The last edition of the A Guide to Computer Assisted Research had a scant few pages dedicated to the World Wide Web. This edition could be called A Guide to Using the World Wide Web for Research. So many of the previous means by which the documents and information found in Internet connected computers were located and retrieved (telnet, ftp, gopher) have been wrapped into the World Wide Web. Elements of some other Internet functions (e-mail, forums, chat) have been wrapped into web sites. The software needed to use the web has wrapped in the software required to do those, now almost obsolete, functions. The web has become an almost interchangeable word with the Internet — when people say they looked on the Internet, they mean the web. But, in fact, the web is only one of the functions of the Internet. Here’s how it differs from the other Internet tools.
- Multi-media: WWW pages, through the use of html (hyper-text markup language) coding, can incorporate text, images, sound files and video clips all together. With ftp and gopher you could retrieve only single-element files (a text file, sound file or photo file). The ability to deliver multiple mediums in a single package has created a greater flexibility in information packaging and delivery.
- Interactive: You couldn’t respond or comment to a gopher document. You can click on a highlighted link on a web page and get an e-mail box for sending an immediate message to the compiler of the site. This instant access to the “publisher” allows easier connection to the creator of the pages’ content (always a frustration with gopher documents).
- Hyperlinked: Gopher documents stood alone. Web pages use “hypertext” links to connect you to other pages in the web site or to other pages on different web sites. This ability to go deeper into a web site and to connect information on other web sites has created a 3-dimensional information space. The two-dimensional physical characters of a page (length and width) are joined by a third dimension, depth.
Web pages use hypertext transfer protocol (http) to deliver the information, whereas ftp uses file transfer protocol (ftp). When you see http you’ll know you’ll be retrieving a web page.
The World Wide Web in Reporting and Research
Web sites are the bread-and-butter of online research. Documents from government sites provide background material and verification. Reports on association sites lead to story ideas and help you find experts and authorities.
Libraries of online books help with ready reference questions and routine fact look-up. News site articles help with current events and help you gauge how others have covered stories. See the sections on individual types of content sites on the web for more ideas for using these resources in reporting and research.
WWW Anecdote
Ask any journalist or researcher who has used the web to tell a favorite story about how something they found on the web saved the day. I guarantee they’ll have one.
But here is one of my favorites, from Gina Fann, a reporter at the Tennessean.
While reporting on the Peterbilt-UAW local strike, I was tipped at 5:35 PM CST Wednesday that the National Labor Relations Board had ruled in the union’s favor on a series of unfair labor practice charges. The Local NLRB office closes and disappears at 4:30 PM; I had no names of sources there to call at home, so no way to confirm with 6 PM deadline looming. The Union quickly sent out a press release celebrating its “win” over the company; the company quickly sent out a press release saying only that NLRB had set a hearing date on complaint.
With conflicting reports on an issue that would ultimately become one paragraph of the overall six-month strike story (and not feeling up to speed on labor because I’ve been off that beat more than a year), I turned to the ‘net for help. Checked http://www.nlrb.gov, knowing it would probably have some procedural steps to eyeball AND would be reliable because of the .gov. Clicked on the “facts” link in the home page. Sure enough, the fourth item, “How Are Unfair Labor Practice Cases Processed?”, outlined what I needed, showing there was no way the NLRB would have skipped its own due process regulations and ruled in *anyone’s* favor without first having a hearing. With my editor pressing, I had to report simply that “the National Labor Relations Board may set a January hearing to address the union’s unfair labor practices complaint …” because I couldn’t confirm anything more.
The next morning, I called the NLRB again after 8 a.m. The Nashville Resident Officer confirmed, rather strongly, that the NLRB indeed had NOT ruled on the charges, in EITHER side’s favor, but hoped to either announce a settlement or file a possible complaint against the company sometime in the next week. If the latter were the case, they’d try to get a hearing date, probably in January. That gave me a quick response when irate union members called and e-mailed me and my editor today, insisting that our facts were wrong and we had been the “victims of a misinformation campaign” and should run a correction. Nope. We weren’t wrong. We could’ve been, though, if we hadn’t had some fast, reliable way to at least verify NLRB procedures.
What you need to use the World Wide Web
You must have full Internet access through an Internet provider service or a direct line into your network to be able to use WWW.
You also need “browser” software. This software translates the hypertext mark-up language (html) used to create web pages and displays it on your computer screen in a readable, usable way.
