The factory is located in Sindos (an area of Thessaloniki) and has 120 employees. The company specialises in tuning and developing models of BMW, Lotus and Porsche but is planning to release its first wholly-manufactured car in 2009, the Allen AL1.
Models
*Allen BMW M3
*Allen Lotus Elise
*Allen Lotus Elan
*Allen 911 (1996)
Foundation
The inspiration for the Ted Kennedy Club came from several influences, including despair at the largely conservative political scene and a desire to improve the quality of political dialogue at St Andrews. The club has no official relation to Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, although many of the founding members admire his policies including calling for universal healthcare for Americans.
Its first meeting, in November 2005, was not without its organisational difficulties. The club pioneered an eye-catching spoof logo for its flyer, but the flyer was frequently torn down by other students. Also, nobody was sure how to start or run a university society, information easily found by asking the Student Union, which nobody bothered to do. There is now an established committee, which has growing experience in dealing with the .
Aims
The Ted Kennedy Club has three aims:
#Promoting the values of liberalism in St Andrews
#Enhancing the quality of political dialogue in St Andrews
#Improving the standard of parties in St Andrews
Relationship to Ted Kennedy
Senator Kennedy is aware of the existence of the club and sent a letter of support for our aims and activities in January 2006. The club has an official external affiliation to the Massachusetts Democratic Party. The club would have worked with the University to invite Ted Kennedy to receive an honorary degree, but its policy for selecting candidates for an honorary degree excludes serving politicians. Nevertheless, the club should not be viewed as a branch of Democrats Abroad.
Membership
Anybody and everybody is allowed to join the Ted Kennedy Club. There is currently around 30 paid members and a mailing list of 130. Elections are held each year to establish a committee. The committee is currently Frank O'Donnell (President), Gordon Wentz (Vice-President), Fiona Hyslop (Treasurer), Becky Chambers (Secretary), Chris Bennett (Events Organiser), Nick Pooley (Publicity), John Reeks (Honours Rep) and Louise Cowan (SubHonours Rep). An EGM will be held on November 16th to elect members to the new positions of Clothing Rep and First Year Rep.
Upcoming Events
Dr Ben Thirkell-White of the St Andrews International Relations department will be giving a lecture entitled "The Future of the IMF" on Thursday November 16th at 7:00pm, School II, St Salvator's Quad. The club is planning to work with the University to invite US Ambassador Tuttle for a debate in spring 2007.
LOST ISLAND TIMELINE ==
The time-based listing below covers the events that have occurred on the island setting where the TV series ‘Lost’ is set, so that viewers or those wanting to know how things have come to pass, can more clearly understand complex history that forged this series basis for drama.
This page is designed to be less fancraft and more technical and historial. It is written from a scientific viewpoint regarding the known series details, whereas with this pages author being a freelance screenwriter, gaps between the official facts are estimated to make give the events a logical progression.
It's run-down contains major series events in relation to the islands status, but not minor inter-personal matters. Newly broadcast and official details, when known of, are used to augment this pages details. This account does not cover trivial matters of like who kissed who, or who found what building.
The purpose then of this page, is to aid the understanding of how the main events on the island came to take place, especially as the islands history is so deep that it foreshadows all that takes place on it in the present time. Therefore by appreciating the series back-story, one can better relate to what is broadcast in each episode.
The dates and events below are gleaned from that which was said, or alluded to in the series, plus any external media in connection to, like interviews for example. Where there are empty gaps between these dates, the author of this page has filled these in with the most probable possibility, as according to current information, feasibility, probability, and logical progression. For this is only way a timeline of true continuity can be created - though its subject to change as according to what the executive producers sanction their writers can reveal per episode.
(If another person wishes to update this document then please ensure it fits in with whats occured or is known to be series canon)
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50 > 60,000,000 BC
During planet earths early geologic history, the oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean was more fluid in movement due to being fragmented into smaller plates. Two of these adjacent plates had a peak which formed 2 separate islands within the Pacific Ocean. Over much time the plates beneath both islands were forced together by volcanic activity to form a convergent boundary. This ended up merging both island masses together into one larger island, which is why there are 2 mountain ridges along the island, with a basin area between them, an which was formerly the shores of their coastline. This blend of geology created the unique effects than came to emanate from the island.
Future-point: The flatness of the central basin area and its wind shielding from the surrounding mountains, made it the perfect spot for a settlement to be built within, as was done in the 1970s.
