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The Internet

You would learn the basics of the Internet, how to

effectively search for information online as well as
how to evaluate the quality of information
sources

Design Of The Internet

• The original internet designed to connect computers and

collaborate/interact with others
– Consequently a common protocol was developed so connected computer
nodes could communicate
– This is still one of the major uses of the Internet today
• Connect & interact: Mac, Windows, phone all connected and communicating
through web sites like Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter etc.
– The security of those connections weren’t a consideration because
access to the computers being connected was restricted (university
researchers)

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Internet Addresses

• You are not anonymous on the Internet

– Don’t think you can ‘troll’ (or do worse things) online with impunity
– Methods of masking/disguising an IP address (e.g. “Tor”) aren’t infallible
• Each node (connected device) on the Internet has an address
so that information can reach it “IP address” or “IP” for short.
• The address takes the form of a sequence of numbers
• But usually a more meaningful address is used in place of the
numeric IP address by users.
– e.g. www.facebook.com
• The IP address of your Internet devices at home is provided by
your Internet service provider/ISP (e.g. Shaw, Telus etc.).
– Using a free Wi-Fi network will allow your device to get an IP address
from the host of that network.

Modern Consequence Of Historical Roots

• Information is typically routed among several computers and

may take multiple paths even in one ‘session’
• e.g., one session could consist of the viewing of a single video
or even a single financial transaction.
Unknown ISP Unknown ISP

Tam’s Tam’s
Tam’s ISP Bank’s ISP
machine bank

Unknown Unknown Unknown

ISP ISP ISP

Always takes this path

Sometimes takes this path

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Reasons For Multiple Paths Along The Internet

Unknown Unknown
ISP ISP

Tam’s Tam’s
Tam’s ISP Bank’s ISP
machine bank

Unknown Unknown Unknown

ISP ISP ISP
– Benefits:
• Stability
• Speed
– Need for an IP address
• Information may need to be resent.
• Each ‘portion’ (packet) of transmitted data needs to contain the IP address of
the destination.

Searching For Information Using Google

• There are other search sites.

• Some may actually work as well as (or for some tasks – better
than Google).
• We will talk about some of the advantages of some of these
other sites later.
• Google however is by far the most popular search site and for
simple/common searches it will probably provide at least
reasonable results.

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Search Websites Rank Results According To Relevance

Making Your Site More Noticeable (Higher Rank)

– Old approach (it still applies but it doesn’t play as large a role as it used
to in the ranking of search results)
• Add relevant keywords to your page.
• The frequency and location of keywords may play a role in determining
relevance.
• Trying to artificially rank your page higher in search results may result in a page
being put at the bottom of the list (e.g. Your page is listed on page 100 out of
100 pages of results).
–e.g., adding celebrity ‘gossip’ to my CPSC page may rank it higher but not relevant info
for most visitors.
– Google “Page rank”
• Links (to your site) also affect ranking (“cross links” between pages)
• Popular/relevant pages linking to your page rank your page higher on search
results than links from irrelevant pages.

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Searching For Information On The Internet: Google

• Easy? Just type in what you’re searching for…

• …you may get the information that you were looking for plus
much more!

You Will Learn Strategies For Narrowing Your Search Results

(This Is For Google But Largely Applies To Other Sites):

1. Reducing the number of unrelated results.

2. Explicitly avoiding pages with certain words.
3. Searching for information from select pages.

Source (last accessed 2009): http://www.google.com/support/websearch and http://www.googleguide.com

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Employing These Search Strategies

• Many (but not all) of the features can be found through an

“Advanced Search” subpage of the Google site.
– http://www.google.com/advanced_search
• There are several options on this page (to be covered shortly):

Searching For Exact Phrases

• Sometimes you may be looking for information about a famous
quote. No
– Want: “This was their finest hour!” – Winston Churchill quotes

Many results
must be
reviewed.

Unrelated
websites show
up: Their
finest hour

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Searching For Exact Phrases (2)

• Enclosing the phrase that you are searching for in quotes will
search for pages that contain only that specific exact phrase.
– Any variations (e.g. order of words) should be excluded

The desired
phrased
enclosed
quotation marks.

