eLearning For Teachers: Di Goodman (Epoff)

I recently came across this great site for both beginners and confident users of the internet. Its a website dedicated to helping you master the net and is designed to take you through the various sections at your own pace.

For those who feel intimidated by the internet, you’ll find easy-to-follow and understand how-to-topics, ranging from surfing the internet to netiquette.

For intermediate and even advanced users, you’ll find gems of information in the how-to-topics, ranging from setting up web domain names to downloading and installing plug-ins.

Just click on this link:

Learn the Net.com

Search engines - eg. Google.com

Dylan Hunter, of Fast Search alltheweb.com, explains that when search engines look for Web pages, they send out tools called crawlers (also known as spiders, robots, or bots).

These crawlers begin by finding a number of seed pages that include a lot of links. Crawler follow these links, retrieving the linked pages, then retrieving the pages that those pages link to, and so forth, until they come back with a raw index of pages.

Web Directories - eg. Yahoo.com

These sites are created by human editors who define categories, then assign different Web sites to each category. Instead of using searching techniques (although you can enter keyword searches), you drill down through a series of categories to find information about a particular subject

Meta-Search Engines - eg. Crawl.com

These visit multiple search engines, combine search results, and output a consensus of opinion. They should therefore perform better than any single search engine, although a little slower. They arent often used.

The following Search tips are taken from:

RobsSearchEnginz website:

A comprehensive and informative guide to searching techniques and new search engines you might wish to try.

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1. Be Natural

Type in what you want to know, rather than a list of synonyms. Websites are written in flowing language, and search engines are being taught to understand the same.

If you would’ve asked a fellow human “Is alphabet soup nutritious?“. Then ask the search engine “alphabet soup” AND nutritious rather than alphabet soup nutrition food health.

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2. Use Rare Words

The more unusual or uncommon the keywords you use are, the more specific the results will be. Taking a moment to think of a valid yet uncommon word is a valuable technique.

alcohol returned 912,620 hits (AltaVista) vodka fetched 120,740 and it narrows down to 2754 hits when you enter Stolichnaya.

• Note: For a few engines the word order is important, so always enter the rare word first.

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3. Reverse Questions

Search engines look for pieces of text that match your query. Web pages are more likely to contain answers than questions - so search for the answer. Phrase your query how you would expect the answer to read - the difference appears slight, but it makes a huge difference.

“IRS stands for” rather than “What does IRS stand for?” “man first landed on the moon in” rather than “When did man first land on the moon?” “sky is blue because” instead of “Why is the sky blue?”

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4. Dead Link Solutions

Try shortening the URL to the next subheading. Keep doing so until you get to the point that works. Then browse from there to see if you can track down the file that you want.

If http://www.spock.com/jim/life/not_as_we_know_it.html returns an error, try http://www.spock.com/jim/life/ and if you still get an error, try http://www.spock.com/jim/ and so on down to the root domain http://www.spock.com

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5. Use Boolean Phrases

Named after George Boole, Boolean phrases are a system of logical combinations, using words like AND, OR & NOT. It is best to always capitalise them. Use them when everything else fails

AND or “+” Larry AND Curly AND Moe Larry +Curly +Moe AND requires the word to be present OR Chico OR Zeppo OR allows either word to be present NOT or “-” Marx NOT Brothers Marx -brothers NOT excludes words. In this example results should display sites about communism and not comedy. NEAR “Salman Rushdie” NEAR teatowel Finds keywords within 25 (Lycos) or 10 (Alta Vista) words of each other. Not supported by the other engines. NEST THEM! Marx NOT (Brothers OR Moscow) BUT DON’T GO TOO FAR!! ((alphabet AND Soup) NOT (twinkies OR “KFC”)) AND nutritious … is too confusing. Use “alphabet soup” AND nutritious

More Tips

Type the most important word first:

This often produces a more relevant search result

Automatic exclusion of common words

Don’t use common words and characters such as “where” and “how”, because they tend to slow down your search without improving the results. Search engines ignore these words unless you specify to include them. They are called “stop words”.

Note: AltaVista and Google will find complete phrases, including stop words, when the phrase is “within quotes”. A phrase without quotes will ignore the stop words.

Example words: the of web a to in & is are “stop words”

“searching the web” contains two stop words: the & web. Consequently the search engine will only look for “searching”. If you are aware of this, you can add a more relevant keyword to narrow your search, like: “people search” or “advanced search”

Google will indicate if a common word has been excluded by displaying details on the results page below the search box.

