Word Searches With Search Engines

As mentioned above, search engines index the exact words found on Web pages. Thus, when you search with a search engine, you are looking for exact words. "Choose your words well," says the proverb. Since you do not know exactly what words may be on a particular Web page that covers the subject you are interested in, you must be creative in anticipating the possibilities.
FOREST LOG. Here is a scheme, called FOREST LOG, to help generate search terms. Suppose, for example, you wish to research the validity of testing. Here is how you might use the Forest Log scheme to generate terms.

FO
Forms
Forms or variants of the words you are thinking of. For example, if you search on validity of testing, you may miss a page that discusses validity of tests. So you should include the forms: test, testing, tests. Many search engines allow wild cards to cover most forms by using a wild card, often an asterisk, as in test.

RE
Related Terms
Related to testing is measurement, assessment, performance, criteria, judgment, evaluation, and so forth. A search only on validity of test* will miss validity of performance measures.

ST 

Synonymous Terms

What other words are synonymous or used in place of the word test? What about exam, examination, assessment, quiz, midterm? As another example, suppose you search under apple growing, and find a few items but not what you want. What other possible phrases might be used in an article that would cover this topic? You might search on fruit tree farming, fruit orchards, Washington Red Delicious, etc.

LOG

Ladder of Generalization

The higher on the ladder, the more general or comprehensive the term, while the lower on the ladder, the more specific the term. Thus, for example, a list of terms related to testing, from most general to most specific, might includemeasurement, assessment, testing, performance test, weightlifting performance test. When you are developing a set of search terms and searching with them, if you do not get the results you want, move up or down the ladder of generalization and generate some more terms.

