THE INTERNET: Surfing Safely Through the World Wide Web
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The Internet is a worldwide network of computers. It consists of many parts - e-mail, chat, newsgroups, ftp, telnet, and the World Wide Web.
The Internet has been around since the 1960's whereas the Web has only been around since around 1993.
The World Wide Web is the largest and fastest growing part of the Internet (@800,000,000 pages); its main feature is that it allows for multimedia content (colors, pictures, movies, sounds, etc.).
You may like to think of the Internet/Web in terms of Cable TV - The Internet is the wires, cables; boxes on your TV, etc., the Web would be the shows that you watch. Therefore, there could be an Internet without a Web, but there couldn't be a Web without the Internet.
Caution: Nobody owns or controls the Internet or the World Wide Web. Additionally, there is no organized structure - there's no one place to start or finish. We can't guarantee the validity of information found on the Internet.
The Internet allows you to:
- Send and Receive Email
- Upload or Download Websites
- Post Messages
- Communicate in Chatrooms
The Web allows you to:
- Find information on almost everything you are looking for.
- Find, listen, and download music, videos and other multi-media
- Play interactive games with others
- Take virtual classes
There are two Internet browsers used in the AIDS Library: Netscape Navigator and the Internet Explorer. In the past, the browser wars were a big controversy, but you can choose whichever you prefer.
Netscape
Internet Explorer
On these Internet browsers you will find toolbars. The following are toolbar commands:
Back - Takes you back to the previous document.
Location - Address bar shows webpage URL.
Forward - Moves you to the next document (only works after back has been used).
Stop - Stops a transfer of information from another computer to your computer.
Reload/Refresh - Reloads the current page. Helpful to ensure that you have the most current content and if part of a page does not load into your computer.
Home - Programmed to take you to a "starting point". At the AIDS Library, clicking on Home will take you to the AIDS Library's homepage.
Search - Takes you to a Search Page where you can use various Search Engines to look for information. A search engine is a computer program which searches the WWW for information on a particular topic.
Favorites - Opens list of bookmarks or favorite places. (Internet Explorer only)
My Netscape - Takes you to a page that you can customize. (Netscape only)
History - Shows a list of pages that you have visited.
Print - Will print the current document to the printer. If you would like to see what the document will look like before you print it, there is a preview option: Click on the word "File", then click on the words "Print Preview".
Go - Takes you to the webpage that is in the Location or Address bar.
Security - Shows you whether or not you are on a "Secure" site (The broken key is not secure, a locked padlock is secure). You do NOT control whether a site is secure or not, security is determined by the website producer.
See Learn the Net.com: The Animated Internet
The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or Address of the page you are currently viewing is displayed on the Location Bar, to the right of the word Location or Address.
Every page on the Web has an address and no 2 pages share an address. All the websites on the Internet have a name.
- .org is for organizational websites (like AIDS Library, Philadelphia FIGHT)
- .com is for commercial establishments or business websites (like Sega, Sears, etc.)
- .edu is for educational sites (like Temple, Villanova, etc.)
- .gov is for sites put out by the government (like the White House)
- There are a few more endings, but these are the most popular.
Using An Address
If you have an address of a website, it's very easy to get to it.
- Single click into the location/address bar just to the right of the address that's there now.
- Press the backspace key to eliminate the text that's there
- You will see a black blinking line, the cursor, in the location field
- Type in the address you have and then press the Enter key
Information cited from Steve Garwood's Exploring the World Wide Web.
Most big Companies and Organizations are easy to find. Just type in their name! See examples below.
Some websites are useful because they are gateways to other websites. They have collected the best sites and linked to them off their website. The AIDS Library is one gateway website.
On the AIDS Library website you can go to:
The Library Catalog is an online catalog of AIDS Library's print and non-print collections. It includes bibliographic information for:
- audio recordings, video recordings;
- conference abstracts, books, government documents, technical reports;
- pamphlets.
Looking for all videos, type videorecording in the box and click on search now.
Looking for all audios, type audiorecording in the box and click on search now.
If you know the author or title then you click on that term, type the information in the respective box and click on Search Now.
If you don't know the author or title, search by keyword - this means you will search for the word in the title, description or subject.
Created by Critical Path and maintained by the AIDS Library, Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Resources for Living with HIV is a definitive listing of all the organizations, groups, and resources available for people infected and affected with HIV in the Greater Philadelphia Region.
How to Search:
- It is listed alphabetically. If you know the name of the organization you are looking for you can simply scroll down the page to it.
- Doing a FIND
- Go to the Edit Menu on the Menu Toolbar
- Click on FIND
- When the box pops up, type in a word that reflects what you are looking for. For Ex. "women"
- Click "Find Next"
- The computer will find every time on the list where it says "women". This will let you easily look for women's organizations, in this instance, without reading through the entire list.
On this page you will find links to websites that provide quick and easy facts to answer your questions about HIV and AIDS.
The New Mexico Fact Sheets - Best fact sheets. Find out information on HIV prevention, how HIV is transmitted, medications, opportunistic infections, and alternative therapies. Easy to navigate and very clickable.