If a common word is essential to getting the results you want, you can include it by putting a “+” sign in front of it. (Be sure to include a space before the “+” sign) eg. [how +to post +in WordPress]

Google: Query Modifiers

[define:]

Will provide a definition of the words you enter after it, gathered from various online sources. The definition will be for the entire phrase entered (i.e., it will include all the words in the exact order you typed them).

[allintitle:]

If you precede your search words with [allintitle:] Google will restrict the search to sites displaying those words in their title

[intitle:]

If you include [intitle:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to documents containing that word in the title. For instance, [intitle:google search] will return documents that mention the word “google” in their title, and mention the word “search” anywhere in the document (title or no). Note there can be no space between the “intitle:” and the following word.

Real Names

The most simple of “advanced” techniques is using real names. The introduction of realnames.com

has made this easy as pie. Simply enter the name.

Its not all about Google: Choose the best Search Engine

Experiment with different search engines:

Use the advanced ones: they bring great results

If a search engine is not giving you results, try a different one

There are a host of great search engines on the net. Try a new one regularly - all of them have advanced search options you can investigate:

Exalead

Services the corporate sector, but results are the equal of Google. Comes with thumbnails previews & advanced results refinement.

Gigablast

This is a great search engine. Less spam. It features links to the Internet Archive, cached copies, the ability to report spam and more…It suggests alternative searches & has no ads!

Google Chrome is a brand new addition to the list of web browsers: you can download its Beta version free from the internet and give it a try

Google Scholar

Ask.com

Lycos.com

AltaVista.com

alltheweb.com

Yahoo.com

A9: Is a commerce search engine: go shopping, browsing for goods and products

Meta-Search engines to try

Selections from RobsSearchEnginz website

Crawl.com

Combines the results of MSN, Yahoo & Google, and very nicely provides a frame for viewing the results

ez2Find

If you wish to really go to the extreme, try Rob’s unique Meta-Meta-Search Engine
An excellent collection of engines are searched - MSN, Yahoo, Google, Ask, Open Directory & WiseNut. Fast results, clusters, nice layout. Use this!

• Surfwax - Uses Yahoo & MSN, plus some less useful sources. Gives unique info on pages found such as number of links, images, words etc. Allows you to focus on keywords, to find a more precise meaning. Heavy use of Javascript. Best suited to serious researching of rare topics
• Kartoo & Ujiko - have a unique visual display of results and clustering
• Xooda - works well if you select just the top 4 engines
• Twingine - shows Google and Yahoo results side-by-side. Very simple, very useful!
• TurboScout - a serial meta-search. A very quick way to search different engines, one at a time
• IceRocket - better known for its blog search, the web search has great results - although there’s nothing on their site now, it used to say it was powered by WiseNut, Yahoo, MSN, Teoma, Altavista, Alltheweb, Lycos etc
• Zuula - side-by-side results of Yahoo, MSN & Google, plus brilliant new engines Gigablast & Exalead
• GoYaMs - lets you alter the weighting of the Big 3 how you like
• Zippy - meta-searches the Top 4, with lots of related searches from each to refine things

Further Reading

There are some excellent books available to further help you with your web searching:

How to Find Almost Anything on the Internet : A Kid’s Guide to Safe Searching

Search Engines for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide

The Extreme Searcher’s Guide to Web Search Engines :
A Handbook for the Serious Searcher
Two chapters present general principles that apply to all search engines, the following ten sections go deep with usage guidelines for 8 major search sites, plus a dozen or so metasearch engines and others of interest. Emphasis throughout is on precise understanding of advanced search techniques

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Online Search Secrets

The Invisible Web: Uncovering Information Sources Search Engines Can’t See
This is the first comprehensive guide to searching the Invisible Web — the vast online resources that are ignored by major search engines — covering how search engines work, to why/where/when to use invisible search techniques, to case studies of several typical searches. Highly recommended for serious searchers.

Here are some helpful links to online tutorials. Click on the links, find the one that works for you and work at your own pace through each topic.

1. Here is a link to a good basic tutorial on using Microsoft Outlook: Millpen College Using Microsoft Outlook

2. Here is another site that attempts to make learning fun! You may prefer its step-by-step instructions:

ACTEN Media Microsoft Outlook Tutorial

3. Plant Administrations Outlook Tutorials provide quite detailed step-by-step workshops on each topic. These are downloadable PDF files that you can print and use while offline.