Search Tips

There are several ways to type in a word search. Knowing the differences can help you get better results.
Keyword Search. Many search engines by default offer a keyword search. This kind of search will find all pages that contain any of the words you have specified. Moreover, the search will find the words in any order and in any location. For example, suppose you are looking for information about the formulas in shampoo. If you perform a keyword search using the phrase consumer product chemistry, the engine will return every page that mentions any one of these three words anywhere on the page. Thus, you will see pages about "Consumer Protest over Dangerous Toys," and so forth. Fortunately, most engines list their findings (hits) in a ranked order, so that hits with all of the words will be listed before hits with only one or two of the words. And usually, pages where the words are close together will be listed earlier. However, that still means that your keyword search for consumer product chemistry will return a page containing, "Some consumer groups are advocating product warning labels on children's chemistry sets."
Phrase Search. Many search engines allow you to perform an exact phrase search, so that pages with only the words you type in, in that exact order and with no words in between them, will be found. The exact phrase search is often a remedy for too many irrelevant hits. To perform an exact phrase search at a search engine that permits it, put the phrase in quotation marks: "consumer product chemistry." If you get zero results, go back to the Forest Log and do some work!
Boolean Operators. Named after mathematician George Boole, Boolean logic involves the operators AND, OR, NOT, and occasionally NEAR. These operators are available in some engines to expand or contract your search results. The operator OR expands the search, while the others contract it. Let me explain by examples. If you type into the search engine, "summer OR flowers," you will get a hit on every page that has either the word "summer" or the word "flowers" on it. (For the technically minded, the OR is an inclusive OR so that pages with both words will also be returned.) On the other hand, if you type in, "summer AND flowers," only pages with both terms will be returned. As you might imagine, this will be a smaller set of hits. If you type in "summer NOT flowers," then only pages with the word "summer" and not with the word "flowers" will be found. And similarly, if you type in "summer NEAR flowers," only pages with the word "summer" in the close vicinity of the word "flowers" will be returned. Some pages allow you to specify the nearness of the words, such as not more than 15 or 50 words apart.
1. Use several search tools. Because of the constant indexing that search sites do, and because of the way their indexes work, some will find content that others will not. No engine has the entire Web indexed. Use several engines and several directories, and look at reference and targeted engines as well for the most thorough search. (And remember the Invisible Web!). See "World Wide Web Research Tools" for a list of good engines and other tools.2. Read the search tips or help information at each search engine. You will learn how to perform more sophisticated searches, how to restrict or expand searches, and how to use the site more efficiently. For example, AltaVista, Excite, and InfoSeek allow the use of quotation marks to create an exact phrase search, a plus sign to indicate a word that must occur to yield a hit page, and a minus sign to exclude pages that include the word. By combining these items, you can create a very powerful and specific search: "lesson plans" +K-12 -science tells the engine to search for the exact phrase lesson plans (rather than just the two words anywhere in the document, on pages that must include the term K-12 and that must not include the word science.
3. For keyword searches, use several words. If you type in a general topic word as if you were looking through a card catalog, you are likely to receive tens or even hundreds of thousands of hits. A search for "insomnia," for example, will return more than 20,000 hits from one engine. You might try a search on "causes insomnia cure better sleep sleepless" or something similar. Try to imagine what words might occur in an article you want and type in several of those words. Use synonyms, too. Alternatively, use an exact phrase search on "treatment of insomnia" or a directory search, starting with the subject Health or Lifestyle. Note that you can combine various phrases into one search to improve your yield. If you are researching apple growing, you might combine several phrases from different places on the ladder of generalization and type in fruit tree apple farming growing Washington Red Delicious orchards Gala Fuji Granny Smith and see what you get.
4. Guess a location. The address or URL (uniform resource locator) of a web site is, surprisingly, often guessable. Many companies use a standard form of URL, which is http://www.companynamehere.com, where "companynamehere" is the name of the company. Thus, for example, Sony is found at http://www.sony.com and you can figure out how to get to Disney, Honda, and NBC the same way. Companies with long names often abbreviate them in some guessable way, as for example http://www.nytimes.com is the New York Times, and the standard form with "adage" in the middle will bring up Advertising Age and with "popsci" in the middle will get you Popular Science.
Moreover, that middle word is often the key to a site's content even when not identifying a famous company. What, for example, do you think you would find at http://www.fraud.com or http://www.weather.com? Try the standard form with "salami" or even "search" and see what happens. Try a few of your own areas, based on a topic (like news) an item (like a fruit), or a place.
5. Select the wheat from the chaff by thinking about what you want. What are you looking for? Facts, opinions (anyone's opinion or an expert's), statistics, narratives of personal experience, eyewitness descriptions, new ideas, proven solutions, reference material? See the companion article, "Evaluating Internet Research Sources" for more information.
6. Back up to find out where you are. When you click on a hit from a search engine, you are connected directly to the page where the search terms were matched. It is not always clear exactly where you have arrived. You may see something like, "Chapter 5: The Triumph of Palladian Architecture." Who wrote this? What is the book about, of which this is Chapter 5? To answer these questions, look at the URL (address) you have connected to. If may look something like this: http://www.some.edu/faculty/jones/architec/ch5.htm. The page you are reading is the lowest level of a series of directories beginning with the web site (www.some.edu), dropping to a "faculty" directory, then to a "jones" directory, and so on. To learn more about the context of your Chapter 5, go to the right end of the URL and chop off the "ch5.htm" and then press return. This will have the effect of backing you up one level in the hierarchy and you can see what the higher directory ("architec" in this case) is all about. You might find a book title, author, or other information. Now chop off the "architec" directory and back up to "jones" to see what is there. Back up as far as you want or need to in order to find out the information you need about the work and its author.
If you are doing research for a report or project, be sure to write down the URL and all pertinent information so that you can cite the source properly. (See below for example citation style for this page.) If you print directly from your browser, the URL will be printed for you in an upper or lower corner. But if you save the page to disk, the URL will not be included, so be sure to copy it down.
Lifesaver tip: If you accidentally neglect to write down the URL, but have a printed or disk copy of the article, you can either see the URL printed at the top of the page or you can use a search engine to locate the article for you again. To do this, type in from the article a four or five-word phrase that contains the most unusual words you can find. Then perform an exact phrase search for these words. The engine will almost always take you right to the article.

10 Simple Tips to Help You Speed Up Your Broadband Internet Connection Speed

Here's how you can boost your Internet connection speed simply by making a few basic, low-cost or no-cost changes:

Wireless Broadband Speed Booster Tip 1: Switch Off Your PC and Broadband Router, Wait 1 Minute, Then Switch Both Back on Again

If your broadband speed seems to have slowed recently, remember, electronic devices can over time simply become what can perhaps best be described as "muddled". Sometimes, the simplest solution can fix apparently complex problems. By switching off your PC and your broadband router box and then switching on again, you can  reset all of the microprocessors they contain to the same starting point. That action in itself can sometimes boost your broadband speed back to previous levels.

Wireless Broadband Speed Booster Tip 2: Put your Wireless Router in The Same Room as Your PC

Here's why: even though electronic signals flowing between your wireless router box and your PC can travel through walls and ceilings, move your PC to the same room as your wireless router. Why: each wall or ceiling is a barrier that can reduce the strength of the wireless signal between your router and your PC. If you have several walls or ceilings between your router and your PC, each barrier can progressively reduce the strength of the link between the two.

