Webresearch

Learning Activity 1.5
I am heading away in June as a welcome break from work and study. I have chosen to go to Montreal so that my son can speak French for his senior studies. I love Canada but haven’t been to Quebec before.
My search on the web starts with a Google search and I type in the words Quebec. I get lost between the pages on Quebec city and Quebec state. So now I put in the word Montreal Canada.
Some 64,900,000 sites of information arrives in 0.22 seconds. This never ceases to amaze me! How to sort through the oversupply of information is the key. There are some sites in French language and although I should probably force myself to the challenge, English will be easier. I have to watch out for sites that are just advertising accommodation, the most common sites. I know that the sponsored links are just purchasing portals and less likely to offer me any information. I am happy to read anything about Montreal, so I can get a flavour for the land , people, places and activities. Google seems to list the most popular and useful sites at the top so that is the place to start. Scanning the websites to find something of interest. The url provides information as to what might be appropriate.
Trip Advisor is always an interesting and often quoted site of interest although I know that it is limited to only a few sites of interest and mostly advertising.
The official government tourist site is usually the best and selling nothing but the country.
There is a camera website that shows live pictures of Montreal which will be interesting. www.montrealcam.com. There is easy to find live pictures from the penguin enclosure at the Biodome with a map of how to get there. The visual input is impressive. The text gives important information about what you can find at the Biodome and an interesting historical fact. There is a link to the weather map which will be more important just before I leave for Canada so I can plan what to bring with me. For this reason I can add this website to the list of favorites so I can find it again quickly next time. There are more pictures of Downtown , Old Montreal and the Port. There are interesting links to the underground city, museums, restaurants, shopping, Old Montreal looks like a perfect picture postcard and I want to go there soon. The video of the town across a day is beautiful. The link travel tips is a bonus site as it lists a printable checklist of items to pack. I will save it to documents so I can add more things then print the list just before packing. That way I won’t miss anything. This page is less colorful and doesn’t have any pictures but that makes it easier for printing. There are more useful links for accomodation, Meeting planner, maps, currency converter and I can join an email newsletter club about Montreal. I can bring my laptop with me and access this website when I am there for more useful information. Rather than print too many pages.
Returning to the Google search I find
http://www.canada.com/cityguides/montreal/index.html which is full of information. I can click links to a range of important , interesting pieces of information. This website is more detailed and confusing .
In simple clicks and scanning I can pick up a huge amount of information, copy, paste, save and bookmark information for a later date.
In contrast I have the book The Lonely Planet Guide to Canada
Requirements
Knowledge
The Book requires the knowledge of language and reading skills. It provides some pictures but these are few and static. The words are in small print and I have learned to use a highlighter to find the important information so I can return to it and retrieve it quickly.
The Internet requires knowledge of search engines and how to use them, particularly Boolean search logic and placing the right search information. The internet requires experience in choosing some relevant websites otherwise a lot of time is wasted downloading and searching through the problem of too much information; Biased information and information that is aimed at sales rather then help.
Skills
Reading a book requires skills in concentration, reading and visualizing text.
The Internet requires the skill of finding where you are n a chaos of information and network of websites, using the desktop to display folders, mouse actions, keyboard skills, sticking to the search and not getting sidetracked by interesting issues, pictures and games. The ability to exit websites that don’t work, flash advertisements at you and don’t seem to be delivering the needed information is important. When you book and buy accommodation, air flight tickets, opera tickets, car rental. As I have done in this case, the skills of assessment of security for credit cards, paying online, printing receipts and vouchers requires practice.
Specific meta-language
Books have tried and well used meta-language. The Lonely Planet Guide Book is divided into liner left to right pages and double column top to bottom text. It is prefaced with a contents page to find the section Quebec and Montreal. There is a series of other areas that the content provides listing for. There are headings that give direction to subgroups of information.
The Internet requires new language including portal, website, url, click, View, enter here brief words and icons, pictures and highlighted links and hypertext to name a few.
In summary, I found both book and website useful I always take the book with me for portability. My laptop and one day a PALM, Navman or mobile phone will override the book for portability.