4. Microsoft Outlook’s own Help website

A summary of the steps involved in importing an audio file into Audacity

You must convert the file through iTunes if your files are not any of the following: WAV, AIFF, OGG, or MP3

1. In iTunes Edit menu go to > Preferences > Advanced > Importing > Select Import Using WAV encoder

2. Go back to the iTunes library & click on (select) the file, then go to the Advanced menu> Convert selection to WAV

3. A duplicate file will appear next to the original. If you cant see which one is which, go to the View menu > View Options > ckeck the ‘Kind’ box and then go back to the library to identify the WAV version of your file.

4. Drag this file to the desktop. You can then drag it straight into Audacity and it will load in the Track pane

To edit an audio file

1. Drag in from the far left margin of the track until you see a greyed out area the cursor will convert to a pointer finger - slide to the exact edit point

2. Do the same with the right side of the track

3. Go to Edit > cut

To add voice (recording with a microphone)

1. Attach a peripheral device if desired ( a microphone)

2. Go to the control panels (Audio/Sound) to check that it is the active recording device. Or, use the inbuilt microphone (it will not sound as good)

3. Click the Red record button in the toolbar to commence recording

4. Click again to stop

To export as an MP3 file

1. Go to File menu > export > selcet type eg MP3 and the destination folder

2. You may need to install the Lame MP3 encoder to Audacity first - its an “optional extra”. Follow the instructions at Lame Installation to download and install Lame.

Audacity provides a quick tutorial on the basic features in its Welcome Screen. if this has been disabled, you can find it under the Help menu. launch Audacity > go to Help menu > Show Welcome Message

Click on the blue links: Play Back; Record; Edit Sound; Export Sound & Burn to a CD to see whats possible. Follow the onscreen instructions

Audacity ^® is free open source software for recording and editing sound.

Features

Audacity is a fast multi-track audio editor and recorder for:

• Windows 98 and later
• Macintosh OS 9 (Audacity 1.0 only) and OS X
• Linux/Unix and other *.nix-based systems

Audacity supports several digital audio formats with support for 24 bit and 32 bit sample formats as well as 16 bit. Supported formats include:

• WAV
• AIFF
• OGG
• MP3

The Audacity Wiki (an online editable public resource and pages by multiple authors) contains tips, tricks and information about Audacity and digital audio. Anyone can edit pages to make them more useful or relevant. You can go there by clicking on this link:

Audacity online Wiki

Learn a bit more about Audacity by exploring links on this page: About Audacity

Where to get it

The Audacity program is available from the Audacity downloads page at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ .

Get your Music into Audacity

Option 1: Start with an audio file like an MP3 that you already have on your computer: import it by clicking Project > Import Audio. If the audio file is saved the wrong format, it will not import into Audacity. In iTunes, you can convert it through the Advanced menu. Select the file in the iTunes library > Advanced menu > Convert selection to AIFF > an AIFF version will appear in the library window. if you arent sure which one is which, go the View menu > View Options and check ‘Kind’ to display the kind of file first.

Option 2: You can also record music from records or cassettes (see Transferring tapes and records to computer or CD) or any audio that is playing on your computer. For example if you heard some music on internet radio that you thought would suit your purpose, you could (on Windows or Linux) record it into Audacity - see http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=recording&i=streaming . On a Mac, you’d use a tool like Audio Hijack to record sounds playing from an application such as your web browser to an .AIFF audio file.

Option 3: To import music from a CD into Audacity you need to extract the audio from the CD to a WAV or AIFF audio file by using a program such as iTunes and import that audio file into Audacity. see below for setting this up correctly.

CD–EX is a good free Windows program to extract CD audio.

Or you can use Windows Media Player if you are on Windows XP (click Rip > Format > WAV lossless, or iTunes (either on OS X or Windows). First set the “conversion format” in iTunes Preferences under Advanced > Importing > Import using AIFF (or WAV) encoder”. Click “Audio CD” on the “Source” pane on the left. Select the tracks you want to extract and right-click on them and click the option “convert selection to AIFF”.

On OS X, CD tracks should also appear as AIFF files in the Finder, so they can simply be dragged into Audacity or imported from the CD with Project > Import Audio.

[edit] Create your Voice Track

1. To create a voice track record it with your microphone on to a new track in your Audacity Project. As the voice recording will be on a different track from the music, it can after recording be edited entirely independently of the music (see “Editing and Effects” below).

To record with your microphone, you set the recording source to microphone in Audacity’s mixer toolbar input selector http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_mixer.htm (or, if you are on OS X, you set the microphone as the default recording source in Apple Audio-Midi Setup). Then press the red Record button.