Wireless Broadband Speed Booster Tip 3: Place Your Wireless Rooter Near to Your PC

Imagine for a moment that both your wireless router and PC have fully functioning eyes: if they can "see" each other, and the only barrier barrier between them is a little air space, then you can help maximize your broadband speed.

Wireless Broadband Speed Booster Tip 4: Make Sure Your Wireless Router Aerial is Positioned Vertically

The link between your PC and wireless router box can be likened to a metal chain: you can break or affect the link in different ways. A number of factors can affect the strength of the link. Even something as simple as your router box aerial being angled or not vertical can reduce or even prevent the link between PC and router.

Wireless Broadband Speed Booster Tip 5: Make Sure the Phone Cable That Connects Your Broadband Router Box to Your Phone Socket is as Short as Possible

If you're using a "spare" longer phone lead that is really designed for use as a phone extension lead, replace it with a standard short lead - ideally, the same type that would have come with your router.

Wireless Broadband Speed Booster Tip 6: Use the Correct Microfilters

Microfilters can help clean up phone line interference. If your broadband installation comes with microfilter connectors designed to be used between your phone socket and the phone lead that connects to your router box, make sure you're using a microfilter for each connection. Also, make sure you're using the correct type of microfilter: check with your provider if not sure.

Wireless Broadband Speed Booster Tip 7: If Any Wires Are draped Over or Near Your Wireless Router Box, Move Those Wires Away

Wires that carry electrical currents and electronic signals can create electrical field interference when placed close to other electronic devices. Any additional interference can affect wireless connection speeds. Therefore, if your printer, scanner or PC mains cable or other connecting cables are situated too close to, or touching your wireless router box, try rerouting or repositioning your away from your wireless broadband router box.

Wireless Broadband Speed Booster Tip 8: Keep Your Broadband Internet Connection Private

If you don't secure your own connection, others close to your location could also be using your wi-fi broadband connection to access the Internet. Usually, that means, your own Internet connection speed can decrease since more devices are using the same resource and the speed capability has to be shared across multiple items.
How to fix: make sure your broadband connection uses a password that is unique to your installation. See your broadband router documentation. Two common security systems include:

• WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy): standard security used by most computers and wireless routers, and ...
• WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access): strong security - the preferred option. The best password connections uses WPA.

Whichever network security option you choose, do remember that all devices that are connected to your network: PCs, printers, scanners, etc. - must be able to use the same security system: WEP or WPA.
That means, if you want to use the stronger level of security provided by WPA, but your existing printer only supports WEP, then you would either have to use WEP or change your printer to one that supports WPA.

Wireless Broadband Speed Booster Tip 9: Ensure that Only the Minimum Number of Software Programs You Have Running Access the Internet at the Same Time

Re-examine how many different programs you have that may be accessing the Internet at the same time. Imagine a scenario where you have an Internet Explorer v7.x web browser open with over 6 tabs active on 6 different websites, plus Microsoft Outlook email program open, plus Microsoft Word documents running in the background, and so on.
Every addition means your PC must work harder to maintain the same level of response using up your PC's memory and processing power - both of which are also required by your web browser.
Sometimes, your broadband speed may not be affected, however, since your PC may have to work harder, it's response can slow down, which can essentially lead to the same symptom of slow broadband Internet connection speed.
Therefore ideally, keep to one open web browser, with 5 or fewer active tabs and one email program at a time.

Wireless Broadband Speed Booster Tip 10: Download Large Files When the Internet is "Quieter"

Video and music files can be large and downloading large files puts the most stress on any Internet connection speed. The more people that may be using the Internet or the same Internet resource that you're also using, means that the same resources must be shared among more people.
You can improve download speed and response by choosing to download large files later in the evening, earlier in the morning, or even overnight. Certainly avoid peak times like 8am - 10am mornings, and 4pm - 6pm in the evenings.

Networks

The word network describes two or more computers that can share resources. These resources include printers, other computers, data, applications, communications, and just about anything else.
There are three basic types of networks
LAN - LAN stands for Local Area Network. These are networks that are limited to a specific, relatively small area. Usually this is just a single office, warehouse, building or even an apartment. Generally a LAN does not exceed the boundary of a single building and the connections between computers is permanent.
WAN - A WAN is a Wide Area Network. In many cases, a WAN consists of multiple LANs or MANs. A WAN can be huge (even covering the entire planet or extending out into space), and the connections between computer may or may not be permanent.
MAN - This stands for Metropolitan Area Network. The term is not used very much, and it is really just a variation on the WAN concept. You can think of a MAN as a WAN that is totally contained within the boundaries of a single metropolitan area (a city).