50,000 BC
A large meteor hits the atmosphere of planet earth, which breaks it into 2 major fragments, with one landing in the Arizona desert of North America, but with the other crashing into islands southerly peninsula. Being a meteor of the metallic variety, its high-density iron-core fused into the surrounding rock-bed.
Future-point: the impact spread some of the metallic cores content into the vicinity of where the dharma swan station would be built on top off.
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1200 > 1600 AD
Polynesian sailors, while exploring the sea around them, or looking for new land to colonize, eventually come across the ‘island’. They settle there as they normally would any where similar, due to its fertile soil and crop-friendly weather.
They eventually form an early civilisation, and mark this by building in stone a central meeting place for cultural purposes to perform tribal rituals at, as in keeping with other contemporary tribes, like those on Easter Island. This communal place has a stone column on a platform at one end, for use as when tying people to for sacrificial rituals, or as a focal point for public addressing at village gatherings.
They later carve a foot-shaped sculpture out of a boulder-sized coastal stone, so as to inform those sailing past that they reside there, as like a welcoming-sign, or the opposite, as like a warning. Alternatively, their stone-masons may have sculptured it from an inland stone, after which the tribes-people could have gradually moved it to a more visible location so outsiders might notice it when nearing the island.
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1845
Magnus Hanso buys a merchant ship called the ‘Black Rock’ – and sails with it after leaving Portsmouth dock in England in march, as part of a trading mission to Siam, as in the Asian far-east. (The Lost Experience)
During this ships voyage, it’s transported through time, till landing in the south of the island, and though the ships log is lost in the commotion, it’s later found by pirates. After Magnus Hanso dies his crew bury his body near the ships wreck.
Future-point: The owner of this vessel is a direct ancestor of Alvar Hanso, who next century would have a serious interest in the island.
Error correction:
Though, in-series, the ship has been called a British slave-trading ship, it can’t be as the Victorians of the British Empire banned the slave trade in 1833, hence this ship wouldn’t have been allowed to dock in port, or set-sail from Britain, if it was still engaged in an illegal business.
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1928
The mathematician Enzo Valenzetti is born on the Italian Island of Sardinia - whose theory would later become the basis for a dharma research station on the island over a century later. (reference: The Lost Experience)
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1937
On July 2nd – pilot Amelia Earhart and co-pilot Fred Noonan, while flying across the pacific, encounter some random bad weather, which causes them to make a forced landing on the island.
They survive an live out their days together after finding a cave dwelling with a fresh-water supply nearby.
Future-point: their skeletal remains were found on the 23rd of September 2004, by a dr. jack Sheppard.
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1939
During World War 2, Alvar Hanso founded a profitable business by providing military supplies to various resistance movements around Europe.
Future-points: This supply-line would eventually need to stretch as far as the south pacific, so as to aid the allied forces war effort, particularly the USA, as when this nation would end up fighting the Japanese navy in that part of the ocean - which is where an when the island would be found. Furthermore, the money he generates from this business opportunity would later go towards financing a large project on the island. (The Lost Experience)
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1945
With the South Pacific Ocean becoming an area of intense fighting between Japanese and Allied navies, eventually one warship comes across the island. With the captain finding such a place uncharted, due to its hard-to-find nature, he sends a search party from his ship to shore, to see if enemy troops are dug-in there as part of their traditional defence strategy, in the way many islands were by the Japanese during WW2.
In not finding such people, the captain gives some needy respite to his battling crew by announcing shore-leave to the island.
The crew then note the islands ability to heal the war-wounded and ill after coming ashore.
This unnatural phenomena they report to their captain upon return.
However some of the crew stay ashore by hiding there, after preferring the islands paradise as a safer and peaceful home than a ship during war. [These people are later encountered by the dharma imitative]
Months later, after the ship has disembarked an returned to its home port of pearl harbour or san Francisco, the captains report finds its way to the admiralty, with its pages containing all their information on the island, including the doctors medical log, which verifies the ill and injured did quickly recover into being healthy. But the admiralty dismiss all these events as there deemed mutinous, an so would be bad for publicity.
However, the reports big medical discovery does come to the attention of Alvar Hanso, since he, or one of his representatives, or a naval contact - were on board to also know this, or he learnt of it while on the main land, as while being part of the supply chain that fed the allied forces war-effort, an so would be privy to such classified information. Or possibly, he’s given official access to this secret information, as a reward for his achievement in supplying the naval forces with ammunition and equipment during the pacific war.