If you want to be really professional, why not do a level test of your voice before you record for real? Click on the downward pointing arrow in the right hand (red) recording level meters http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_meter.htm and click “monitor input”. While speaking into your microphone as loud as you would for the loudest part of what you want to record, adjust the recording level slider (by the microphone symbol) on the Mixer Toolbar http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_mixer.htm so the recording meters are almost reaching the far right-hand side (but not far enough to bring the red hold lights on). If the recording level meters are not visible, go to the Preferences and check “Enable Meter Toolbar” on the Interface tab.

2. To record your voice track while listening to your music track, check “Play other tracks while recording new one” in the Audio I/O tab of Audacity Preferences, and press the red Record button. The Preferences are under usually under the Edit Menu, but on OS X are under the Audacity menu. Note: obviously you must use tight fitting headphones to record while listening to a music track, to avoid your microphone picking up the music playback in your voice recording.

3. After you have finished recording, just press “play” in Audacity to hear the result – the music track and your voice track will be mixed together just as they will when you come to “export” the recording as a computer audio file.

[edit] Editing and Effects

The Edit menu allows you to do things like cut pieces out of the music where you don’t want it, and on the Effect menu to do things like fade the music in and out, and so on.

1. Select your track first, and dont apply effects whilst you are playing, recording or pausing the track. You can select all of a track by clicking on its Track Panel (where the mute/solo buttons are). You can select part of a track by clicking in the track and dragging to left or right with your mouse, or with the left or right arrow keys.

Another useful tool is the Time Shift Tool <–-> top left of the Audacity screen (hit F5 to select it). With this you can move your music and vocal tracks back and forth so you get the music in the right place underneath your words.

2. Make the tracks as loud as they can be without distorting. To do this hit Edit > Select > All and Effect > Amplify and click OK. Then go the Track Panel of each track and slide the -…+ gain slider on each track to left by the same amount to reduce their volume. This is necessary because you have amplified both tracks so when played together they will otherwise distort. Now hit the green Play button to play the music and voice track together and watch the green playback VU meter next to the red recording meter. If the red hold lights at the right come on, move both gain sliders further back by the same amount.

[edit] Export and Publish your MP3

Once you have edited your recording in Audacity, you need to export it as an MP3 which is a universal compressed audio format that will play on iPods and other portable devices (and will also be suitable for others who may just want to listen to it on their computer) and which will also be small enough to distribute via the web.

1. To export your Project to an MP3, install the Lame MP3 encoder to Audacity - its an “optional extra”. Follow the instructions at Lame Installation to download and install Lame.

2. Click File > Export as MP3 which will mix your voice and music tracks to an MP3 file. A dialogue box will pop up asking you to edit the ID3 tags. These are tags which most audio players can read which give information such as the Title and Genre of the track. There is a short podcast tutorial here explaining about tagging MP3s in Audacity: http://www.creativecow.net/articles/mcmahon_frank/pod1/pod1.html .

Uploading to a website (podcasting)

Option 1: Once your MP3 is exported to your hard drive, you can upload it to your website and create a link for it. You can create a simple download link which is just the web address of the file e.g. http://www.mypodcast.com/podcast.mp3 .

However, if you give a plain text link like this, what happens when the user clicks on the link depends on their setup i.e. whether this downloads the file to their drive or launches their default MP3 player.

If you instruct your user to right-click the link, this will always enable them to download the file to their drive.

Option 2: If you embed your MP3 in your webpage using “embed tags” you can choose if your MP3 plays in the background or if the browser’s media plugin appears in the webpage, which will give the user an on and off button to play the file in the browser. You can also choose whether to autoplay the file on page load or not, and so on. This page shows you how to use embed tags: http://www.webreference.com/js/column20/embed.html .

If you want to make a plain text link from which users can stream your MP3 into their default MP3 player, you can just create a text file with .m3u (or .pls) extension and paste into it the full web address of the MP3, then upload the .m3u file to your webpage.

Many podcasts are distributed with what are known as RSS feeds, instead of (or as well as) offering downloading or streaming of the podcast content. When read with a feed reader program, these feeds offer a summary link to (or direct downloads of) recently updated podcast content. You can read about creating .RSS feeds for podcasts here .

If you do not have your own server or access to a website, there are other ways to put your podcast on the internet. Online services like BlogMatrix, AudioBlog, Liberated Syndication, PodBus and Podblaze offer space to upload and store your podcast. Some of these services offer free hosting while others will charge a small fee for different storage limits. Please refer to the different web sites for more information. To use a hosting service, simply sign up for an account and upload your MP3 files.

Finally, don’t forget to promote your podcast on the major podcast directories and search engines, such as iTunes and Podcast Alley .