Administrative Assistant / Secretary: Using the Internet

The Internet represents a vast global resource for collecting, disseminating, and distributing information. The Internet’s underlying technologies enable instantaneous communication and collaboration across the entire globe. Individuals, businesses, educational institutions, communities, libraries, government bodies, and other organizations are able to share information like never before. The popular media have come to call this vast new digital world “cyberspace.”
With the Internet, the possibilities are infinite. Businesspeople can check in with the home office from anywhere, or they can email proposals to sales prospects instantaneously. In short, the Internet has changed our perception of time and space.
Simply put, the Internet is composed of millions of computers linked into tens of thousands of computer networks. These networks, which span the globe, are then connected to one another.

The World Wide Web
Today, the World Wide Web (www), generally referred to as “the Web,” makes up a very large percentage of total Internet traffic. Just about every for-profit and nonprofit company, university, library, school, and government, as well as millions of individuals, now have a presence on the Web. The Web uses the same underlying protocols as the Internet but has supplemented them with several additional technologies that have made the Internet far more accessible to computer users around the world. These include browser software, search engines, and HTML (HyperText Markup Language).
The Web was introduced to the Internet as a text-only system. With the release of the Mosaic browser—the first graphical browser—in 1993, the popularity of the Web grew. Soon after, Netscape appeared on the scene with its first Web browser, Netscape Navigator. Microsoft also developed its Web browser, Internet Explorer. Both Netscape and Explorer were quickly accepted and surpassed Mosaic in use. Both browsers were faster, contained more features, and were easily acquired by downloading them from websites.
Today, Web documents can include text, graphics, video, and sound. The World Wide Web gives you access to true multimedia documents from all over the globe.

Connecting to the Internet
In order to connect to the Internet, you need a modem, network, or Wi-Fi connection; browser software; and an ISP (Internet Service Provider).

Modems, Networks, and Wi-Fi Connections
A modem is a device that translates and transmits signals sent over phone lines, cable, or radio signals. In many personal homes, a cable or DSL modem is used to connect to the Internet. In many businesses, computers connect to a network (commonly an Ethernet network) using cables that connect to each computer.
A wireless network router can be connected to the Internet for broadcasting a radio signal that allows connections without a cable. These wireless networks are called Wi-Fi networks. Laptop computers have built-in Wi-Fi network adapters that can connect to a wireless office network.

Browser Software
Browser software is used to read the documents available on the World Wide Web. Browser programs read, interpret, and present documents. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, FireFox, Google Chrome, and Safari are some of the most widely used Web browsers.

ISPs
ISPs, or Internet Service Providers, are companies or organizations that provide access to the Internet. ISPs maintain several servers, which are computers dedicated to providing high-speed access to the Internet.
The speed at which data can travel to and from your computer is determined by a number of factors, including the processor in your computer, the speed of the ISP’s servers, and the type of data line connecting computers along the way. Data can be carried on a standard phone line. Improved technology has resulted in the creation of the ISDN line, which can carry data about four times faster than a standard phone line, and the T1 line, which can carry data about one hundred times faster than an ISDN line. Even faster is a T3 line. A T3 line represents twenty-eight T1 lines and has the “backbone” speed of major Internet connections in the United States.
Fast Internet connections are sometimes referred to as “broadband.”

Broadband connections include the following:
- DSL—a digital subscriber line service that connects at high speed over a telephone line
- Cable modem—a high-speed connection provided by a cable television company
- Satellite modem—a high-speed connection provided by a satellite subscription service
- Wireless modem—a high-speed connection that uses radio and cellular telephone signals
Besides providing direct access to the Internet, some ISPs also contain several options to make your online activity user-friendly and more interesting. These options may include chat rooms, entertainment ideas, travel services, online catalogs for home shopping, and so forth.

