On the Net: A Column by Greg R. Notess Thursday, Nov 14 2024 at 20:14

Published in Online since 1993, this column features information resources and tools available on the Internet and the World Wide Web, specifically ones of interest to information professionals. Originally entitled "On the Nets" and covering BITNET, Usenet, and the Internet, we dropped the plural and made it "On the Net" starting with the July 1997 issue. The following list includes columns and the occasional article in Online. Most are linked to full-text online versions. See also my related columns: On the Net in Database 1993-1999 and Web Wanderings in EContent Feb.-Dec. 2000.

"Finding Free Media." 33(1): forthcoming, Jan.-Feb. 2009.
"The Downside of Upgrades." 32(6): 42-44, Nov.-Dec. 2008.
"A Potpourri of 2.0 Tools." 32(5):43-45, Sept.-Oct. 2008.
"Searching the Twitter Realm." 32(4): 43-45, July-Aug. 2008.
Multilingual Searching: Search Engine Language Tools. 32(3): 40-42, May-June. 2008.
Speed Searching 32(2): 41-44, Mar.-Apr. 2008.
An About Face on Facebook? 32(1): 43-45, Jan.-Feb. 2008.
The Incredible, Embedded Web. 31(5): 43-46, Sept.-Oct. 2007.
Building Vertical Search Engines. 31(4): 37-39, July-Aug. 2007.
Switching Your Search Engines. 31(3): 44-46, May-June 2007.
Wake Up to Web Page Change Alerts. 31(2): 46-48, Mar.-Apr. 2007.
Community Filtering: digg, Slashdot, and the Social Web. 31(1): 45-47, Jan.-Feb. 2007.
Diverging Web Markup Choices. 30(6): 43-45, Nov.-Dec. 2006.
Web-Based Software and the New Desktops on the Web. 30(4): 39-41, July-Aug. 2006.
The Terrible Twos: Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and More. 30(3): 40-42, May-June 2006.
Tracking Your Search History. 30(2): 41-43, Mar.-Apr. 2006.
Re-Evaluating Web Evaluation. 30(1): 45-47, Jan.-Feb. 2006.
Casting the Net: Podcasting and Screencasting. 29(6): 43-45, Nov.-Dec. 2005.
Subset Search Techniques. 29(5): 40-42, Sept.-Oct. 2005.
Scholarly Web Searching: Google Scholar and Scirus. 29(4): 39-41, July-Aug. 2005.
Searching Books Between the Covers. 29(3): 41-44, May-June 2005.
Locating Uses for Local Search. 29(2): 39-41, Mar.-Apr. 2005.
Revisiting Past Technologies. 29(1): 45-47, Jan.-Feb. 2005
Dating the Web: The Confusion of Chronology. 28(6): 39-41, Nov.-Dec. 2004.
The Changing Information Cycle. 28(5): 40-42, Sept.-Oct. 2004.
The New Yahoo! Search. 28(4): 40-42, July-Aug. 2004.
Search Engine Prefixes and Shortcuts. 28(3): 41-43, May-June 2004.
Fiddling with File Types. 28(2): 39-41, Mar.-Apr. 2004.
Toolbars: Trash or Treasures? 28(1): 41-44, Jan.-Feb. 2004.
Unusual Power Web Searching Commands. 27(6): 40-42, Nov.-Dec. 2003.
The Google Dance: Their Database Update Saga. 27(5): 42-44, Sept.-Oct. 2003.
Bookmarklets, Favelets, and Keymarks: Shortcuts Galore. 27(4): 38-40, July-Aug. 2003.
Unlocking URLs: Extensions, Shortening Options, and Other Oddities. 27(3): 54-56, May-June 2003.
A Decade On the Net. 27(2): 53-55, Mar.-Apr. 2003.
The UCE (Spam) War and its Impact on E-mail. 27(1): 55-57, Jan.-Feb. 2003.
RSS, Aggregators, and Reading the Blog Fantastic. 26(6): 52-54, Nov.-Dec. 2002.
The Blog Realm: News Sources, Searching with Daypop, and Content Management. 26(5): 70-72, Sept.-Oct.. 2002.
Free Full Text: FindArticles and MagPortal. 26(4): 54-56, July-Aug. 2002.
Dead Search Engines. 26(3): 62-64, May-June 2002.
The Wayback Machine: The Web’s Archive. 26(2): 59-61, Mar.-Apr. 2002.
The Top-Level Domain Game. 26(1): 63-65, Jan.-Feb. 2002.
Freshness Issue and Complexities with Web Search Engines . 25(6): 66-68, Nov.-Dec. 2001.
Ready-Reference Collections: Bartleby and xrefer. 25(5): 66-68, Sept.-Oct. 2001.