The first web browser was Mosaic, developed by Marc Andreessen who went on to found Netscape. Since then there have been hundreds of different browsers developed but Netscape and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer are fighting it out as the main browsers used. (See a list of browser software and the types of operating systems they best work on at BrowserWatch: http://browserwatch.internet.com/browsers.html )
No matter which browser software you use, they all have the same sorts of functions. I’ll specify the ways you would use Internet Explorer (IE) and Netscape (N) to perform the following functions.
WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO TODAY? Putting in the web address
This is where you type in the web address (also known as the URL: uniform resource locator). The web address starts with http:// — this indicates what type of protocol to use, in this case a hyper-text transfer protocol for retrieving a web page. The second part of the address is the domain name that identifies which computer on the Internet network you want to go to. The domain name (also known as the IP — Internet Protocol — address) is the translation of the numerical IP address into a more easily remembered name.
- IE: type the address into the ADDRESS box in the top bar of the browser OR under FILE, select OPEN and type in the address
- N: type the address into the LOCATION box in the top bar of the browser OR under FILE, select OPEN PAGE and type in the address
- Hit the enter key
- Tip: CASE MATTERS, use the correct upper and lower case. There are no spaces in a web address.
- Tip: Recent versions of both browsers have http:// as the default so if you are finding a web address you don’t need to type in the “http://” part
- Tip: If you are using Netscape and you are going to a web site that has “www” as the prefix and “com” as the suffix, all you have to type in is the middle part.
- Tip: Netscape is getting smart — it will remember the address of web sites you have recently used so if you start to type in an address it may fill out the rest of it for you automatically.
Exercise: connect to Yahoo: http://www.yahoo.com, then go to the Poynter Institute (www.poynter.org)
SCROLLING THROUGH CYBERSPACE: Moving through web sites
- Scrolling on a web page:
IE and N: Scroll up and down the page with the margin arrows. On the right side will be arrows that let you go up and down, at the bottom there might be horizontal arrows if the webpage you are displaying is wider than the screen.
- Moving through the web site:
IE and N: Click on hypertext links – underlined links, often in blue, by clicking on the left mouse button. You can tell something is a hypertext link when the cursor arrow changes to a hand.with a pointing finger. These links might take you out of the web site you are in and connect you to another web site. You can tell where you are going by looking at the status bar at the bottom of the web browser. It will show you the address of the web page you are going to and will show you the download status. When you get “Document Done” in the status bar you know the download has been completed.
- Navigation buttons on the page can be used to get you around to different sections
of the web site. There is often a “homepage” link to get you back to the front page of the web site.
Exercise: Go to the U.S. Census Bureau web site: http://www.census.gov and click on some of the hypertext links
GET BACK TO WHERE YOU ONCE WERE: Following the trail of crumbs
- IE and N: Use the back and forward buttons to move back and forth one page at a time through pages you’ve already gone to.
- IE and N: Use the Go button on the toolbar. Click on GO and get a list of pages you’ve been to, select one to jump directly to that page.
- Tip: The pages you go back to have been cached in the browser — you are actually getting a saved copy of the page you went to, you are not going back to the web site and re-retrieving the page. If you are going back to a page that is frequently updated you might want to Reload (see instructions below).
Exercise: Get back to the Poynter homepage by using one of these techniques.
YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN: Getting home / setting home
Set your browser to go directly to the web site you use most frequently or that you would like to have be the one it goes to when you open up your browser. This could be a favorite news site, your organization’s homepage, an often-used search site. Then, when you hit the HOME button you will go directly to that site.
This function is not only done differently in the two different browsers but also on different versions of the same browser. Here is how they are done in the latest versions of IE (4.0) and Netscape (Navigator 4.04).
- IE: Click VIEW on the toolbar – select OPTIONS – click the GENERAL tab. Put in the box the address of the site you want to have as your “home” site.
- N: Click EDIT and select PREFERENCES — click on Navigator — in the Home Page section put in the address you want as your default web site.
Exercise: Change the default address to CNN: http://www.cnn.com
STUCK? Reload
If the download you are doing stops in the middle or if you are at a web site where the page is frequently updated you can have the web page you are requesting re-sent.
- IE: Click the REFRESH button
- N: Click the RELOAD button
LOVE THAT SITE? WANT TO FIND IT AGAIN? Save the address
- IE: Click FAVORITES on the toolbar and select ADD TO FAVORITES. The address will go to the bottom of the list.
- N: Click BOOKMARKS and select ADD BOOKMARK.
- Tip: In Netscape, use FILE BOOKMARK (instead of ADD) to put the bookmark into a particular folder you’ve set up.
- Tip: Both Netscape and Explorer let you organize your bookmarks. Click on the Help file and go to Favorite web sites — organizing in folder (for IE) or Bookmarks, editing (for N) for more information about how to manage your addresses.
