Internet Searching

1 Wasserman, T. Internet Assign. 26 Apr. 09 ILS504 Spr09 Okobi

Terry Wasserman Internet Assignment 26 April 2009 ILS 504/Spr 09 Prof. Okobi

2 Wasserman, T. Internet Assign. 26 Apr. 09 ILS504 Spr09 Okobi

After reviewing the resources listed, answer the following questions with Internet sources. Identify the ready reference site used to answer each question. Give the answer to the question. Why is the Internet better for answering the question?

Ready reference questions

1. Where did Samuel Clemens get his pseudonym? I began this search by trying the Internet Public Library, where I found a site I had used before and am confident in, www.biography.com. However, the article I found was fairly long-winded and not easy to search through, and the explanation of how Twain got his pen name was unsatisfactory, so I tried another site I am familiar with, www.about.com. This site is owned by the New York Times and generally gives fairly succinct answers. I entered ‘Mark Twain pen name’ and found the perfect concise explanation, “Mark Twain - Why Did Samuel Clemens Use the Pen Name of Mark Twain?” with a link to the author, E. Lombardi, and a brief resume including references. Twain explained his nom de plume himself in Life on the Mississippi as that of an older man who used to write to a newspaper using that name, and when he “discarded it,” Twain adopted it. He also says that the name relates to the “stage and condition of the river.” This question was better answered on the Internet because more sources could be readily examined to search for the fullest answer.

3 Wasserman, T. Internet Assign. 26 Apr. 09 ILS504 Spr09 Okobi

2. Do any words rhyme with orange? To begin this search, I tried a rhyming dictionary, www.rhymezone.com, which I’ve generally found to be a good resource—however, generally I’m looking for words that rhyme, and in this case it simply said that there weren’t any such words. I didn’t feel that was complete enough, so I tried another site I’m familiar with, www.askoxford.com, and in the search a keyword box I wrote, “rhymes with orange.” I found the perfect entry under Frequently Asked Questions discussing the fact that the two words that have no rhymes in the English language are orange and silver; however, they both have half-rhymes, lozenge for orange and salver for silver. This question was better answered online simply due to the speed with which I was able to answer it—if I’d needed to locate print sources on such an obscure topic, it would have taken significantly longer.

3. What does this symbol mean? My first step in looking up this symbol was to do a www.google.com image search for “hand with eye,” seeking a similar item for which a name was given. Once I found the name of the item, hamsa, I looked it up in a number of dictionaries (American Heritage via barlteby.com, Merriam-Webster via Galenet, yourdictionary.com, amongst others) and found no results. I then tried a Google Scholar search, where I found a lot of scientific articles that were written by someone named Hamsa. Then I tried a Google Book search, where I found The JPS guide to

4 Wasserman, T. Internet Assign. 26 Apr. 09 ILS504 Spr09 Okobi Jewish Tradition, published by the Jewish Publication Society (a reputable publisher) and found an article describing a hamsa, derived from the Hebrew word for five (hamesh), as “a hand-shaped amulet worn to ward off the evil eye.” Following that article, on the same page, there is another describing the evil eye as “the source of sickness.” This question was better answered online because I was able to do an image search to discover the identity of the object, whereas I might not have had any idea where to begin if I only had print sources to work with. 4. How many acres are in 3 hectares? In order to find a good conversion site, I began with the Internet Public Library’s reference site. I found www.megaconverter.com, and from there it took just a second. I used the “List Selector,” chose a surface-area search, typed in 3, chose “hectares to acres” and found that 3 hectares is 7.41313 acres. This question was better answered online because the source did the calculation for me, making it immeasurably easier than my having to look up hectares and do the calculation myself (and much more reliable).

Search Questions

Search Questions require more than one online search to find the answer, just like in print sources.

5 Wasserman, T. Internet Assign. 26 Apr. 09 ILS504 Spr09 Okobi You will need to figure out the subject of the question, look at the related subject directories and search for the appropriate subject directory and conduct the search in the relevant directories. Try answering the following questions. Provide the answer to the question and document the steps you took to find the answer and the sites you searched as well as your search statements.

