spireproject.com
Research Commentary by David Novak of The Spire Project
http://www.spireproject.com/art12.htm
S we begin to drown in the digital debris of our information powered lives, three distinct approaches have emerged to organize the Internet. The first is the commercial approach. The second is the volunteer approach. The third: the slowly emerging library-led approach. I do not work in the library establishment. So what could I possibly say about the librarian community's emerging Internet development approach? Back to the library approach. Yes, this bastion of publicly funded information workers are...
spireproject.com
Research Commentary by David Novak of The Spire Project
http://www.spireproject.com/art02.htm
Search Engines need Finesse. Earching the web is often just wishful thinking. I truly question the sense in sending a single word to a large search engine, then looking at the top 20 webpages from a list of 50,000. Just how silly to then assume you have found what the Internet has to offer? This is computing at its most optimistic! And on this point, may I also express my amusement when a friend exclaims, "I searched the Internet and didn't find a thing." Huh? You searched the Internet? Let's now look at...
spireproject.com
Optimizing Windows for Research
http://www.spireproject.com/art17.htm
S the web grows larger and the tools we use begin to fail, there comes a need for more advanced internet research expertise. This is a growth industry. I just finished a delightful article that I think will be published in the library periodical ONLINE. It was a piece tracking the evolution of research techniques, showing that internet research is in for a shake-up. I want to explore one of the themes that emerged in a little more detail. 4) I think I detect a growing emphasis on recently crafted webpage...
spireproject.com
Research Commentary by David Novak of The Spire Project
http://www.spireproject.com/art05.htm
Learn to read the Internet's roadside signs. You won't feel lost again. He Internet is well signposted. Far from being a vast ocean of unrelated webpages, many clear patterns can readily be found online. Once you recognize these patterns, you will feel much more in control. We all know the basic difference between commercial, educational and government sites, but it is worth sharpening our description a bit. Clues gleamed from urls can improve the way we find information. With this knowledge in hand, we ...
spireproject.com
Research Commentary by David Novak of The Spire Project
http://www.spireproject.com/art04.htm
Start with more than a search engine. Approach the Internet with a fist full of search tools. Ltavista, a top global search engine, spawned a second search engine called Raging (raging.com). The website describes itself as, "the most advanced technology . only the most relevant Web pages for your query . the biggest and freshest index of Web pages . the only search site you will ever need.". What to make of this? How do I find a book? Yes, we must still use a combination of search tools to find informati...
spireproject.com
Research Commentary by David Novak of The Spire Project
http://www.spireproject.com/art03.htm
Y old university has publicised the launch of a search engine called YourAmigo (www.youramigo.com) destined to reach new levels of indexing webpages on the Internet. At first glance, it sounds impressive: more webpages indexed, more depth, better search ranking and relevancy. Trouble is, we are ignoring the biggest trend to hit the web since its inception: the inevitable problem of information pollution. If you are having difficulties searching the Internet today, a year from now will be so much worse.
spireproject.com
Plagiarism Therapy
http://www.spireproject.com/art23.htm
Or the second time, I have found someone who grossly plagiarizes my work on the Spire Project. This is actually not a big deal. It is still theft, when someone takes your work and claims it is their own, but I have learned now that the author has the upper hand in this fight, both legally and promotionally. Articles I wrote over four years ago re-emerge as an "online book by librarian Samdarshi Pali" located at in.geocities.com/samdarshipali/library/. The Internet Archive (archive.org), also called t...
spireproject.com
Research Commentary by David Novak of The Spire Project
http://www.spireproject.com/art07.htm
S we enter the information revolution, abuzz with the excitement of more and more information, would it be irreverent to point out that the value of information is falling? Example One: the classics. Thanks to the Online Book Initiative and Project Gutenberg, a large collection of the classics are currently available as text - free. The most immediate effect of which appears to be the proliferation of $2 paperback classics sold through airport bookstores everywhere. Newspapers have responded by focussing...
spireproject.com
Research Commentary by David Novak of The Spire Project
http://www.spireproject.com/art06.htm
S you search the Internet for a particular gem, keep in mind that at the other end, there are writers having difficulty catching your attention. Their difficulties, and your approach, have much to explain whether you will ever meet. From a publisher's perspective, the Internet is a vast ocean of sites and destinations. Anything you do is very small. The obvious response is to work hard at writing something specific, unique - but you and I like to search in generalities. What to do? The search was made mu...
spireproject.com
Research Commentary by David Novak of The Spire Project
http://www.spireproject.com/art11.htm
The Rise of the Internet-Savvy Librarian. Ll precede this article with a little caution. My experience and education lies with Internet development, Internet research and Sociology. I am a techie. So my perspective will be widely divergent to the perspectives of the librarian audience reading this. No, I'm not trying to be intentionally contentious. Rather I wish to express a cautionary perspective on the global move of librarians into the role of information guides for the Internet. Social closure is a ...
