Read the text and answer the questions

The Web is usually described as being like a library or an encyclopaedia. However, this comparison is misleading. Firstly, unlike a library and an encyclopaedia there is no central control over what is put on the Web. There is no control over its accuracy, its up-to-dateness, its truthfulness or any of the qualities you would expect of information stored in a system with some sort of gatekeeper. Secondly, all this information, stored in more than 40 million web-sites, some of which consists of many thousands of pages, is not organized in any way other than that chosen by the authors of the individual web-sites. The World Wide Web has no index and no contents page. There is no central place in which you can find listings for the entire Web.

However, it is still possible to find what you want on the Web. Bear in mind that all of human knowledge is not there. What is on the Web is what people and organizations have chosen to put there, for whatsoever reason. However, if it is there and general access is intended, i.e. not protected by passwords, it is possible to find it.

(1) What is the structural organization of the information stored on the Web?

(2) How can you find anything on the Internet?

(3) What is a search engine?

(4) How does a search engine work?

(5) What are the popular search engines in your area?

4.2 (a) Find out how to request information on search engines and exchange your ideas in class. (b) What would you type into a search box to find the information on the following:

n weather in London the day after tomorrow;

n lyrics of Elvis Presley’s The Wonder of You;

n where you can buy a new book by Dan Brown (you do not know the title yet);

n how to cultivate orchids;

n articles for your project work on …;

n a recipe for crab or lobster salad.