Internet Navigating Tools
Module NA01c
Contents
Audience and Objectives
About this document...
Audience:
This module is intended for people who know what the Internet
is and are interested in learning about different ways to access
it. (Module NG03c "What is the Internet" is intended
to provide the excpected background.)
When you successfully complete this lesson, you will be able
to...
- Understand the difference between automatically searching
for information, and browsing
- Understand what is involved in "navigating" on the
Internet
- Be aware of the commonly-used navigating tools
- Know the advantages and disadvantages of each
Information Hunting: Searching, Browsing, and Navigating
One of the most common uses of the Internet is research: hunting
for information. Suppose you wanted to find out about grant opportunities,
or about a certain chemical used in automotive bodywork. This
could be done in two general ways:
Searching
Several automated tools (programs) are available for looking through
thousands of information entries and finding things for you. The
common ones include:
- Archie, which looks through the names of files available
for copying.
- Veronica looks through the titles of Gopher menus for
you.
- WAIS searches through databases for articles containing
words you are interested in.
Each of these tools requires that you formulate a question using
Boolean logic (which can be quite simple, but could also get complex).
This is fine if you know what you're looking for and how to use
these tools, but often a more informal system is useful.
Browsing
Browsing is simply wandering through the vastness of the Internet,
turning toward information you are interested in when you find
it. Browsing can be quite successful, and has the advantage of
giving you a "feel" for the territory - how much is
available, who has it, and what related topics might be useful.
It can also be very entertaining! The common tools for browsing
are:
- Gopher, which allows you to connect to menu-driven
information servers
- World Wide Web, an information system based on linked
hyper-text servers - you select words or graphics of interest,
activate them (usually with a click of the mouse) and get more
information.
There are other Internet browsing tools available, but these are
by far the most widely available.
Navigating
Because of the vast, intricate complexity of the Internet, browsing
can be like wandering through a huge maze. The browsing tools
mentioned above give you some help - you can always get home!
- but it still requires some skill and experience to find your
way to what you want.
Browsers have a real advantage over searching "on your own":
they incorporate the search tools themselves! For that reason,
most people choose a browser as their primary Internet tool, even
if they know they will need to perform an automated search for
information.
Which Type of Browser is Best?
Gopher and WWW each has its advantages and disadvantages:
Gopher
Advantages:
- Gopher's simple hierarchical menu system is easy to use and
understand.
- Gopher does not require a sophisticated computer system either
for the client or server.
- There are Gopher sites spread all over the world, so it's
good for international searches.
- On any given computer system, Gopher is generally faster than
WWW because it is simpler.
Disadvantages:
- Though faster than WWW, Gopher can still be frustratingly
slow when the net is busy.
- Gopher is not primarily graphical, though you can get graphical
images and (with some Gopher clients) view them on-line.
- Because it's not the "latest and greatest," Gopher
sites are not always maintained as current as WWW pages.
World Wide Web - WWW
Advantages when used with Mosaic or Netscape:
- When used with Mosaic or Netscape, WWW is basically a graphics-oriented
system, making it more colorful and exciting than Gopher.
- Its fundamentally hyper-text nature makes WWW more flexible
than Gopher; some find it easier, though it can be confusing,
as well.
- Web sites are usually kept more up-to-date than Gopher sites.
- Web browsers can be used to navigate through Gopher sites
as well as Web sites.
Disadvantages:
- To use Netscape or Mosaic a more sophisticated computer and
communication system is needed:
- If connecting by voice phone-line, at least a 9600-baud modem;
even faster is preferable.
- A graphical user interface such as Windows, OS/2, or Macintosh.
- A SLIP or PPP connection with the Internet service provider
(usually more costly than a "shell account").
- Because of the sophistication required, there are not as many
Web sites outside of the highly industrialized nations.
- Since graphics require more information to be sent, using
WWW is slower than Gopher, and creates much more traffic on the
network, thus slowing service down for all users.
- Using WWW without Mosaic or Netscape is possible, but
doing so cuts the user off from about 50% of the information available,
since about half is graphic and half is text.
Summary
Gopher, though less exciting, is faster and more efficient for
many types of research, but may not be as up-to-date. WWW with
graphical interface is good for searches using maps and charts,
and for looking at pictorial material. WWW without a graphical
interface is not worthwhile, but with a graphical interface is
more costly in several ways.
About this document...
Module NA01c: Internet Navigating Tools
- Author:
- Laurence
J. Krieg
- Institution:
- Department
of Computer Information Systems,
Washtenaw Community College
- Date:
- Originally written 21 May 1995
-
- HTML version 12 February 1996
Sponsored in part by CoNDUIT
CoNDUIT is a registered
service mark of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.
CoNDUIT is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy
under Cooperative Agreement No.DE-FC05-94OR22341, as part of the
Advanced Research Projects Agency's
Technology Reinvestment Project.
Statements contained on these pages do not necessarily reflect
the views of the Department of Energy, ARPA, or the U.S. Government.