HyperText Markup Language
The Web is based on the principle of hypertext. Hypertext is a method of navigating through documents using links. Hypertext is a “nonlinear” medium. That is, aside from a site’s home page, there is no beginning, middle, or end to hypertext documents. You can link from a home page to a page that discusses the latest news, and then link from that page to a different site altogether for related information.
Links are embedded into a Web page through a coding system called the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). When you activate one of these links by clicking on it, the Web makes the connection to the host computer that houses the document you requested, and it retrieves the documents without involving the user in the underlying file-transfer process.

Web Pages and Websites
A Web page is a document, almost like a word-processing document, that can be displayed by your Web browser. Web pages contain text, graphics, sounds, animation, downloadable files, and hyperlinks.
A website is an organized group of Web pages. For example, a book could be put on the Web and would be considered a website. Each of the chapters could be considered a web page.
When you visit a website, the first page that appears is called the home page. The home page contains links to other pages on the website. If a book was a website, the home page would likely contain a table of contents, with each listing being a hyperlink that would take you to the chapter or page you select.

Internet Addresses
How does the browser find a particular document? It employs an addressing method known as the Universal Resource Locator (URL). Each page on the Web has its own URL. A look at how a URL is put together might make it easier to visualize how documents are found.
Here is an example of a URL: http://www.videologies.com/assistant.htm. The first section (http) is the protocol. This indicates the type of Internet service the URL uses; in this case, it is hypertext transfer protocol—http. When typing a URL using a modern browser, you usually do not have to include the http://prefix. It is automatically added when you access the site. The two slash marks (//) indicate that the next section of the URL will be a domain name. In our example, the domain name consists of videologies.com. This is enough information to direct the browser to the host computer. When it reaches the site, it will pull up the default home page, unless a particular file is specified.
Each type of organization has its own domain. A few of the more common domains are listed below.
The last section of the URL—after the slash (/)—specifies a file located within that domain. If you do not enter a specific file name, the URL will generally take you to the home page of the site you are requesting. In this case, we want to reach a particular file named assistant.htm. It will pull up the default home page, unless a particular page is specified—in this example, assistant.htm is the page specified.
 

Common Domains
 

Using a Web Browser
Many of the features and functions of the Microsoft Explorer browser are the same or very close to those of Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. The features you will use the most often include:
- Menu bar
- Toolbar
- History list
- Favorites
- Help
- Address box
- Status bar

The Menu Bar
Menu bars are common to most Windows and Macintosh applications. They include categories of functions you’ll use the most often when working. Choices include File, Edit, View, Go, Bookmarks, Tools, Windows, and Help.

The Toolbar
The toolbar includes buttons for the most common functions you’ll use when browsing the Web. Toolbars can be customizable with features you use the most often; however, the default versions of the programs include the following:
- Back—to view the last Web page you viewed
- Forward—to return to the original Web page after you have clicked the BACK button to view a previous Web page
- Stop—to stop loading a Web page
- Refresh—to reload a Web page to check for an update
- Home—to load the starting Web page that opens whenever you start your browser
- Search—to access the browser’s Web search function
- Favorites—to access a website you have added to your list of favorite websites
- History—to access any of the Web pages you have viewed in the past

Figure 14-1: Web page on Microsoft Internet Explorer.


Bookmarks and Favorites
All browsers feature a bookmark function that keeps an electronic record of favorite pages. No matter what it is called, the feature maintains a list of URLs that can be accessed whenever you want to return to your favorite websites.

Printing a Web Page
There are two ways to print a Web page. You can click the PRINTER icon on the browser’s toolbar. If you are using Internet Explorer, you can also click the File Menu and then click PRINT. Depending on the type of Web page, the Print window may ask which frame you wish to print. Frames are a way of dividing up the information on a Web page so that it almost looks like a magazine page layout. You can choose to print one particular frame or all of the frames on the page.

Saving a Web Page
You can download and save a Web page to your computer’s hard drive. By doing this, you can view the page again without having to be online.
To save a Web page in Internet Explorer, click the File Menu, then click SAVE AS. The Save Web Page window will appear and allow you to browse to a location where you want to save the page.