Fewer but more

relevant results
show up

Searching Exact Phrases: Advanced Search

No other combinations are
possible (same as using
quotes)

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Words That Are Commonly Ignored By Google

• Stop words are ignored by search engines such as Google:

– Common words e.g. ‘the’, ‘a’, ‘to’, ‘in’, ‘I’…
– Reserved words e.g. ‘OR;

• The search engine can be forced to include the stop words:

1. Use quotes
best places to eat in Calgary
Vs.
“best places to eat in Calgary”

2. Use the ‘plus’ operator. (Not available after Google+ came out)
Star Wars I
Vs.
Star Wars +I

What If More Than One Word Can Be Used?

• You only remember a part of a phrase and there is more than

one way in which the phrase may be completed
• Example1:
– The world’s longest runway
– The world’s longest undefended border
– The world’s longest beard
– Etc.
• The wildcard operator * allows one or more words to be
substituted for the ‘star’ or ‘asterisk’
• Example:
– “The world’s longest *”

1 Example from: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433?hl=en

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Using Multiple Wildcards

• Examples:
– a funny * happened on the * to the * 1
– Brad Pitt played the character * in *

1 From: https://www.lifewire.com/search-using-wildcards-google-1616504

Searching A Range

• Searching numerical values within a certain min – max range

• Range operator .. (multiple dots)
• Example:
Qatar History 2000..2009
laptop $300..$500 canada

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Range Searching: Advanced Search

Search
criteria

Numerical
range
(same as
..)

Searching Among Alternatives

• Use the OR operator

• Normally (default) when a word is typed into in the search box
Google will try to find web pages that include all of those
words.
• Example (searches for all words):
– <First word> <Second word> (There is an implicit AND, but there
is no ‘AND’ operator with Google)
cute wallpapers cats dogs
• Example (searches include alternatives):
cute wallpapers cats OR dogs
“Bruce Lee” OR “Little Dragon” OR “Lee Siu Lung”
“Wayne Gretzky” OR “The Great One” OR “Number 99” OR
“Number ninety nine”

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Searching Among Alternatives (2)

• Note: Google is case sensitive in this situation! (OR must be

upper case in order to search for alternatives).
• The following searches are not identical!

To be or not to be
Vs.
To be OR not to be

Example: Multiple Search Terms (Default)

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Example: Multiple Search Terms (“OR”)

Example: Multiple Search Terms, OR - No Caps

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Searching Alternatives: Advanced Search

All words that
must appear
same as “AND”

One or more
of these words
can appear
(same as
“OR”)

Using ‘OR’: Exceptions1

• Google was designed to approximate how people think and

behave when searching for information.
• Consequently exceptions to the rules are sometimes made.
• Example2:
What you tell the Google: “For better” OR “for worse”
What Google looks for: “For better or for worse”

1 From http://www.google.com/support/websearch
2 Google and other search engines may automatically assume you are looking for the Lynn Johnson comic strip
(https://www.fborfw.com/) when you enter this phrase.

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Excluding Words

• Return search results excluding (or “not including” specified

words)
• There may be times when you want Google to exclude from
results certain words or phrases.
• This can be done with the subtraction operator (subtract the
words that follow the operator from search results).
• Example:
“James Tam”
Vs.
“James Tam” –Calgary
• An alternate approach is to use the ‘NOT’ operator
“James Tam” NOT Calgary

Excluding Words: Advanced Search

Exact
search
phrase

Excluded
word (same
as -, NOT

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Example Results: AND, OR, Subtraction (NOT)

Search phrase Operator ~num. results

“james tam" 63,200
“james tam" -"computer science“ NOT 49,300

"james tam" AND "computer science" AND 13,400

"james tam" OR "computer science" OR 229,000,000

Site Specific Searches

• Useful when a webpage is large and/or not well organized:

– Searching the current webpage
– Searching the entire site (and only that site)

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Searching The Currently Viewed Web Page

<CTRL>-<F>
(Edge, IE,
Firefox)

Searching One Website

• Involves searching one entire site (and not just the page from
the site that is currently loaded into the web browser). Results
from other sites will not be shown.
– Use the ‘site’ keyword
• Example:
Search only the University of Calgary website for the desired text