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1948 > 1968
With the war ended and the united nations formed so that a 3rd world war shouldn’t occur, Alvar Hanso is disenchanted with the possible long-term outcome, when Winston Churchill reveals the Russians are placing an iron curtain across the previously free-world of eastern Europe, an who thereafter may potentially stir-up much more trouble in future.
The Korean war then takes places next decade, as a direct result of the east-to-west political divide just mentioned. This action makes Mr Hanso take more seriously the Valenzetti equation he’d heard of years ago – this being a mathematical theory which is hoped can reveal the date upon which the world will end, as after many years of human conflict and international tension.
The Cuban missile crisis of 1963, as between the worlds 2 superpowers, reinforces Alvar Hanso’s study of this equation even more so.
The beginning of Vietnam War occurs, with both superpowers backing either side, thus potentially leading to a nuclear Armageddon.
With this lately averted war being the final straw for Mr. Hanso, he decides to reinvest the remainder of his financial fortune into an affirmative action, that results in a salvation scheme which aims to prevent humanity’s self-annihilation. So with the cold war still remaining a massive obstacle to world peace, Alvar Hanso creates a foundation named after his surname, with its course of action being a more moralistic an humane one than his previous occupation.
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1970
With Mr. Hanso still looking for a cause worthy of his financial support, he ends up attending a seminar at the university of Michigan, where he’s heard of some like-minded ideals being expressed by 2 of its students, an so while sitting before them, learns of their project proposal which could realise their dreams, which they call the DHARMA Initiative.
Days later, at a company meeting with his board of directors and shareholders, he declares that the ‘Hanso foundation’ will aim to facilitate a better world for humankind by financing this ‘dharma initiative’, as this it proposes the creation of various projects which could achieve an enlightened understanding of the world we live on. (As according to the Swan Orientation Film in the episode "Orientation").
Later, after learning, or remembering, or fully appreciating, the properties of the aforementioned island, as found by the naval forces in the 1940’s, Alvar Hanso elects to physically create the dharma initiative into being based on this island, in the hope its special qualities may aid its overall cause. Furthermore, though its distant location would make its creation and operation logistically troublesome, this would be compensated by the islands difficulty in locating by outside parties, hence aiding its security from prying eyes, who might wish to steal the research data from the island stations, or learn the islands healing secrets and flock there in big numbers.
Weeks later, a Hanso survey team is dispatched an make landing, so they can make an initial study of the islands makeup for future reference by the foundation. They use the navy’s bearing data to enable them to accurately navigate there. They end up making notes on the islands topology and geology, as well as finding some people already living there - they being those from the former naval ship who decided to stay behind.
Months later, an from the surveys report findings, an initial plan is based upon their data, which is followed by the implementation of pilot studies, prototype research, and design-work.
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1971
Due to the heavy investment requirement of creating such a complex facility, and in such a difficult location, Alvar Hanso realised it will have to be co-financed by an outside investor, where after Charles Widmore stepped forward. He looked upon this as a joint venture, though avoids publicity by becoming a silent partner.
From finalised blueprints, and with proper financing in place, pre-fabricated components that would form the projects hardware an structures, are shipped overseas to the island, and gradually assembled by an construction and engineering crew, with the initial admin personnel following shortly after.
Infrastructure-
The civil engineering crew and dharma personnel first co-built their accommodation settlement, through-which the whole construction project, and later operational management, would be based from. This was named the ‘barracks’.
The creation scheme dictated that construction of 10 research stations would follow, along with support stations, most being somewhat underground, though each being linked by a computer terminal network for data transfer an communication – which was later named the dharmatel intranet.
Also created was a transport system which consisted of roadways through the jungle, upon which van supplies would restock each station.
The ‘Pala’ ferry pier was built for transport to offshore islands, where a ship would deliver stock an staff, particularly to an adjacent minor island which houses the ‘hydra’ station, with a submarine doing likewise for an underwater facility - namely the ‘looking-glass’ station.
Station constructions-
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1972
Richard alpert learns those that who’ve lived on the island for many years are hostile to dharma’s activity there, an so all of the dharma personnel come to know them collectively as the ‘hostiles’.
Station updates…
[Cerberus guarded stations]
‘C3’ – When It was found that the magnetic properties of the nearby mountains caused too much interference to make readings reliable, the original research mission for station 2, became redirected into being one for cryptography, where it would intercept passing communications and there decode them. As this wasn’t in keeping with the moral interests of the dharma initiative, it become separate to the original cause, for its new usage was instigated by request of its silent partner Charles Widmore, as for his own business purposes of industrial espionage.
