Net Curtin: Web Search

Search for something...

I decided to start off with a broad keyword phrase to see what would come up before using filtering parameters. My words were internet communication theory 2009.

My intention was to find academic papers on internet communication theory written in 2009 so I used Google.com as I didn't need to find localised (google.com.au) results at all.

Total search results were 2,800,000 and the first hit was Cambridge University Press:http://www.cambridge.org/uk/browse/browse_all.asp?subjectid=1083836
Because I used Google, there were 3 Google Scholar links above the normal search results. The results in Scholar were quite relevant.

Try using Copernic...

I used internet communication theory 2009, again without any filtering i.e. not using "exact phrase". With the Copernic Basic version I was prevented from searching Newsgroups but I kept the default 14 engines enabled for this search task just to see what would happen.

Total search results in Copernic were 36. Although this is a ridiculously low number in comparison to Google results, I would rarely click through to page 2 in Google anyway so I wasn't concerned about the number of results in Copernic. In fact, Copernic brought up some relevant results to compare with Google.

Google or Copernic?

Between the two search engines I am torn. I've been using Google for ages and feel confident that I can find what I need but the paid version of Copernic looks more feature-rich and powerful. The first hit in Google's results came in 3rd down the list in Copernic suggesting the quality is there in both. But it's easier for me to scan through Google results with the typical Google-white space whereas in Copernic I had several boxes and highlighted words in different colours all over my screen. Copernic results were great and it generated results quickly but I need time to get used to its 'look' on screen. The promising results I've had so far make me want to use both!

Adjusting my search strategy...

As I had already found the biggest number of hits for my search terms in Google, I decided to change my words to get even better, more relevant results from both search methods. I used "internet communication" abstract - replacing theory with abstract to narrow my target to academic papers and removing the need for a specific date. I also used the double quotes to ensure the words internet communication were found together. Hmm no real improvement on my search results there.

Although I should be looking for information coming from University sources, I wanted to see the kinds of sites that would come up without using a filter search for .edu sites. Best scenario: I might land a quick reference from a database such as elsevier.com/ScienceDirect that I can access in full via Curtin Library. As it turned out, the first 5 results in Google and Copernic gave me academic links but the content was useless for my needs. The use of the word 'theory' didn't always give good results and although using 'abstract' gave me a lot of good papers, there was no topic focus. Several minutes later I finished flipping words and came up with the results I wanted.

Organising my Search Information

In order to find the best three sources out of my last searches I was forced to look further down in the results. Nope. My choice of words were not giving me good results. The point of this exercise I think is to quickly find relevant content on the Web and then record my top findings for later use in research.

I ran this search in Google:intitle:internet impact community identity site:.edu (15,200 results) and this in Copernic: internet impact community identity *.edu (23 results). I saved the Info below in EverNote under the relevant study unit.

http://www.jomc.unc.edu/images/ante/internet.pdf

"Internet use and Community ties" Bare et al (2008).

School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of North Carolina, NC.

PDF includes separate input from all authors exploring communities that are not geography based. Good for ideas, prompting, another perspective.

http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/index.html

Article index page "The Psychology of Cyberspace"

Various articles by John Suler Ph.D (various dates), Rider University, NJ.

HTML full articles about online community, identity and features of cyberspace with ref to psychology. Understand peoples motivations, the why, qualities inherent in communities and online relationships.