Results are only from the University of Calgary website

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Searching One Website: Advanced Search

Information
sought

Site being
searched
(same as
‘site’)

Online Documentation: Google Operators

• (Last accessed Jan 2020)

– https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433?hl=en

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Other Search Websites: Google Comparison

• Google (Alphabet)
– Overall the most frequently used search site (~75% - 95% searches occur
via Googles)
– Pros (Google)
• Text search:
–Now: generally good
–Past: clearly superior to similar sites
• Maps/geographical – can’t be beat especially with extensive street and satellite
views
Bing: rotating ‘360’ degree street side view (not the same experience)

– Cons (Google)
• Complaints about biases in ranking e.g. competitors to Google are ranked lower
• Privacy/tracking issues (may be more than you think, not just ‘ads’)

Other Search Websites: Google Comparison

– Cons (Google continued))

• Privacy/tracking issues (may be more than you think, not just ‘ads’)
–Example (location and time map):
 https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/20/what-does-google-know-about-me.html
–“Why Google’s Spying on User Data Is Worse than the NSA’s”
 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-googles-spying-on-use_b_3530296

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Other Search Sites: Microsoft Bing1

• www.bing.com
• The results from text searches (e.g. “Who will win the Stanley
cup” +2019) are often comparable to Google (some claim Bing
is greatly superior)
• The search tabs (e.g. images) provide similar search
parameters

1 References (Accessed Sept 2018)

• http://blogs.cornell.edu/info2040/2016/10/17/bing-vs-google-seo-and-search-algorithms/
• https://www.pcworld.com/article/2685215/websites/the-4-reasons-i-switched-from-google-to-bing.html
• https://www.cnet.com/news/so-i-put-google-and-bing-in-the-ring-guess-who-won/
• https://help.bing.microsoft.com/#apex/18/en-US/10001/-1

Other Search Sites: Bing (2)

• Bing video: includes a ‘preview’ feature of videos

• Google video: includes a visual ‘closed captioned’ search

criteria

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Other Search Sites: Image-Based Searches (Reverse

Image Searches)
• Yandex: www.yandex.com
– Largest technology company and largest search website in the Russian
Federation1
– It’s biggest ‘claim to fame’ is the quality of it’s image-based searches
• Image-based search (reverse image search): Instead of typing text criteria when
looking for pictures online you can upload a picture and the search website

• Other search websites also have this feature (e.g. Google, Bing. Tineye etc.) but
the results may not as useful.

1 "Yandex, Russia's biggest technology company, celebrates 20 years". The Economist. September 30,
2017.

Student Discussion

• Why/when would you use the image-based search feature?

• Are there any drawbacks/personal security issues (current or

future) for websites that include image-based searches as a
feature?

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Google’s Image-Based Search

• Reference (last accessed Sept 2018)

– https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1325808?hl=en
– “How reverse image search works
– When you search using an image, your search results may include:
• Similar images
• Sites that include the image
• Other sizes of the image you searched for”

Privacy And Web Searches

• Many search sites tracks your searches - wired.com

– “Google saves all your searches”
– “Google records what you say every time you speak to it”
– “Google tracks and records your location”
• It should be possible to remove the stored information but you
have to take the time to learn how to do it (opt-in by default is
the norm)
• What about “private browsing” modes provided in web
browsers
– It prevents information being stored on your local computer
– That is, it prevents other users of that computer from seeing what you’ve
done, what sites that you’ve been to
References
1. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/google-history-search-tracking-data-how-to-delete
2. https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-prevent-google-from-tracking-you/

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Private Search Websites

• Private search websites claim that none of search information

is retained.
• Example: Duckduckgo.com
– Description (from their website)
– “We don’t store your personal information”
– “We don’t follow you around with ads”

Finding And Evaluating Information

• This section is crafted for students who need to conduct

research for an undergraduate course e.g., writing a paper
– But the principles can be applied when researching information for
personal reasons because it may improve the quality of the results (e.g.,
“Are there technical reasons as to why a MAC is any more or less secure
than a Windows-PC?”)
• Finding: Where to look for information
• Evaluating: Determining the quality of information?