‘C4’ – regarding the ‘tempest’ station, it was found that also arsing from alongside the free energy it converted, were poisonous gases that were previously held safely from beneath the surface. As this serious hazard had to be properly dealt with, to the stations infrastructure were added additional machinery to filter this toxic leakage into a storage tank, as so for later processing and release into a safer gas.
‘C5’ – It was decided that the ‘orchid’ station would be relocated into the north-west of the island, and have its purpose changed into the studying of the Casmir effect in physics. After early work proved more fruitful than expected, the research scientists realised the output of their work could be used to keep a wormhole open, for stable travel of great distance or through time itself.
NB: all above noted as ‘C3 to C5’ on the famous 2nd season blast door map.
Cerberus security system.
After certain stations content were noted as being highly dangerous, and so could fall into the wrong hands, like the islands ‘hostiles’ group, a new-wave security system was decided to be created to protect their contents existence, an so prevent the theft of dharma materials within. Thereafter a new research project for the creation of such a system was instigated to be also carried out on another island-based research station. This stations proposed creation was designated the ‘Cerberus security system’. The above 3 stations would now be renamed with a ‘C’ before each's reference number.
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1973
Benjamin Linus and his father Roger arrive on the island with other additional recruits for staffing the DHARMA Initiative. ("The Man Behind the Curtain").
After being misled over his volunteer role in research at the staff station, Richard alpert leaves dharma to defect to the natives side.
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1974
Ben runs into Richard Alpert, a member of the "hostiles", and forges an initial alliance with them through him. ("The Man Behind the Curtain")
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1975
The cabling and relay-boosters for the dharmatel intranet are connected up to the file server and main computer. Software is loaded an run to open station communications to the barrack offices.
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1976
The islands roadway network is fully completed and so allows dharma’s van fleet better travel across the islands terrain.
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1977
At the swan station, while its miners continue their drilling-work, they hit a core of highly electro-magnetic metal, which is so much stronger than what is geologically usual. This prompts the dharma initiative to perform experiments on it to learn more, as this study would match one of the goals of the Hanso foundation as a key subject area, ie- electromagnetism.
So they augment the site plan, which involves the building around the drill site being renamed H3, after the monitoring of the new operation is decided to be run from a additional room, which is built onto the eastern side of the ‘H3’ structure, as like an appendage. This makes the H3 building a west-wing to the central control area, along with an east-wing known as ‘H2’ on the other side - which contains a corridor leading to an escape hatch in case an explosion blocks to main exit. These 3 sections form the new building of the expanded swan station. For safety, 2 blast-doors protect the crew within the control-centre from unexpected hazards, as during any the probing of the magnetic anomaly.
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1978
Experiments into the electromagnetic anomaly beneath the swan station get underway.
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1979
An "Incident" at the swan station occurs "not long after the experiments began", as stated in an official dharma videotape regarding the work done at this site, ie- ("Orientation"). This involved them probing too deeply, resulting in an excessive release of e-m energy. So much so, they quickly decide to close off all access to the H3 section, due to its potential for danger by its leakage outwards.
But after sealing this fissure as best they can, specifically via the cementing shut of the west-wing, [H3], they note their solution is not 100% effective, an a minor electromagnetic charge still seeps up through the drill hole.
It was then decided to utilise the monitoring equipment already there to neutralise the excess energy leaking through.
This involved discharging the gradual build-up behind their cement wall every 100 minutes. This build-up must be discharged to prevent a total overspill of energy they note, for if containment of the overspill is breached, its theorized that all the hard work done thus far on the island would be destroyed, an even be potentially worse to the wider world.
So they modify the stations original purpose into being one of disaster aversion. They do this by having the 2-man crew take turns discharging the build-up every 108 minutes, which is the maximum cut off limit before a warning alarm is sounded, so as to signify a containment breach is imminent, unless quickly averted.
Old machinery is retained for monitoring, while the pc becomes the sole control centre for administering the discharge sequence. A countdown clock is fitted onto the ceiling to inform how much time remains between discharges. Leisure equipment is added so the crew wont feel too secluded, bored, or tense, an thus make a mistake.
However, in case of the discharge system becoming un-useable, a failsafe device is placed in the basement, where its activation key can potentially seal the fissure permanently. This functions by using the excessive outpour of energy to power-up the creation of a mini-black hole, whose stability collapses due to being artificial, with the result being it implodes the material around it into sealing any opening. Those in the vicinity wont be at risk of inclusion in this final action, as the electromagnetic properties repel organic material away.
