Some Tips for Using the World Wide Web
With the enormous growth of the World Wide Web, strategies for locating useful material and evaluating it are changing. At one time it was possible to provide a list of useful link sites which would lead you to most of the valuable sites in the medieval history subject area, but this is no longer possible. The web is currently in a state of chaos. There is much out there that is of great merit, but finding it may require attacking each search with multiple strategies.
Using Link Pages. There are numbers of sites which provide links to a whole range of specialised web sites within a subject area. Some of the more comprehensive medieval link pages are listed here in The Elephant Book. In general, sites which you reach through these pages have been evaluated by an educator in the field, and can be regarded as having some value. However, you will not find everything this way. Link pages have a habit of going out of date rapidly and it is notable that some are not as well maintained as they used to be. This is largely because it is becoming harder and harder to keep up to date. There are many valuable resources which you cannot find by simply going through the standard link sites. Medieval history or medieval studies in general is also becoming an overly large and unmanageable topic with the ever increasing number of worthwhile sites out there. You may be much better off looking for more specialised sites with lists of more targetted links. It is notable that some of the longest surviving medieval link sites are now seriously undermaintained.
Using Search Engines. Search engines, where you type in a couple of simple search terms, are the quick and dirty way of finding information on the web. They can be very effective, particularly for a highly specific query, but they have their hazards. Sites found by a search engine have not been evaluated as academic resources and may have been produced by anybody. Many a blushing student has discovered that the authority that they have been citing is a 12 year old kid in America who has created a web site as a school project. Search engines often bring you into the middle of a site, to the page where the words you have typed appear. Always go back to the home page to find out what and whose it is. Search engines usually produce vast numbers of sites, which can be information overload. Some search engines are smarter than others. Google is currently renowned as a smart search engine which ranks its lists so that the sites most likely to be relevant appear at the top of the list. This works amazingly well, but it offers no guarantee of quality for a site, just popularity. Google also tends to pull up older link sites which are now less relevant than they used to be. Dogpile searches a number of search engines at once. Pity about the name.
Exploring the Deep Web. Search engines will not find material tucked away in what is sometimes referred to as deep web or hidden web. This essentially refers to material which is not stored on simple html pages, but is generated from databases. This method of web design is being increasingly employed, especially by large institutions like libraries, museums or government agencies, but is now trickling down into more general use. It pays to spend some time looking for authoritative sources and hunting down links from there. Don't forget to record the URLs of all interesting sites you find, or you may never find them again! Finding material on the deep web brings us back to using link pages, but with the proliferation of material on the web, one may have to seek out more specialised link sites. medieval history is really too big now as a topic area, and you might have to fossick in more closely focused areas like medieval church architecture, Middle English literature, medieval manuscript illumination or the like. Exploring the web sites of major cultural institutions relevant to your search may get you further than a simple search engine word search. This is just like the old fashioned process of going to a reference library, but you can do it from anywhere. Major libraries are providing more and more sophisticated information finding tools.
Choosing Smart Search Terms. Search Engines can work more efficiently for you if you choose your search terms cunningly. Generalised words like cathedral or Gothic architecture may produce a mass of unsorted information. More specific terms are better. St Bernard Clairvaux rather than just St Bernard will prevent you receiving a mass of information about dog breeding. It is also amazing how many music groups around the world want to name themselves after large heritage monuments. If you get a huge unsorted cascade, try narrowing it down by adding more specific search terms to search within results. Most search engines use and searching rather than or searching, so adding another search word decreases the number of matches. Putting your search terms in inverted commas in Google restricts it to finding the exact string. For example Typing the words York and Minster into a Google search will find pages that contain those two words, but not necessarily together, while "York Minster" will only list pages that have the words together. Try the "Advanced Search" options which guide you through the process of focusing a search. Also remember than any given search engine will not find everything. Try different search engines, or other searching strategies. It can help to work backwards from the particular to the general, as Google may find you a specific place or document by name, leading you into specialised link pages. I spent hours fruitlessly trying to find good link pages for English folk songs, until I typed "twankydillo" into Google.
Using Chat or Email Groups. There are various ways in which groups of likeminded people can make contact on the web. This can result in valuable exchanges of information. Just be aware that anybody can claim to be anything while hiding behind their modem. Groups which set up specialised lists of web sites can provide useful resources. A certain self-discipline is probably needed when participating in these public forums. You can waste an awful lot of time if you feel the need to set everybody straight about everything.
Using Web Rings. These always were a rather inefficient idea. Web sites with interests in common placed a banner on their site which allows the user to navigate from one to the other, until they come back to where they started from. Theoretically, once you found a web ring on a subject that interested you, you had a connection to a whole list of related sites. The only trouble is, they rely on having a ringmaster who ensures the quality and relevance of each site in the ring. They also require a fair bit of maintenance by the ringmaster to ensure that all the links work. Currently less than breathtakingly useful, and apparently dropping out of favour with web site owners.
Using Bookmarks or Favorites. There are times when you are hopping from site to site, using the links each site provides to find related material. This can actually be quite a useful exercise and can turn up material that doesn't appear on simple searches. There are two hazards. The first is that you cruise around from one interesting topic to another and forget what you started off doing. The other is that you find lots of interesting stuff, but cannot remember later where it was or how you got there. If you use the bookmark or favorite option on your browser to record the interesting things you find on your travels, you will be able to find them again later. Don't just make a huge unsorted single list. File them into folders under topics. This really only works effectively if you are using your own computer. And clean up your list every so often to remove the dead links and things that proved less than useful.
Evaluating Web Sites. Anybody can put up a web site. If you wish to cite it for an assignment, you have to assess its credentials. You do this in exactly the same way as you would a written source. Does the author state their qualifications or area of expertise? Is material presented on the site properly sourced and referenced? Does the site present an analysis or merely an assortment of simple facts from a textbook? Does the site emanate from a reputable authority? This last is not the ultimate criterion. While one might expect that a site produced by, say, Oxford University or the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral might have the weight of authority behind it, there are honest little sites produced by individuals and displayed on GeoCities or the like which are of value. Just use the other criteria to assess their merit.