FTP

Believe it or not, browsing the web with Internet Explorer or Netscape is relatively new. It wasn't that long ago (ten to fifteen years) when the tools you would use on the internet (not the web) were email, gopher (a menu based browser), archie (a file and directory locator) and FTP.
The letters FTP stand for File Transfer Protocol, and that's exactly what FTP allows you to do - transfer files from place to place. In fact, FTP is by far the most efficient (the fastest) way to copy large files across the internet.
Today many people use a sophisticated FTP client to get files to and from their web sites. This has several advantages over the method commonly used by amateurs on free web sites. Many newbies who don't know any better use the gadgets provided by their free host to edit their sites. The problems with this are many and varied.
First, the gadgets are not very impressive as editors. Most users who want to create a web site of any size and complexity will find themselves constrained horribly by these tools. Probably the only good thing about these editing tools is they give people a nice, easy way to start creating web sites without a huge learning curve. But take my word for it, you will outgrow them soon enough.
In addition, a major problem is the editing is generally done directly on the host site. This means you do not have a back up of your site on your own hard drive. If your host decides to close your account, goes bankrupt or just plain is unavailable, you lose your site. If you ever want to have a frustrating experience, just try and call your host and ask them to restore your site from one of their backups!
Other people use products such as Dreamweaver or FrontPage, which include site updating capabilities. These are often very convenient until they don't work or perform unexpected actions. For example, I spent several days trying to figure out why my CGI routines were not working, until I realized that FrontPage was uploading the files incorrectly. From that moment forward, I used an FTP package to upload my files.
Most of the modern FTP clients are very simple to use. You just launch the program, enter some basic information (such as the site address, account name and password) and connect. Once connected, you can usually just drag and drop files from your own hard drive to the site.
Precisely why is it a good idea to use an FTP client over, say, FrontPage (or Dreamweaver) or direct editing on a hosts web site?
FTP is fast and efficient - As it turns out, FTP is actually one of the most efficient ways to transfer large amounts of data on the entire internet. Don't believe me? Try transferring a very large file, say a megabyte, using FTP. It really moves, doesn't it?
By using FTP, you have an automatic backup - If you use FTP you will be editing your files locally on your own computer. As you make changes you will copy the files up to your host's computer. This means no matter what happens to your host, even if their computer is totally destroyed, you've got a copy of your site on your own disk. The reverse is also true - if your computer is trashed you can recover your site from your host's system.
FTP gives you control - You can choose whether to transfer in binary (executables and compressed files) or ASCII (text files) as needed. This is an advantage over FrontPage, which does not give you the choice. This means you cannot use FrontPage to upload your site if you use, for example, CGI routines.