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1980
With the previous event flagging up the need for staff to be officially and properly informed of their duty, and the company’s background, orientation films are created and copyrighted for station personnel. ("Orientation")
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1981
December 7th – as motivated by the swan station incident, the Hanso Group send their Delegation to inspect the integrity of the swan station, and the professionalism of its crew. (recorded on blast door map in "Lockdown")
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1982
due to the unrelenting attacks by the hostiles to normal travel, dharma decide to build an underground network of tunnels, which is to be used by the dharma staff to transport themselves and supplies between stations, when overground travel becomes too dangerous. As this work is to be done secretly, so as not to alert the enemy, it takes a year to fully complete.
In the meantime, and amongst only the dharma staff, its told to them that when a ‘code 42’ is announced via their walkie-talkies, it means there’s a big emergency, due to a large-scale hostile attack, and so they must abandon their posts and assemble at the supply-van depot, as in the islands north-east. Though the swans 2-man crew have to guess the meeting-place, as they aren’t told of the details, as only learn of it through the grapevine. For they cant really leave due to having to remain onsite during any emergency of an island-wide attack, due to the potential danger of abandoning their stations work to the unknowing.
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1983
the underground passage network is completed, with the hub being in the north-west, as just past the orchid station, ‘C5’.
Also created for use within this, is the emergency evacuation protocol, or EEP, which is implemented upon any occasion where the hostiles invade a stations interior, which thus allows station workers to flee to safety if their position is overrun. (as hinted at on the blast door map in "Lockdown"). Due to the swan stations important duty, its crew would only hide in this for a short period, ie- less than 108 minutes.
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1984
October 28th – the day when hostile attacks grow so unmanageable that dharma decides to shutdown their island road system, an stick to only using their underground passages for inter-site travel. The shut-down includes the related van depot, and a nearby light-manufacturing facility which made spare parts for the vans.
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1985
Alvar Hanso visits the island, as while surveying the swan station, interferes with its function, thus causing a significant Magnetic Discharge to occur, which hence becomes known as the AH/MDG incident, (as recorded on the blast door map in "Lockdown").
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1986
with the main part of Cerberus security system being completed, dharma constructors dig a small network of pipes around the south of island, through which the security system can move through. These are subterranean conduits through-which a shape-changing machine can pass along, an so reach highly important areas on the island, ie- C3, 4 & 5. It surfaces to ground via pipe vents that are positioned around where key stations are based. These are called Cerberus vents, or CV for short. There are 4 of them between the swan and tempest stations.
Dharma decide to have this system become automatically activated after a secret password is not entered into the main computer every day. For a failure to do so would mean the dharma hierarchy have become overrun by hostiles, an who won’t know about this security measure.
This action also shuts down the dharmatel intranet, an though it can be rebooted, the Cerberus security system would still be inaction until recalled. Therefore its continuing work upon release, ensures the key stations work becomes not at risk of sabotage or theft, which could lead to disastrous results thereafter.
The system comprises a machine which is designed to patrol key areas of concern, an then present a non-threatening image to those it encounters while patrolling, so to encourage them to aid the islands safety in what they do. If those who encounter it, then search for it, after it disappears, the physical part of the machine grabs them an kills them. It does the same for those who enter the islands airspace, like a pilot of an aircraft that’s flown to close. If it encounters a person it deems worthy of investigation, and is near a vent [CV], that person will be dragged back through that CV for study.
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1987
Hanso Foundation funding of the DHARMA Initiative ends, as per the Hugh McIntyre interview. (The Lost Experience)
With no funding to support the dharma initiative continuing island defence, they instigate a final solution to end the hostiles threat to their existence on the island. Their plan being to release a poisonous gas throughout the islands underground tunnel network, where it would end up surfacing though the Cerberus vents and passageway exits, and kill all as it drifts freely about, until the coastal breeze dissipates it away. But beforehand the dharma staff would get the signal to put on their gasmasks. This is called the dharma final solution, as it was their way of finally ridding themselves of the hostiles continuing actions.
This gas is stored at the tempest station, an then would be redirected elsewhere.
