Sharpening Search Skills

From HealthNexusWiki

Beyond Google – Sharpening Search and Share Skills Online

The Internet is a huge place with a wealth of resources for health promoters.

Which Web search engines are the best for health promotion? What tool should be used for what purpose? How are they best used? How can I find answers to my questions more quickly?

This in-depth and hands-on workshop will help build skills in using the main tools and most effective strategies for searching the Web.

We will explore:

Which are the key websites, search engines and resources for health promotion?
Where can you find them?
How can you best use them? What special features do they have?
How do you know which to trust?

This workshop will help you to:

Know how to build a search strategy and search the Internet effectively
Identify different types of online resources and key sites for health promotion,
Be able to find resources, such as grey literature, on the Invisible Web
Be familiar with tagging / bookmarking your finds for saving and sharing
Use the Internet to support health promotion work

Introduction

Robyn & Alison, 10 minutes

Level of comfort
How do you search?

Browser bookmarks

Search Skills

Alison & Robyn, 30 minutes

What are you looking for?

People are not just 'browsers' or 'searchers' any more. Searching needs an understanding of our tasks and intent first, so that we can determine where and how to look for the best results.

If you are looking for general information, such as a health issue like cancer, a telephone number, or general information on swine flu, you might want to browse a directory or subject list. Start with sites and organizations that you know has information on your topic - the Cancer Society, Canada411 for phone numbers and addresses, a government health site on flu, or a general subject directory such as Yahoo! We will look at some of these browsing and searching sites in our next sections.

When you are looking for something specific, such as a program, a place, a title of an article or something unique, you need to search using specific terms, and use a search engine.

As a start to understanding search approaches, take a look at the Common Craft's Web Search Strategies in Plain English video video Web Search Strategies