Disaster Recovery

For the last decade or so, disaster recovery has been a hot topic among Information Technology professionals. We all know that disasters lurk around every corner. They can happen at anytime, anywhere and without warning. All of us in IT have, at one time or another, dealt with disasters in greater or lesser magnitude. Our measure of preparedness dictates how well we weather such storms - do we come out unharmed, or looking like we've been through a major war.
Sometimes disasters are relatively minor, such as the failure of a hard disk. Occasionally, thankfully less often, they can be horrendous, such as with the First Interstate fire of 1988 or the World Trade Center bombing in 2001. A disaster can be of limited scope, as with water dripping on a computer system, or it can be of city-wide magnitude, as with a major earthquake.
All of these extremes fall within the realm of disaster planning. All levels of disaster must be examined, thought out, discussed, planned, implemented, and most importantly (and most often forgotten) tested over and over again.
This is the first in a series of articles examining this huge topic from different levels. My philosophy is simple in this regard - you must start from the basics of good security, excellent backups, well-thought-out RAID, and well managed daily procedures before you can even consider such major disasters as a significant earthquake or fire. For example, a perfectly running hot site is totally useless if your backups are not operating smoothly.
I classify disasters by order of magnitude. First, there are the minor disasters that occur in the normal course of business. These include hard disk failures, data corruptions, network glitches and everything else that seems to happen with computer systems. These kinds of problems are handled with well done warranty contracts, training, spare parts, RAID disks, excellent backups and good procedures.
Next, there are relatively minor environmental issues. These include a vast array of real life problems, including insects (chewing on wires), water seeping onto equipment, power failures (common here in California lately), small fires, even chemical leaks into a building. These kinds of occurrences generally take IT departments totally by surprise - and often produce problems far greater than anticipated.
Now come larger issues of major failures of multiple pieces of equipment. This could be as simple as a long power failure causing the computer room to be down for twelve hours, or as complex as the roof of the IT department caving inwards. The point is, the computer equipment is non-functional, but the business remains.
Finally I will touch on the larger issue of business continuity planning. This basically means not only are the computers unable to operate, but the business unit itself (such as the building) has been destroyed or made unusable. The collapse of the World Trade Center buildings or a major earthquake would fall into this category.
As you work up the four levels of disaster planning, it typically becomes more and more difficult to sell management on the necessity of spending money in that area. In fact, many organizations have trouble getting the funds for a single tape drive, much less a working, operational disaster site.
A huge portion of the job of disaster recovery is being able to communicate to management why this is important and how it protects the business. The concept of an insurance policy comes in very handy in these conversations - managers at all levels understand insurance.
Perhaps the most critical component of disaster recovery is the issue that is also by far overlooked more often than any other. That is the issue of testing. Believe me, I've learned from hard experience that a disaster plan is completely worthless if it has not been tested and dry-run at least a dozen times. In addition, the plan must be maintained and re-tested constantly, at least once a quarter, or it quickly becomes unusable.
Another issue which is commonly overlooked is the training of personnel. People in IT tend to think about computers and code and screens, and we tend to forget that all of these things are operated by human beings. And those human beings need to know what they are doing. In other words, if there is a disaster, who does what? This folds neatly into the idea of testing - your testing must include those people who actually will be operating the disaster plan if a disaster occurs!
Perhaps the most important lesson that I've learned about disaster planning is a simple datum: the disaster will NOT be what you've planned for. It is wise to look at your plans from multiple viewpoints. Will this work for an earthquake? A fire? A terrorist bomb? A hostage crisis? Or just water leaking through the ceiling over the weekend?
Also, you need to be sure you plan on the psychology of the people involved in the disaster. I don't know about you, but in the event of a major earthquake my mind will most definitely not be in it's most sane and rational state! So don't expect people to be able to perform any but the most robotic, thoroughly documented tasks - and don't expect them to do them correctly!
So buckle your seatbelts and get ready for the next installment of this series - Laying the groundwork for disaster recovery.

A description of the 404 error code and what it means

We've all received an error like the one shown below:

    File not found - requested URL not found on this server

It's annoying, especially when you've searched for something and found what looks like the perfect site. At least the description exactly matches your needs. You click and boom, a 404 error appears.  Whoops. What happened to that perfect site?

This is a sample of a typical 404 error encounted by the Internet Explorer 5.5 browser.

There are several reasons why this error occurs. I guess the thing that you need to remember is the internet is very fluid. In fact, it changes constantly. Sometimes a site is changing while you are looking at it. I can remember several times I was examining a site and returned to a page that I had seen only moments before and found it to be different! That can be very unnerving, to say the least.

So what sometimes happens is a webmaster changes his site around and obsoletes links. If he's a rank amateur, he'll break links within his own site.  This does happen sometimes, but any webmaster worth his salt is constantly checking and rechecking his site to be sure it works and works well. After all, the only way to test something is to use it. And the only way to see if a site really works is to surf it.

More often, someone has linked to a site and that site changes. Since it can be difficult if not impossible to determine who has linked to a site, links break.

Now, really good webmasters never ever delete a page on their site. What they do is create redirect pages. Thus, if I have a page called "barbi.htm" and I want to delete it, I will modify the page to tell the visitor it no longer exists and redirect him to another page in my site. This way I will not lose traffic simply because I've deleted or renamed a page.

This constant checking of one's own web site will also catch another common error: misspelling a hyperlink. When I create a hyperlink, I either browse to the target using my web editor, or I cut and paste the link directly out of Internet Explorer. I never type the hyperlink in myself, which reduces the possibility of error greatly!

Also common is the webmaster who does not understand that many servers are case sensitive. This means that "Richard" is not the same as "richard". You will see this sometimes if a webmaster moves a site from a server which is not case sensitive (VAX/OpenVMS) to one that is (Unix).

Sometimes a site simply moves to another host. This frequently happens when a site outgrows it's host. I know of one site that had to move several times because it's bandwidth demands became huge! According to the webmaster this site was getting tens of thousands of visitors every day, and all of them were downloading tremendous amounts of pictures. He was booted off one server with no notice and no backup and had to rebuild his site from scratch! This kind of event will certainly cause 404 errors!

More rarely, a webmaster has been in the process of uploading his site when his upload software crashed. This may leave broken links for a short time until the problem is fixed.

Generally an ISP will provide, at least for a short time, a redirect page to a new site. You will see this as a "My site has moved. If you are not transported in 10 seconds click here" message.

And of course some sites simply shut down. This is actually getting more rare as it's often more expensive for an ISP to delete old data than it is simply to prevent updates.