The Purge…
December 21st – when Ben learnt of the dharma final solution, it became the trigger event for him to fully betray the dharma initiative, especially as he also knew they’d receive no further funding from the Hanso foundation, from which they could mount a counter-attack with. Jacob then told him to release the gas early, an out though the vents an tunnel exits beside the barracks only, as that’s where the dharma hierarchy live. As a result all unmasked people there died. This became known by the hostiles as the Purge.
As the attack was too quick for dharma to react to, their code 42 signal to outlying staff was never able to be broadcast to them. Therefore those based in the surrounding stations were offered amnesty if they joined the hostiles, but not those in the swan station, as Ben knew its crew were needed to remain there for the islands safety, an so couldn’t be allowed to flee in terror or upon learning recent events. While nor would anyone really volunteer to replace them due to the monotonous conditions they’d have to endure, if the current crew ran away. So Ben achieved them staying put by hatching a fake scenario, that he’d tell the swan crew upon their request for an update from central command at the barracks.
Cerberus release…
With no dharma management alive, the Cerberus security system is automatically released, where it prevents unauthorised access to key island zones deemed of critical importance. With those able to recall it now dead, it continues in operation.
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[End of 1st section, remainder to follow]
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History of the Internet
In the 19th century, the world was brought together by the telegraph, which allowed for the quick dissemination of information, changing the way people thought, and the way business was conducted. It was referred to as the "highway of thought" (Standage VIII). Before this, as Tom Standage points out in his book, "The Victorian Internet", the fastest way to send information was the same as it had been since the Mongols first tamed the horse. The telegraph was eventually replaced by the telephone, but it opened people's minds to a new, faster-paced way of life.
The Internet is a set of networking protocols that allows one computer to connect to and communicate with other computers (Sherman and Price 1). It was developed in the 1960s by the Department of Defense (DOD) to connect universities and laboratories, so they could more easily share research and data, thereby increasing productivity, and decreasing unnecessary duplication. The result, first successful in 1969, was ARPANet, which evolved into the Internet.
There was no easy way to search for files on the early Internet. Searching was really sending e-mails to people with access to other computers and their files, and waiting for a reply. Gopher changed all these by creating the first menu-type index of files which could be shared on the Internet. It was a closed system, available only at the University of Minnesota. One could not read the files on the internet, but had to download them into their home computers. Soon, Gophers appeared in other places, and subsequently they were joined together. Archie, and then Veronica were software programs that were created as a means to search Gopher menus. With Archie (a play on the word, "archives"), one could search for anonymous FTP files, while Veronica (yes - Archie's girlfriend) was capable of a keyword search of Gopher menus. Veronica initiated the practice of Boolean searches. She was the first to allow one to limit his search by using "AND", "NOT", "OR", "EITHER", or parenthesis (Burke 66), as well as the first to allow wild card, or word truncation (Burke 67). The World Wide Web is a set of software protocols that runs on the Internet, was conceived for the same reasons, allowing users to easily access files (Sherman and Price 1).
In 1989, physicists at CERN in Switzerland wanted a way to share information and data in a more complete way than before. Tim Berners-Lee perfected the Hypertext Markup language or HTML (the language most websites are written in) and along with HTTP, they were able to share not only indexes off the internet, but were able to share entire documents which could be linked to each other by hypertext.
Subject Directories
Subject directories (or web directories) list the name and address of the web pages, and work like a telephone book. The earlier ones relied on web page authors to submit their websites to the directory (Sherman and Price 13). Each site was handpicked, usually annotated, and classified by subject. Many people at these directories reviewed the sites listed in their directory, and selected them for relevance and quality. The first web directory was "The Project" (Sherman and Price 12).
is an example of a subject directory. In 1994, Jerry Yang and David Filo created "Jerry's Guide to the Internet" which used spiders to search the web for sites, grouping them manually into hierarchical lists, "Jerry's guide" became Yahoo!, which is an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle" (Sherman and Price, pg. 15); the authors did not say which came first, the name or the acronym. Another more recent example of a web directory, Beaucoup.com, categorizes the sites found on it, as well as reviews some new sites, and is useful if the web user has an idea of what kind of sites he is searching for. When the user wants to search for a word or topic, he would use a search engine.
Search Engines
In 1994, Brian Pinkerton, a graduate student at the University of Washington, created a web crawler to search for cool and unusual pages. He posted it to the Internet with an interactive interface, and created the first search engine (Sherman and Price 14). A search engine is a site that "allow(s) you to find specific documents through keyword and menu choices" (Sawyer). Search engines allow you to search a greater number of sites than do directories. Spiders or web crawlers go from link to link, and index key words from the header of the page, as well as words from the text of the page. Some spiders, like at AltaVista, indexes every word on a site. Others index the 100 most frequently used words.(Curt Franklin) When one types in a request, it matches the keywords to the meta tags in the header, and to the words indexed from the document. It does not evaluate the sites for content or relevance.
