specific searches. Website creator, TheBrain Technologies Corp, is based in the US.

Concepts – users searching the internet at the most basic level may often find the process time-consuming, frustrating and unsuccessful. There are now many more tools to search with than just Google. Being able to use specific search engines for specific uses, and specific ways of searching the internet, differentiates the advanced internet user.