AIDS Treatment Data Network - The Access Project. Find out ways to pay for treatment and medications state-by-state through the Access Project.
On this page you will find links to online resources that provide high-quality information about HIV. Many offer information in Spanish language. The staff of the AIDS Library chose these to be the best of what's available on the web.
AEGIS - The largest HIV knowledgebase in the world. On this page you will find the HIV Daily Briefing, a listing of some of the national HIV article written every day, search engine, fact sheets, law library, etc.
How to Search: To search click on the search button located on the left frame or use the links in the left-hand box.
To perform a simple search, type one or more keywords or phrases, select the area to search, and click on the find it now button. To perform an advanced search, add dates as a qualifier. There is a help button for more ideas.
CDCNPIN - NPIN is a national reference, referral and distribution service for information on HIV/AIDS, STDs, and TB, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
How to Search: To search the different databases available, click on search NPIN databases. Then you will be given the option to choose one of the following:
- Resources and Services
- Prevention News Update
- Funding Database
- Educational Materials
- Conference Calendar
You can also check out what's new or look for publications by topic. Each database varies, so please check the individual searching instructions.
National Library of Medicine Gateway - The NLM Gateway allows users to search in multiple retrieval systems at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). The current Gateway searches MEDLINE/PubMed, OLDMEDLINE, LOCATORplus, MEDLINEplus, ClinicalTrials.gov, DIRLINE, AIDS Meetings, Health Services Research Meetings, Space Life Sciences Meetings, and HSRProj.
How to Search: To search, enter one or more search terms or enter multi-word search terms in quotes, eg, "macular degeneration" treatment.
New York Online Access to Health (NOAH): Ask Noah About AIDS - NOAH seeks to provide high quality full-text health information for consumers that is accurate, timely, relevant and unbiased. The New York Public Library and New York University created NOAH. On this page you will find answers to questions like what is AIDS/HIV, what are some medications, what is Kaposi's sarcoma?
How to Search: All you have to do is click on the word or phrase.
Public Health Service: HIV/AIDS Treatment Information Service - provides information about federally approved treatment guidelines for HIV and AIDS.
How to Search: To get information, click on either current or archived treatment guidelines library. The information is in two forms (one for medical personnel and the other for patients).
HIV Insite - A peer-reviewed web site that contains information on AIDS and HIV research and treatment topics, edited by scientists, physicians and other AIDS workers. (Taken from BIOSites). It was created by the same organization that brought you the AIDS Knowledge Base, a searchable textbook about HIV.
How to Search: You can search by terms in Quick Search box, Section Quick Links, or Key Topics Quick Links and then click go.
National Library of Medicine's MedLineplus - Information pages to direct you to resources to help you research your health questions: health topics, dictionaries, clearinghouses for health literature, directories, MEDLINE and other databases, online publications, consumer organizations, and consumer health libraries.
How to Search: You can search a topic by letter or category and then click go.
This site is good for general health questions - not just HIV. The other sites are HIV specific.
What do you do if you are looking up a topic but have no idea what website will help find the answer? You use a SEARCH ENGINE!
It is a website that has a database of millions of other websites. By entering a keyword, the search engine will bring up all the websites that have something to do with that word.
Common Search Engines:
Every browser (Internet Explore, Netscape, AOL, etc…) has a link to a search engine as well. To use these search engines, simply click on the icon on the tool bar that represents "search."
Use one of the search engines listed above to practice searching for HIV info by typing HIV or AIDS into a search engine.
Use one of the search engines listed above to practice searching for music videos in a search engine.
What should you consider when checking the validity of a website? Here is a listing of some criteria:
- Authorship
- Accuracy
- Objectivity
- Currency
- Coverage
Authority
- Who is responsible for the contents of the page?
- Is there an ("about us") link to a page describing the purpose of the website?
- Is there a phone number, email, or postal address to contact for more information?
- Is it clear who wrote the material?
- Is the author qualified for writing on this topic?
- If the material is protected by copyright, is the name of the copyright holder given?
Accuracy
- Is there a bibliography or list of works cited?
- Is the information free of grammatical, spelling, and typographical errors? (These kinds of errors not only indicate a lack of quality control, but can actually produce inaccuracies in information).
- Is it clear who has the ultimate responsibility for the accuracy of the content of the material?
- If there are charts and/or graphs containing statistical data, are they clearly labeled and easy to read?
Objectivity
- Is the information provided as a public service?
- Is the information free of advertising?
- If there is any advertising on the page, is it clearly differentiated from the informational content?
Currency
- Is the website new and up-to-date?
- When was the page written?
- When was the page first placed on the Web?
- When was the page last revised?
- If material is presented in graphs and/or charts, is it clearly stated when the data was gathered?
- If the information is published in different editions, is it clearly labeled what edition the page is from?
Coverage
- Is the webpage under construction or is it completed?
- If there is a print equivalent to the webpage, is the entire work available on the Web or only parts of it?
- If the material is from a work that is out of copyright (as with a dictionary or thesaurus) has there been an effort to update the material to make it more current?
Information taken from Checklist for an Informational Web Page.
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