GoTo.com (now "Overture") has an unusual way of ranking sites, ranking them not by relevance, or popularity, but rather by payment. It opened in 1998 with the concept that who ever paid the most would be the first company listed in search returns (Arthur Weiss). Alta Vista also gives top ranking to paying sites, but notes which sites have paid for their rank (Arthur Weiss). More recently, search engines have been striving to develop more user-friendly results. At the "12th International World Wide Web Conference in Budapest, breakthroughs in searching technology were showcased. Among these innovations were improved techniques in specifying the type of data one needs. TimeSearcher, a new search engine, will allow results to "be confined to data created or changed on specific dates" (Delio). According to Wired News's Michelle Delio, we can also "(e)xpect, for example, to be able to sift through search results geographically, or to personalize Google results" (Delio). Geographically sorting data will be a fantastic advantage in web searching in the future, especially if one is searching for a florist online. Search engines are always changing. They add new pages even as they go back to update the sites already indexed. Improvements are made to the way spiders search the web, and they can recognize a greater variety of pages. AlltheWeb.com was the first search engine to index Macromedia Flash Files. It now also indexes Word files and PDF files(Robert Lackie).
Search engines and directories continue to improve and expand, and can now access more documents than ever. With these improvements, there are fewer and fewer differences between search engines and directories. Many search engines have even added directories to their sites. Despite the improvements in search techniques, search engines cannot keep pace with the growing number of sites on the Internet.
Google vs Meta Search Engines
Google is the search engine that has the largest number of indexed sites; around 3 billion different pages (Quentin Hardy 100). It has become the standard against which other search engines are measured. It has over 10,000 networked computers and can handle seven million queries an hour (Quentin Hardy 100). Google has the following capabilities:
* It rates the page by how popular it is, and tells the user how many hits, his request had. The more visitors a page has, the higher it is in its "returned hits" list.
* It tells the user long it will take to compile the list.
* It corrects spelling errors.
* It can translate to almost every language (including Klingon).
* It is a reverse directory, a street map, and can search just for images.
* It offers a directory of online catalogs.
* It indexes every word on a page, except for the articles ("a", "an" and "the") (Curt Franklin).
* It can recognize and index pages that are not HTML. Google can recognize PDFs, PostScript, Excel, Power Point and Rich Text documents, so it can offer more returns on request. Not only does Google recognize PDF documents, it translates them into HTML (Robert Lackie).
Google is renowned for its relevancy and its simplicity. However, as some of Google's competitors approach the same level of relevancy, it will have to continue to make itself "smarter", and learn what the user tends to want, providing similar responses each time. As Arnaud Fischer states, "Why wouldn't the most relevant results from several of the best engines not be more relevant than the results of a single-, even the best-, crawler-based engine?" (Fischer). However, these metasearch engines do not store or index pages. Metasearch engines use the resources gathered and indexed by search engines. Many metasearch engines, like Dogpile.com and Info.com, have reputations for being more "advertisement"-based (Fischer), rather than a regular search engine, which is often NOT what the user wants. Arthur Weiss says of meta search engines, "Such tools are parasitic, in that they share none of the database and indexing development overhead, and instead take away advertising revenues from the search tools they use" (Arthur Weiss). For example, when "Portland, Oregon" was plugged into info.com, the first 15 sites that came up were hotels, airlines or apartments, followed only then by the city's homepage. On Google, though, the city's homepage was first on the results list, next to Yahoo!'s city map.
The Invisible Web
The "Invisible Web" (or "Hidden Web", or "Deep Web", or Dark Matter) and "How to Search It") contains information that spiders or web crawlers cannot or will not access, so are usually excluded from general purpose search engines and directories. The sites are not accessible to the web crawlers for a variety of reasons. Search engine technology, while improving, is limited. Web crawlers work by traveling from one hypertext link to another. If there are no links to that page, or if the links are broken, the web crawlers cannot find them. However, the web designers can still submit their URL to individual directories, or search engines.
Another reason web crawlers do not include certain sites is the formatting on the pages. Search engines can index text documents, most images, and audio and video files, but they cannot read PDF, Flash, Shockwave, .EXE, PostScript or .ZIP files. They do not contain HTML text.