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Finding Information

• When conducting formal research (or even research for

undergraduate courses) information sources should be
evaluated for quality
– Not all sources of information are equal in terms quality.
– Contrast: a private individual’s personal blog (opinion) vs. a website
containing the current research being conducted by the experts in a
particular field.
• Where to start?
– Check with your course instructor: what level of research is expected?
– Books
– Journals and conference proceedings (may be too much for
undergraduate courses)
– Online: websites

Journals And Conference Proceedings

• JT: for most undergrad courses you would probably look at

journals/conferences for 5xx level course (if at all)
• Publications that describe the latest theories and research
produced by domain experts
• The quality of publications can vary
– Which ones are at least reasonably good ones? Start with the instructor’s
publication list and look at the journals and conferences in which this
person has published.

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Journals And Conference Proceedings (2)

• Overall the quality of the information is generally good

• Since it is written by ‘experts’ for ‘experts’ it may be difficult for
the typical student to read and understand
• Examples of good conferences (in case you’re curious):
• http://www.sigchi.org/conferences/ “User-friendly technology”
• http://cscw.acm.org/ “Technology to support groups”

Books

• Books: First look at the intended audience

– General population books: with no background knowledge in the
domain?
• e.g., “A brief history of time” by Stephen Hawking
• Probably too rudimentary for use in post-secondary courses.
– Students: high school or post-secondary textbook
• May be at an appropriate level of detail (for the latter category) if you just want
general knowledge of a topic (e.g., instead of taking a course)
• Probably not specialized enough if you need to write a detailed term paper for a
course
• e.g., you are taking CPSC 203 there is a brief hardware introduction but the
introduction is not sufficient if you need to write a paper on the specific
hardware needed for high-end gaming computers

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Online: Websites

• Even more than the other sources, websites vary greatly in

quality
• The publishers of conference may host websites describing the latest research
conducted by the experts
• On the other hand: anyone can make their own website about a particular topic
• Some things to keep in mind when evaluating the quality of a
website:
– Who is the author:
• Widely regarded expert in the field (but some experts write about other areas)
• Industry expert (which field, is it similar to the one described in the website)
• Does the person have any apparent conflicts or agendas e.g., a CEO of a
computer manufacturing company writing a review of laptops (sometimes
affiliations are not so obvious)
• https://www.quora.com/What-does-Google-know-about-me/answer/Gabriel-Weinberg
• Are points backed by facts? Are those facts citing reputable sources?
–Some present opinions as facts.

Online: Websites (2)

– Who is the intended audience of the website (Will you be able to use the
information)
• Expert researchers? (Example: conference/journal papers)
• General population? (Example: News outlet, specialized magazine)
• Combination? E.g., www.mayoclinic.org, http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org
• If the content is produced by a university or reputable research
group then it’s probably correct
– E.g., Mayo clinic, Johns Hopkins
– But may or may not be targeted specifically to a ‘general’ audience and
be of insufficient depth for your research
• In general use websites with a strong degree of a caution.

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Some Scholarly Websites

• Scholarly source (commonly used definition): research work

that’s been published in a ‘peer reviewed’ journal or
conference.
• Peer reviewed (from https://www.merriam-webster.com):
“process by which something proposed (as for research or
publication) is evaluated by a group of experts in the
appropriate field ”

Some Scholarly Websites1

• Google scholar: Google search that only returns results from

scholarly sources
– scholar.google.com
• Base: Information is selected and reviewed by Bielefeld
University.
– base-search.net
• Academia: users share scholarly research and follow the
research of others.
– academia.edu
• RefSeek: searches books, encyclopedias, newspapers,
professional journals and websites (JT: is it ‘peer reviewed’)
– refseek.com

1 Source: “Technology in Action (15E)”: Evans, Martin, Poatsy: Page 113

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Some Scholarly Websites (2)

• Caution:
– “Using these websites doesn’t mean you don’t have to check facts,
but it does provide you with an excellent starting point for your
research” - “Technology in Action (15E)”: Evans, Martin, Poatsy: Page
318

