Tips on Searching the Web 

Several people, including some not the least interested in leisure,  have asked me how I have found so much information about Leisure Connection on the Internet. This is my first attempt to define my methods. The ideas here will probably seem obvious to more experienced searchers. Perhaps they could  let me know what else I could add?  If you are very new to web searching you may first want to read a more general introduction to searching, such as the one at http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html 

My primary tool is Google but sometimes other search engines provide items that I have not discovered there. The main supplementary sites used are Alta Vista, Yahoo and Clusty. My links to engines are set to open on the advanced facility as this makes it easier to search for a phrase and use other features that yield a higher proportion of relevant links. Firefox is a better browser for searching than Internet Explorer 6 or 7, as it is easier to search for a word on a page. When pages are large this saves much time. 

It helps that Leisure Connection is a more distinctive name. Putting "Leisure Connection" as a phrase into Google comes up with 50,000+ listings, far fewer than, say, "Bill Smith" at 730,000+. It also helps to limit the search to the UK, as this takes the total down by about 10,000. But clearly other filters are needed. I am not particularly interested in what LC have on their many web pages so in Google Advanced  alongside "Domain" I insert "leisureconnection.co.uk" and select Don't. 

Alternatively, if I want to find what the site of a particular council has to say about a topic I select Only. Thus I might find all the council documents listed that contain "Leisure Connection" and "complaint". But be sure you have the correct website as some councils store their committee papers on a secondary site.

Other distinctive information can be added for more relevant results, e.g. a phone number, the name of a town or a postcode. If I want more academic material I might add "References OR Bibliography". 

Sometimes the search engine  link for an older item will not work. If so, try the "Cached" facility. This often enables you to see what has been removed from a site or updated because the search engine stored or cached a copy. If a PDF file does not open, you may still be able to see the contents by clicking on  Cached or View as HTML.

 If you are seeking newspaper reports or quotes try adding "said" as a filter. However, not all newspaper content is logged with search engines. Increasingly local papers are going on line and many that do have their own archive search facility. If you want to find what local papers exist, one resource is www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk.

 I use Google's free news alert service, which is especially useful as LC' name is uncommon. A fair proportion of the alerts are to LC press releases but at other times I am advised  of  a story that no respectable company would want publicised. Frequently I learn of the story on the day it breaks. Google and some other search engines also have an option for searching through news reports. Google's news listings go back about four weeks.

When you are searching you can make better use of time by opening multiple windows. Thus if a page of twenty links has three possibilities open up three additional windows. To do this, right-click on your mouse and select Open in New Window.  Most modern PCs can handle several windows but there could be problems if you try to download several large files at the same time. 

You will find some sites keep popping up in searches but have nothing of relevance for you or only need to be checked out once in a while. Examples of this in my searches are Unison and Leisure Opportunities web pages. I can exclude Unison from searches by putting this word in the Google "without the words" box.   I could do the same for Leisure Opportunities by entering it as a phrase in speech marks. But this might exclude more that I want. By studying 

Some of the documents you download will be in PDF format, for which you need Acrobat Reader or similar software. Acrobat has its own search facility and, at least on the more recent versions, this cleverly summarises all the places where a particular word or phrase is used and provides a link to the relevant page. I find this far better than using the Find facility under Edit on the browser. 

Persistence pays. The more you seek the more your skills and intuition for searching develop. And sometimes the nuggets are found only by sifting a through what turns out to be mostly dross. I am fortunate in that I find the searching like a game that both challenges and relaxes me. The game is all the more satisfying for me because it meets a social need, highlighting the problems that have developed through poorly managed leisure contracts and revealing the national pattern of user issues with LC. 

Last but not least are the people who let me know, usually by email, of  local issues and developments. No matter how good the searching, if something is not on the web or obscured there for whatever reason, the personal contact is all important. 

Happy hunting and a Merry Christmas

Paul Burns  18.12.06