Web crawlers are not good with databases either, as databases are actually incomprehensible to web crawlers (Sherman and Price 59). Databases are commonly found on library, business, university and business association web sites. The Educator's Reference Desk is the world's largest educational database (Sherman and Price 83). It is filled with archived journals, citations and archives from education and library electronic mailing lists. However, because of its format, it is invisible to web crawlers, and is usually missing from standard search engine results.
Websites can deliberately block spiders or web crawlers from accessing them. The designers can do this by placing certain blocks in the meta tags in the head of the page, or by requiring a password before accessing the site.
Better Searching
When a user types "movies" into Google, a googol of different answers will come up. There are ways of narrowing the search so only the relevant sites are selected. The first step is to evaluate what the user really wants, or, as Mary Ellen Bates puts it, "Who cares?" (Bates). The user should first try to state his request in a clear question, and select the keywords in the question as the keywords to his entry. Words such as "the, and, I and to", should be omitted, and "movies, French, Foreign" entered. The sites that come up will be much more relevant. If the user enters the synonyms of his keywords, it will add more sites to his search, eg. by choosing "movies", he could add "films", or "motion pictures", to his entry. The search engine would bring up yet another different list. Ways have been developed to improve the search results by the intervention of human search assistants (human search engines) who can understand synonyms and abstract expressions.
Boolean search words can be used to further refine the search. The user can enter "+", "-", "AND", "NOT" and "OR" to limit the number of hits. If he use "AND" or "+", the search engine will bring up only those sites which contain those words. Some search engines (Google, for example) uses the Boolean "AND" by default. Thus, if you enter "Movies Foreign French", the search engine will bring up only those pages that contain all three of these words. If he wants "French movies" that do not feature "Gerard Depardieu", then he would have to limit his search with a Boolean "NOT"; he would enter "French AND foreign AND movies NOT Depardieu", and the search engine will weed out all movies with "Gerard Depardieu". If supposing he wants films in French, but does not care whether they were made in Canada or France, then he would use the Boolean "OR"; he would enter "French foreign films OR France OR Canada." Most search engines have and "Advanced Search" feature which will help the user refines his search even further; if something specific like a review or history is needed, this feature would be the most appropriate one to use.
When a user find a site that he thinks he might use, he should bookmark it under "Favorites" by creating a file for his search. Just because the user has found the site once, does not mean he will find it again. Bookmarking is therefore a great way to save time in finding a site that a user wants. Another option is to save the entire page to his hard drive, and then delete it when he is finished with it. The only advantage to this is that he does not have to be online to read the document, and he does not tie up his phone line (for those who still use dial-up connections, not broadband).
There are sites specifically set up to help people choose a search engine. Debbie Abilock's is a well-known favorite (Sherman). Even typing "choose search engine" into Google will bring up many sites that guide users through their searches. These engines will help identify what kind of information the user needs, and suggests search engines that will provide it.
Evaluating a web site
Here are some things for the user to consider when evaluating the materials in a site:
* How did you find the site? Was it the 100th site posted by the search engine? Was it recommend by a colleague, a friend, or journal you are familiar with? Was it a link from another page? Was it included in the bibliography of another web site?
* Is it related to your topic?
* Is the information accurate? One quick way to check for accuracy is to compare the information on this site with that of other sites on the same subject. A better way is to compare it with information you have found in other sources. Inaccurate information, however, will sometimes appear on multiple websites. If information presented on two different websites has identical wording, the repetition of the information should not be taken as a confirmation of factuality. It is likely that both webpages simply copied the text from the same source. Thus, if the original source provided incorrect information, then all websites that copy that information are just as incorrect.
* Is the site, someone's home page or pet project? Or is it affiliated with an organization like a university, or a business, or a government agency? Is there a way to contact the author, or the organization, by email or even snail mail? Is there a link to the organization's home page so that you can find out more about them?
* Does the organization have an agenda or a bias? Does it offer a variety of viewpoints?
* What is the purpose of the site? Is it for entertainment, or news, or editorial? Is it an advertisement?
* Is there detailed information on the page? Is it an in-depth discussion on the topic, or is it a "My dog, Fido" project? Or is it primarily a list of links to other sites?
* Is the information easy to read? Are the grammar and spelling correct? Are there maps, or graphs, or charts?
* How old is the page? Is there a date at the bottom of the page? Some sites will have the date, showing when the page was posted, and the date of the most recent update.