Exercise: Go to Deja: http:www.deja.com and add it to your address list.
WHERE’S THAT WORD I SEARCHED FOR?
If your search leads you to a long document or a complicated web page you can find where the word you are looking for on the page.
- IE: Click EDIT on the toolbar, highlight Find on this page, fill in the box with the word you want to locate and hit find
- N: Click EDIT, highlight Find in page, fill in the box with the word you want to locate and hit find
Exercise: Go to the White House site, http://www.whitehouse.gov. Find the Speeches area, search for “welfare reform”, then find where Republicans are mentioned.
NEVER MIND
If you’ve started to load a page and it’s taking too long or you decide you didn’t want to really go there, click the STOP button.
PAPER, PLEASE: The print function
- IE and N: Click the Print button OR click File on the toolbar, highlight Print OR hit CTRL P
OTHER BROWSER FUNCTIONS
- Want to see when a web page was last updated?
IE: Under FILE, click Properties, look at Created And Modified dates.
N: Under VIEW, click Page Info, look at Last Modified
- Need a bit bigger or smaller font on the page?
IE: Under VIEW, click Fonts – Increase or decrease the size
N: Under VIEW, click Increase Font or Decrease Font
- Want to see what the HTML (hypertext transfer markup language) code looks like for the page?
IE: Under VIEW, click Source
N: Under VIEW, click Page Source
If you can do these functions, you can get around in the World Wide Web.
LOOKING AT WEB SITES
Web sites are sponsored by different types of groups – associations, educational institutions, commercial sites and companies, government organizations and agencies, and individuals (see the next section for details about the sponsors of web sites). The design and arrangement of each site is different and you must explore a bit to see the features and functions available in each site. In general, however, most web sites have some or all of the following:
- Search function: A way to find pages or items within the web site
- Features and sections: Lists or buttons linking to special areas of the site
- Help files: Information about how to use the site effectively
- Site map: A graphical map or index of the web site’s features, not all sites have them, but they should
- About this site: Information about who put this site together and why
- User mail / comment: Interactive feature
Some also have chat groups, alert services or other types of functions.
Exercise
Go to APB: http://www.apbonline.com, a web site for police and crime news. Look for the following functions and features.
- Search: Find the search feature and look for items which contain the word “busted”
- Features list: Where can you find information on missing children?
- Help: Locate where there is information about how to use the site.
- About this site: What is the mission statement of the site? Who sponsors APB?
- User mail / comment: How can people send mail to APB?
- Currency of the information: Can you find the date the material was posted?
- Alert service: Is there any way to get automatic updates and news releases from the site?
With all web sites you need to take some time to look over the layout of the site, locate specific features and functions and get to know the contents of the site.
Tips and Traps when using the World Wide Web
- Know the site creator: All things look equal on the web. Be careful in determining who is sponsoring and contributing information to the site you are looking at. Do some background research before you use their information as background research! See more tips in “Evaluating Information Online”.
- Traffic can get heavy: Even with a fast line and reliable connection to the Internet, web traffic can get heavy, especially to popular sites. Don’t rely on a web site to be available when needed.
- Don’t get lost: Went to a great site last week and you just know it will have the information you need now? Can’t find it again? You didn’t use your bookmark! Learn how to use the bookmark feature of your web browser software, be consistent in it’s use and clean it up every so often. (Bookmark editing will let you annotate what information is available on the site or what story you used information from the site for – time taken now will save time later, guaranteed.)
- Data is dirty (on paper, electronically, over the phone…): Use healthy skepticism (and a second source) if you are going to use information you found online (or, for that matter, in a book or magazine or from a person). Consider the source of the information – data from a government source might be more reliable than data provided in the press release from a special interest group. If the information you are going to use is critical to your story, or the key point you are making, take the time to verify the information from another source.
- Site cites: How do you cite the source of information you get? Does the medium used to retrieve the information from an agency matter, or is it just the source of the information you need to attribute? Figure out citation guidelines for your newsroom. Here are some sites about citing Internet sources:
- A Brief Citation Guide for Internet Sources in History and the Humanities, by Melvin E. Page: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/cite.html
- Columbia Guide to Online Style: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/idx_basic.html
SOURCES
Books
The Complete Beginner’s Guide to the World Wide Web, by Scott Western. Take That, 1998.
A Journalist’s Guide to the Internet: The Net as a Reporting Tool. by Christopher Callahan. Allyn & Bacon, 1999.
The Electronic Journalist: Using the Internet and other electronic resources, by Randy Reddick and Elliot King. HBJ College and School Division, 1997 (new edition coming soon).