Search engines are notorious for their broken links. You have to remember that most search engines only examine web sites every month or so (sometimes the delay is as long as six months). Because of this, all of the above problems can occur, leaving broken links.

Implementation Guide

 NetSmartz Workshop – Program Implementation

You can implement NetSmartz into your current program with a three-step process that allows for complete program customization within any educational setting. NetSmartz is specifically designed not to function as a traditional curriculum, but rather as an adaptable resource that can fit into the demanding curricula in today’s schools. NetSmartz activities can be used in any order and fit almost any time frame, allowing you to customize the integration of the resources to suit your students’ needs.


Step 1: Identify age group

This requires not only specifying the ages of the children, but also determining their maturity level. NetSmartz resources are classified by the age range for which they are most appropriate and intentionally overlap to accommodate various stages of maturity. For example, a third grade teacher may choose to implement NetSmartzKids resources, and then slowly introduce NSTeens materials when students demonstrate a readiness for more complicated subject matter.


Step 2: Select relevant Internet safety topics

NetSmartz resources address the following topics

    Cyberbullying
    Inappropriate content
    Predators
    Revealing too much information
    Spyware, spam, and scams

Each age group faces a probable set of risks online; therefore, not all topics are covered in each NetSmartz series. For example, there is no statistical need for younger children (ages 5-10) to discuss sexting, nor is it an age-appropriate topic, so it is not included in NetSmartzKids materials.


Step 3: Select NetSmartz resources

NetSmartz has an expanding collection of resources that address different aspects of the Internet, the risks associated with each, and how to use the Internet responsibly. These resources work within a variety of time constraints and can be downloaded for free.

    Videos –Animations and documentary shorts teach Internet safety concepts through song, rhyme, comedy, or first-person narrative.
    Activity Cards – Classroom lessons are organized by grade level (Primary, Intermediate, Middle School, and High School) and aligned with the NCTE Standards for the English Language Arts, the ISTE National Educational Technology Standards, and the American Cancer Society’s National Health Education Standards. Each activity card reinforces the lessons presented in a NetSmartz video.
    Teachable Recipes – Recipes that combine Internet safety lessons with culinary fun to make safety education interactive.
    Internet Safety Rules – Age-appropriate rules help provide clear guidelines for safer Internet use and can also be used as a contract or pledge.
    Internet Safety Presentations – Interactive presentations are tailored for specific audiences - parents and communities, tweens, teens, and younger children. These presentations include current statistics, online resources, videos, and expert tips.
    Handouts – Tip sheets and issue-specific guides are available for use in schools, public facilities, or community presentations.

Social Networking

Social networking sites (SNS) such as MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, and Twitter are popular with teens because they give them

    An easy way to share their lives with their friends and family
    The chance to try on different identities and explore new interests
    A semi-private platform on which to communicate outside of the supervision of adults

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Tips
Help children use social networking sites safely

Social networking sites can have many benefits for children, such as allowing them to explore new interests. Help your children use them more safely by going over the following tips and discussion starters.

    Check your child’s friend lists to see who has access to his or her profile. Make sure your child knows all friends in person.
    Teach your child to set profiles to private–but be aware that privacy settings do not guarantee complete privacy.
    Have your child remove any inappropriate content and photos and delete any personal information.
    Check the profiles of your child’s friends to see if there is revealing information or photos about your child.
    Report inappropriate or criminal behavior to the appropriate authority. Most sites have a reporting mechanism for non-criminal behavior. Criminal behavior should be reported through law-enforcement agencies and the CyberTipline® at www.cybertipline.com.

Discussion Starters
Start a discussion with your child

Use these discussion starters to get an Internet safety conversation going with your children. The more often you talk to them about online safety, the easier it will get, so don’t get discouraged if they don’t respond immediately!

    Could you show me your online profile(s)?
    Do you use your real name or age when communicating with others online?
    What kinds of things do your post on your page?
    How do you decide who to add as a friend?
    Would you feel comfortable if I checked your profile?

Blogging

I don’t mean to be mean but I have had enough with homework. – Tween blogger 

Do you ever wonder what your children think about? Perhaps you should read their Web logs or “blogs.” Blogs are a type of online journal that children use to share their thoughts and feelings; they may be in written or video format. Posting blogs allows children to develop both their technical and creative skills. It also lets them connect to other users with similar interests and write about their experiences, their personal lives, popular culture, and any other topic that crosses their minds.
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Tips
Help children blog safely

Does your child have a blog? Use the blogging rule of thumb! Never post anything in a blog that you would not want to share with everyone you know.