Browser Diversity. 25(4): 66-68, July-Aug. 2001.
Tracking Title Search Capabilities. 25(3): 72-74, May-June 2001.
iWon: What Value for the Information Professional? 25(2): 60-62, Mar.-Apr. 2001.
Customization Options for Web Searching. 25(1): 55-5, Jan.-Feb. 2001.
Searching Beyond Text: Multimedia Search Tools. 24(6): 63-66, Nov.-Dec. 2000.
Searching Beyond Text: Issues with Multimedia Searching. 24(5): 61-63, Sept.-Oct. 2000.
Server Side Includes for Site Management. 24(4): 78-80, July-Aug. 2000.
Up and Coming Search Technologies. 24(3): 75-77, May-June 2000.
Search Engine Inconsistencies. 24(2): 66-68, Mar.-Apr. 2000.
On the Net in 2000. 24(1): 71-73, Jan.-Feb. 2000.
Intricacies of Advertisement Information on the Web. 23(6): 79-81, Nov -Dec. 1999.
On-the-Fly Search Engine Analysis. 23(5):63-66, Sept.-Oct. 1999.
Communications and Community on Web Sites. 23(4):65-68, July-Aug. 1999.
Search Engines in the Internet Age. 23(3):20-22, May-June 1999. (In print only).
Rising Relevance in Search Engines. 23(3):84-86, May-June 1999.
Internet Current Awareness. 23(2):75-78, March-April 1999.
Minimal Intranets for Libraries. 23(1):74-76, Jan.-Feb. 1999.
Filtering the Email Storm. 22(6):64-66, Nov.-Dec. 1998.
More Internet Search Strategies. 22(5):71-74, Sept.-Oct. 1998.
DejaNews and Other Usenet Search Tools. 22(4):74- , July-Aug. 1998.
Keyboard and Navigation Shortcuts. 22(3):48-50, May-June 1998.
Focus On: Alexa. 22(3):29-30, May-June 1998. (In print only).
Toward More Comprehensive Web Searching: Single Searching Versus Megasearching. 22(2):73-76, March-April 1998.
Looking Ahead to 1998 on the Net. 22(1):74-76, Jan.-Feb. 1998.
New Features of the Web Indexes. 21(5):52-55, Sept.-Oct.1997.
Internet Search Strategies. 21(4):63-66, July-August 1997.
Mega-Searching from the Desktop. 21(3):89-91, May-June 1997.
Sending and Receiving Email Attachments. 21(2):85-87, March-April 1997.
Forecasts, and an Internet Wish List. 21(1):56-58, Jan.-Feb. 1997.
Internet One Search with the Mega Search Engines. 20(6):36-39, Nov.-Dec. 1996.
Negotiating Netscape's Frames. 20(5):65-68, Sept.-Oct. 1996.
Telnet, the Forgotten Internet Tool. 20(4):22-24, July-Aug. 1996.
Catch the Lightning: Keeping Current with the Net. 20(3):86-88, May-June 1996.
Java Creates New Potential for Internet Information. 20(2):82-86, Mar.-Apr. 1996.
Internet Directions in 1996. 20(1):33-36, Jan.-Feb. 1996.
Using CD-ROMs with the Internet. 19(6):40-44, Nov.-Dec. 1995.
New Models of Online Interaction. 19(5):87-90, Sep.-Oct. 1995.
Searching the World-Wide Web: Lycos, WebCrawler, and More. 19(4):48-53, July-Aug. 1995.
Comparing Commercial WWW Browsers. 19(3):43-49, May-June 1995.
Comparing Web Browsers: Mosaic, Cello, Netscape, WinWeb, and InternetWorks Lite. 19(2):36-40, Mar.-Apr. 1995.
The Upgrade Upheaval: Moving From a Terminal Account to a Direct Connection. 19(1):57-59, Jan.-Feb. 1995.
Troubleshooting the Internet. 18(5):110-112, Sep.-Oct. 1994.
Internet Connections: Understanding Your Access Options. 18(5):41-47, Sep.-Oct. 1994.
Lynx to the World-Wide Web. 18(4):78-82, July 1994.
Finding and Creating Finger Information. 18(3):108-111, May 1994.
Learning to FTP. 18(2):79-82, March 1994.
Telnet Explored. 18(1):94-97, January 1994.
The Low-End Power User. 17(6):87-89, Nov. 1993.
Reading Usenet News: The rn and trn Newsreaders. 17(5):94-98, Sept. 1993.
Usenet: Taming the E-mail Flood. 17(4):86-88, July 1993.
Using Gophers to Burrow Through the Internet. 17(3):100-102, May 1993.
The Internet Meets Online. 17(2):84-86, March 1993.
Gaining Access to the Internet. 16(5):27-34, September 1992

"On the Net" in Online