1. What are the significant world events of 1852? I began attempting to answer this question by checking the New York Times database of archived articles for world events in 1852. I found a number of potentially useful articles, each of which was tens of thousands of words long in a nearly indecipherable typeface. I next tried infoplease.com, a well-regarded reference site, where I checked the timelines the site offered. I found some important information: that the South African Republic had been established, Louis Napoleon had proclaimed himself Napoleon III (emperor) and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin had been released, but I was fairly certain that more than that had occurred. I next tried reading Millard Fillmore’s State of the Union address on infoplease.com, where I learned that Argentina was in the midst of a revolution that year. I searched a few more sites (www.historycentral.com and www.pbs.com) that I found via my search of world events in 1852 on google.com until I ran across www.answer.com. This website compiles and edits information from other websites, creating a one-stop data destination—copyright information is provided. Answer.com has thousands of words about each year, including 1852. Here I found out that in 1852,

6 Wasserman, T. Internet Assign. 26 Apr. 09 ILS504 Spr09 Okobi in addition to South Africa’s independence, H.B. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Louis Napolean; the Persian prime minister was murdered, China’s Taiping Rebellion continued, Burma deposed King Pagan Min after a six-year reign, British forces took Rangoon as a second Burmese War began, New Zealand gained home rule, Brazil imported its last legal African slaves and the HMS Birkenhead sank off the coast of Africa. Additionally, physicist J. B. L. Foucault invented the gyroscope, Franklin Pierce was elected the 14th President of the United States, and U.S. Senator Henry Clay, Braille inventor Louis Braille and Secretary of State Daniel Webster all died. The site included many more events, but I deemed these most worthy of inclusion here.

2. Why is the murder of Francis Scott Key’s son historically significant? Upon first reflection, the murder of the author of the U.S. National Anthem’s son does not immediately bring to mind anything very significant. My first step was to find the son’s name, which I did by typing Francis Scott Key into answer.com. I found that the son’s name was Philip Barton Key, but there was no entry on answer.com for him. So I tried the New York Times index, where I found a book review of a novel about his murder and an explanation of the murder and subsequent trial (Key was murdered by Dan Sickles, the man he was cuckolding). Here I read that it was the first successful use of the insanity plea. I also looked up the event itself in the New York Times index, via the murderer’s name, Sickles, and found the article published the day after the verdict, 27 April 1859. The writer explained that after speaking with a juror, he now understood that the jury saw its verdict as a victory over adultery; in other words, it did not intend

7 Wasserman, T. Internet Assign. 26 Apr. 09 ILS504 Spr09 Okobi the precedent that the case set. So, I then used google.com to search for first successful insanity plea, where I found a court brief that discussed this precedent as the first successful acquittal on the ground of temporary insanity (a court brief seemed a more reliable source for a legal precedent than a book review).

3.

What can a DVD do that a videotape can’t?

I immediately found this question intriguing, because usually people are interested in why DVDs are better than videotapes, not the particular functions that DVDs have that videotapes do not—so my answer concentrates on this question particularly and not the broader question of why DVDs are better than VHS. My initial search on google.com using DVDs versus VHS brought up nothing of use. I, then tried, which is better DVD or VHS in a google search and found one very useful article from a reliable source, a technology magazine, Bityard, and a number of articles from less reliable sources (blogs, wikis, etc.). The Bityard article discusses the three basic things that DVDs can do that videotapes cannot: DVDs can store much more material in a much smaller space, DVDs can contain extra/special features like language choice or subtitling and DVD chapters can be easily and quickly accessed through an interactive menu. Next I tried VHS vs. DVD on both consumerreports.com and Technology Review and came up with no useful articles on either (I tried variations of the above as well). Then I decided to search Nexis in hopes of a technology article—I searched VHS and DVD capabilities on Nexis, first choosing newspapers between 1999-2002 and then

8 Wasserman, T. Internet Assign. 26 Apr. 09 ILS504 Spr09 Okobi magazines of the same year. I found the more useful articles under magazines (most of the articles under newspapers were comparing various DVD players and briefly mentioned VHS as inferior technology). Under magazines I found an article from Primedia Publications, “Format of the Future,” (E. Eberle, 1/99), that discusses the DVD’s advantages, including its versatility and portability—DVDs can be used on the same laptop most business professionals carry with them all the time anyway, whereas videotapes need a specific videotape player. DVDs can also be produced and edited on desktops, unlike videotapes, which require much more equipment to be edited and fully produced. Additionally, as I mentioned above, DVDs allow more data in a smaller space, have “special features” and quick access to different chapters.