    Establish guidelines with your child before allowing him or her to blog, such as reviewing your child’s blogs before posting.
    Ensure that your child is using privacy settings.
    Have your child remove any identifying information from all postings—full names, ages, locations, phone numbers, and school names.
    Caution your child about the dangers of posting inappropriate or provocative information or images. Once something is posted online, it cannot be taken back.
    Encourage your child to come to you if anything on the blog site makes him or her feel uncomfortable.


Discussion Starters
Start a discussion with your child

Use these discussion starters to get an Internet safety conversation going with your children. The more often you talk to them about online safety, the easier it will get, so don’t get discouraged if they don’t respond immediately!

    Do you keep a blog? Could I read it?
    Who do you think is reading your blog?
    Would you feel comfortable letting anyone read your blog?
    Is your blog set to private? Why or why not?
    What do you think your blog says about you?
    Can you show me some of your favorite blogs?

Safety Tips

• Clear, simple, easy-to-read house rules should be posted on or near the monitor. Create your own computer rules or print the Internet safety pledge. The pledge can be signed by adults and children and should be periodically reviewed
• Look into safeguarding programs or options your online service provider might offer. These may include monitoring or filtering capabilities.
• Always read a website's privacy policy before giving any personal information. Also make sure that a website offers a secure connection before giving credit card information.
• Websites for children are not permitted to request personal information without a parent's permission. Talk to children about what personal information is and why you should never give it to people online.
• If children use chat or e-mail, talk to them about never meeting in person with anyone they first "met" online.
• Talk to children about not responding to offensive or dangerous e-mail, chat, or other communications. Report any such communication to local law enforcement. Do not delete the offensive or dangerous e-mail; turn off the monitor, and contact local law enforcement.
• Keep the computer in the family room or another open area of your home.
• Get informed about computers and the Internet.
• Let children show you what they can do online, and visit their favorite sites.
• Have children use child-friendly search engines when completing homework.
• Know who children are exchanging e-mail with, and only let them use chat areas when you can supervise. NetSmartz recommends limiting chatroom access to child-friendly chat sites.
• Be aware of any other computers your child may be using.
• Internet accounts should be in the parent's name with parents having the primary screenname, controlling passwords, and using blocking and/or filtering devices.
• Children should not complete a profile for a service provider and children's screennames should be nondescript so as not to identify that the user is a child.
• Talk to children about what to do if they see something that makes them feel scared, uncomfortable, or confused. Show them how to turn off the monitor and emphasize that it's not their fault if they see something upsetting. Remind children to tell a trusted adult if they see something that bothers them online.
• Consider using filtering or monitoring software for your computer. Filtering products that use whitelisting, which only allows a child access to a preapproved list of sites, are recommended for children in this age group. NetSmartz does not advocate using filters only; education is a key part of prevention.
• If you suspect online "stalking" or sexual exploitation of a child, report it to your local law-enforcement agency. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) has a system for identifying online predators and child pornographers and contributing to law-enforcement investigations. It's called the CyberTipline^®. Leads forwarded to the site will be acknowledged and shared with the appropriate law-enforcement agency for investigation.

Mail Msg

Email is by far the most popular feature on the internet. Not everyone browses, and certainly most people have never even heard of newsgroups, but everyone, and I mean everyone, has used email.

This is the king of internet features. This is the most used communication path that there is. Literally billions of email messages cross over the internet every single day. Most users get dozens of emails per day, and some (like me) get hundreds.

There are dozens of email clients on the market. Quite frankly, it really doesn't matter which one you use. Except for a few features they are pretty much the same as long as you stick with the better known clients.

If you are concerned about privacy you will want to look at Pretty Good Privacy, which is quickly becoming the standard for email encryption.

Web email offers a nice alternative to using an email client.  SPAM is a constant danger, but have no fear there are steps you can take to gain control over this nasty stuff.

Keep your eyes open for internet scams and fraud. It's all over the place, and if you are not careful you could get burned.
Articles By Richard Lowe
Antivirus
Blind Carbon Copy
Bounced Email Messages
Carnivore
Content Filtering
Effective Email Communications
Email clients
Email Communications
Email discussion lists
Email Etiquette
Email message headers give you lots of information
Email On The Road
Email Tips
Flames
Free Email Accounts
Here's a way to automatically delete emails
History Of Email - The First Message
How Private Is Your Email?
Outlook
Outlook Express
Pretty Good Privacy
Running Your Own Email Server
SMTP
SPAM
Unsubscribing from mailing lists
Utilities - Readnotify
Web Email

Internet basics

Everyone must be a beginner at something sometime in his life. And at some point, all of us were new to the internet. Even the most arrogant webmaster who can create sites with his eyes closed was, once, struggling with the concepts of the vast network that now connects most of the planet.
So what's the best course of action when you are a beginner? I mean, most people want to look like they know what they are talking about. Sometimes the hardest thing in the entire world is to admit you know nothing or very little about a subject.
Yet, when you are a beginner at something, that's what you have to do. You must admit to yourself (at least) that you are a beginner and you must understand that there is something to learn about the subject. Learning about the internet is no exception to this rule.

