March Program:
Internet Research Tactics, or
How to Win at Virtual Hide-and-Seek
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You might not be that bad with computers (you're here now, right?) but we could all use a little help when it comes to navigating the mass infostructure known as the Internet. Attendees of CWIP's March program were in luck to have two genuine Internet research experts, CWIP members Patti McKenny and Judith West, on hand to talk strategy and distribute tips and prizes with equal generosity.
They were also generous enough to take some time to reflect on the March program. The following are their responses to some burning Internet research questions. 1. What is your background with Internet research and how did you become the expert you are today? PM: I adore the research. It's my favorite part of most projects. I was always in the library in college, so when the library moved to the Internet, even though I was a technophobe kicking and screaming about understanding this new world, I learned the system. Clients (I'm a freelance commercial writer) started hiring me to do thorough research quickly and accurately, so that was a motivation to stay on top of it. When you adore something, it's easier to become a whiz at it. Back in the '80s I was hired to go out to Motorola for a day and interview a tech guy who showed me Mosaic—that was going to be everyone's interface with the Internet (till Microsoft bought them, and it became Internet Explorer). I didn't understand half the tech stuff he was spouting, but I felt like Alice going through the Looking Glass, and said "O brave new world..." The tech guy said, "Where would you like to go? The Louvre? I can show it to you. Greece? Let's fly to a few islands. You want to look up the complete works of Mark Twain? I got it." I didn't know HTML from Hallmark and still don't, but I was hooked.
JW: Encyclopaedia Britannica, my 22-year publishing alma mater, capitalized on and cultivated my natural intellectual curiosity in major ways. There, I conducted and taught research, fact checking, and editing for many years. When the Internet began really developing, it was a natural addition to the editorial researcher's tool bag. It was especially useful, I think, to have been a user during that development, as it made the Net's inner workings, and the Web's use thereof, a lot clearer to me. Even at EB, though, my approach was rather different from many others'. I've always engaged in research more as "detective work" than as a matter of simply "knowing what the best sources are" for subject x, y, or z. The latter is an element of research, but it's information, it's data. And you can nearly always find the info you need if you work within a strong, flexible, generalizable knowledge frame—the detective mindset, in this case.
2. What are the most common mistakes people make when searching on the Internet? PM: Vague searches. They Google and don't know how to use quotes or pluses and minuses to define their search terms well. JW: Strict linear and yes-no/right-wrong thinking often restricts search success. People tend to forget that Web searching is about flexibility and variety. From the start they may lock themselves into using a limited vocabulary or viewpoint (i.e., their own). So when their initial searches don't turn up what they want, they assume it's not out there—or they then spend buckets of time banging their brain against a virtual wall. A more fruitful approach means coming at your topic by querying with alternative terminology or perspectives—those of the information-owners and the kind of people being targeted by the info-owners. A friend learned a related lesson when he was hunting for goodies on eBay. He got lots of wonderful bargains when he realized that so many sellers couldn't spell important identifying terms correctly—and were therefore being overlooked by loads of interested buyers who could spell. He also generalized this to poorly informed sellers, who misidentified their items in fairly predictable ways. Again, vocabulary, perspective, and patterns are key to successful searching.
3. What were attendees surprised to learn at your program? Or what were you surprised to learn from attendees? PM: I had laryngitis the night of our program, and led off with a question about where I found the info that helped me recover my voice enough to talk to the group. People suggested the Mayo Clinic and the National Center for Disease Control and NIH and other medical-oriented sites, but since I use these sites all the time for a lot of my research for pharmaceutical companies, I know what a burdensome thing it is to get through med-reg and post info. No: I found what I needed on broadwayworld.com, and that floored the audience, but think about it: Where would you Google "getting through tonight's performance?" And what would come up? (It's two Hall's Mentholyptus dissolved in a cup of Throat Coat Tea and then spraying your throat down with lemon juice, by the way. Lemon tea will do in a pinch if you're sitting at Cosi, as Judith and I were, rehearsing our program, and one of you can't talk.) I was most surprised that the audience seemed to be a bit stymied as to where to start looking things up. Google has changed everything—frame your search right for Google and if it's on the Internet, you'll get taken to a bazillion sources. Also, as the panel in our Intellectual Property seminar pointed out, so much of the public assumes that if it's on the Internet, it's free. Credit your sources and don't lift copyrighted material. Looking forward to carrying on this conversation with everyone as "publishing" keeps going through the Great Phase Shift. We didn't have the Internet, now we do, and if our brains don't explode, we can come to CWIP meetings and keep each other up on what you need to do to survive and thrive.
JW:As presenter, I was surprised in two major directions: (1) at the number of people who didn't know about and/use some of the things that I consider very basic to Internet searching, and (2) at others who shared techniques and tools they've developed by thinking in directions I hadn't considered. I much appreciate the doors that opened for me—in both directions, actually—and hope that the program, plus the linked outline (posted at the members-only login page), opens up some avenues for everyone interested in exploring via the Internet. Tamara Matthews is a freelance writer and editor, and is also Web site editor for CWIP. She can be reached at web@cwip.org. |