Other Websites When Researching Information1

• ResearchGate: “Founded in 2008 by physicians Dr. Ijad

Madisch and Dr. Sören Hofmayer, and computer scientist Horst
Fickenscher, ResearchGate today has more than 6 million
members.”
– https://www.researchgate.net/
• Microsoft Academic Search: “Microsoft Academic Search is an
experimental research service developed by Microsoft
Research to explore how scholars, scientists, students, and
practitioners find academic content, researchers, institutions,
and activities.”
– https://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/research/project/microsoft-academic-search/

1 Source: https://alternativeto.net/software/google-scholar/

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Wikipedia

• “Wikipedia is a collaboratively edited, multilingual, free

Internet encyclopedia…” – from www.wikipedia.org
• Anyone can contribute
• “Many eyes view it” (and presumably check the quality)
• Question for students: Is this a good quality source of
information when researching a topic?
– Some students: “It’s great I use it everyday” (I’ve even heard this from
the occasional post-secondary instructor).
– Other students (paraphrase): “It’s a waste of time to talk about
Wikipedia, everyone knows you shouldn’t use stuff from there!”

Wikipedia (2)

• Many ‘eyes’ view but are those the ‘right eyes’

– Some topics require expert knowledge e.g., ‘Rocket science’
• Anyone can edit:
– There is no guarantee that the experts in the area will be viewing, let
alone actively editing Wikipedia documents
– Furthermore the document that you view one day may not be the same
one that you view on another day
– Side note: Actively study the history of changes of a document and
compare differences?
– Subject to bias - extreme cases of “vandalism” has lead to “lock downs”
• Yes files can be secured (locked) from further edits but consider what’s the point
of a wiki (anyone on the web can edit)

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Using Wikipedia

• Similar to regular encyclopedia or perhaps a newspaper article

it’s a distillation of different sources of information.
– Generally it is not accepted as a direct primary source (don’t directly cite
a Wikipedia article in your research paper).
• It may be a starting point to find good sources of information.
– You may be use the sources listed in Wikipedia references to learn about
topics and to list in your citations.
• Example: “Human-Computer interaction”
Wikipedia cites a good
research conference
(usability “user
friendly” technology)

Using The University

Library
• Services provided for students:
– From the UC library website, formerly it was
http://library.ucalgary.ca/student-support)
• “As a student attending the University of Calgary, you have access to the
books, journals and online resources of a major research institution. Your
subject librarians are available for research assistance as well.
• Your University of Calgary ONEcard is your library card, and gives
students the following privileges:
–Borrowing books with a loan period of two weeks for undergraduate students
and a term loan for graduate students
–Interlibrary loan
–Off-campus access to Library Research Databases”

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Online Web Search Without The Library

• The general Internet user does not have a license to access

many good online resources.
• After finding the publisher of the article: Journal of American
Medical Association you must pay to see the contents.

If you just
‘Google-It’ you
have pay $30

The University Library: Online Resources

• The publications of many journals, conference proceedings,

online books can be accessed “for free” (licensed) through the
university portal:
– Requires login with the UC login credentials.
– Combine the library licensing with an online web search:
• Use regular search websites to find the relevant paper.
– E.g., “Direct Stimulation of Angiotensin II Type 2 Receptor Initiated After
Stroke Ameliorates Ischemic Brain Damage” – found via Google scholar
• Then access the content of the paper through the university
portal

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Authentication Is Require To Access The Article

After This Section You Should Now Know

• Some factors that can determine the ranking of search results

• Techniques for more effective web searches using Google:
– Searching for exact phrases: using quotes
– How to include “stop words” in searches: quotes
– How to use the wildcard: *
– Searching ranges: ..
– Searching for alternates: OR
– Excluding words and phrases: - (subtraction operator)
– Conducting site specific searches:
• Finding content within the webpage currently viewed: ‘find in page’
• Searching for content within a particular website: site

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After This Section You Should Now Know (2)

• Some of the strengths of other search websites as compared to

Google: Bing, Yandex, Duckduckgo.
• How to evaluate the quality of information:
journals/conferences, books, websites
• Examples of some scholarly websites
• How the university library can complete online searches

Images

• “Unless otherwise indicated, all images were produced by

James Tam

slide 64

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