Learning

My advice is to just jump in and start learning all you can learn. How you learn about the internet depends upon your own preference and style. Also remember that you can combine learning styles as desired or needed to suit your taste.
High School or college courses - Some people learn best in a scholastic atmosphere. Personally, this drives me up the wall, but others thrive on a campus with lecture halls, teachers, home room and hall monitors. If this describes how you best like to learn, then by all means go for it. If you are pressed for time, remember there are night and weekend classes available at most educational facilities. Not much money? Try community colleges - they are inexpensive and often have excellent computer curricula.
Informational Web Sites - Our site has a large amount of information designed to help people learn about the internet. There are many other such sites and some of them are quite useful indeed. In fact, we learned much of what we know from many of these sites, and use them to this day to expand upon our knowledge. Just be careful, however, that you understand the motivation of these web sites - often they are honest, but sometimes they are attempting to get you to purchase something that you may not need.
Trade Courses - You can find many trade schools which offer courses. These differ from college in that they very short (a day to a week), they are usually very expensive (a few hundred to a few thousand per class), and they are of limited focus and duration. Courses are great for focused, specific knowledge or for earning a certification - and they are wonderful when the bill is picked up by the company you work for. Otherwise, there are cheaper, better ways to learn your skills.
Books - Don't forget books. Your local library or bookstore is one of your best friends, if used properly. It never ceases to amaze me to watch people spend small fortunes on books, courses, tapes, and classes when a book checked our from their tax-supported library would serve their purposes just fine. Think about it - how often will you be reading that book on Microsoft Excel again?
On The Job Training - This is the absolute best way to learn. If you want to be a webmaster, then pick up a book, learn the basics, then find a client who will pay you a few hundred bucks to create a web site. If you want to become a computer specialist, then go get a job as a computer operator. This is the best way to learn.

Some Information Sources

There are many other ways to learn a subject, but what about when you want to just find out information?
Search engines and directories - These are some of your best friends. Use the search engines and directories, and learn how to use them to find what you want.
Ezines - Subscribe to a few ezines on subjects that you like. I would recommend that you get a free mail.com email address for each ezine. Forward the mail to your primary email account. This way, you will find out which ezines are selling or giving away your email address. Those are the ezines that you cancel.
Good ezines to start with? Check out zdnet.com, internet.com and cnet.com. Then expand to smaller ezines as you find them.
Newsgroups and message boards - These can be excellent sources of information, especially if you need to ask questions. Just be aware that you should never spam (advertisements, even to look at your web site), and you should expect an occasional idiot to flame you for whatever reasons suits their fancy. Ignore the flames.

What do you need to learn about?

Tools - Learn about your tools. Start by learning about your browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, AOL, Opera or whatever). Follow with your email client (Outlook Express, Outlook, Eudora, Netscape and so on), then your FTP client, newsgroup reader and whatever else you use.
Follow that with the tools which help you do what you want to do. Interested in graphics? Learn about Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and so on. Want to be a webmaster? Find out about web tools such as Frontpage, Dreamweaver and Notetab.
Now, learn more about how it all works. Internet tips and secrets is a great place to start, and there are dozens more web sites which can help. If you are interested in graphics, then learn all about graphics - how they are stored, created, displayed and optimized. Become an expert on graphics. Want to be a webmaster? Learn HTML, ASP, PHP or whatever else you need.

Start cheap

There is no need to spend a lot of money at this point in time. You will need a computer and a connection to the internet, of course. Beyond that, a free web host will work fine while you are learning how to create a web site. There are demonstration copies available (30 to 90 day try outs) for just about everything - take advantage of those before you choose which tools you want.

Stay Ethical

Follow the golden rules - don't violate copyrights, don't steal software, don't flame and, well, be good. Remember, what goes around comes around. If you tend to treat others as you would like to be treated, then you will generally get treated that way in return.

The Bottom Line

If you are new to the internet, then don't be afraid to admit it. You will find many people willing and able to help. We've all been new at one time or another, and we've all needed an occasional bit of help. Just keep learning, continue communication and start creating.