Downloading and Uploading Files
When you are viewing Web pages with your Web browser, your browser is downloading files to your computer. These files are stored temporarily in your computer’s memory as you view them. As just described, you can choose to save a Web page to your hard drive in order to access it when you are offline.
Downloading involves the transmission of a file from the Internet to your computer. Sometimes you will find links to files on Web pages that are available for downloading. These files may be data files, new programs, drivers for particular devices, graphics, music, and so forth.
Uploading is the opposite process. You transmit a file from your computer to another computer on the Internet. For example, if you apply for a job online, you might want to upload your résumé. In most cases, this is done by clicking the appropriate link to upload a file, then browsing your computer’s hard drive to locate the file you want to send.
If you are involved in publishing documents and other information for websites, you will need to use a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) program. An FTP program works similarly to Windows Explorer. After logging onto a website with a user name and password, you will see two windows on your screen. One window shows the files on your computer’s hard drive. The other window shows the files on the website. You can then drag and drop files using your mouse from your computer to the website in order to start the FTP process.

Cookies
Whenever you visit a website, your browser stores information about your visit on your computer. This information is called a cookie. A cookie stores information, such as your user ID and user preferences, so you don’t have to retype them the next time you visit the site. Cookies are often used by Web marketers to learn your likes and dislikes so they can try to sell products. Unfortunately, this means your privacy is at risk.
You can set your browser to disable cookies if you wish. You can do this by viewing your browser’s Preferences or Options Menu.

Search Tools
There are millions of pages on the World Wide Web. How do you begin to find the information you’re interested in? Various companies have developed programs that search the Web for the information you’re looking for. A number of sites on the Internet provide this service and are commonly called search engines.
Search engines serve as a sort of automated reference librarian. Search engines find pages on the Web based on key words you provide. There are a variety of engines and tools to help you find what you’re looking for. For example, Google.com, Bing.com, and Yahoo.com can help you find sites on the Web.
The list of categories in a Web guide is most useful when you have a broad subject in mind. The guide’s hierarchical structure can help you narrow your topic as you go along. For instance, you could search an extremely broad topic, such as “weather,” using the categories provided by a Web guide.
The following is a list of popular search sites:
- Google: www.google.com
- Bing: www.bing.com
- Yahoo: www.yahoo.com
- Ask: www.ask.com
- AOL: www.search.aol.com
- My Web Search: www.mywebsearch.com
- Blekko: www.blekko.com
- Lycos: www.lycos.com
- Dogpile: www.dogpile.com
- WebCrawler: www.webcrawler.com
- Info: www.info.com
- Infospace: www.infospace.com
- Search: www.search.com
- Excite: www.excite.com
- Good Search: www.goodsearch.com
- Duck Duck Go: www.duckduckgo.com

Conducting a Search
Because of the sheer volume of information on the Web, broad searches generate a great number of results.
Some search engines don’t return results based on categories and concepts. Instead, they look for the occurrence of the key words you put in your search request within all the documents in their registries. This approach has both advantages and disadvantages.
The main advantage is breadth. A search for the key word “hurricane” may turn up interesting documents that refer to hurricanes but are not entirely devoted to hurricanes. For instance, a general science magazine may have a good article on hurricanes. While you may not find it in a directory search, because it wouldn’t be listed under the category “hurricanes,” you would likely find it in a key word search. A disadvantage is that, in addition to useful references, you’ll also pull up every page with the word “hurricane,” whether it’s relevant or not.
The simplest way to get good results from a search engine is to determine in advance precisely what you are looking for and then enter as many words as you can think of to describe it. Thus, while searching for “hurricanes,” you should use the engine Google. Google ranks the search findings by matching them to the search text. If your search text involves a number of words or phrases, Google will rank Web pages that have all the search text requirements above those that contain only a single element of the search text. For example, Web pages containing all the words of the search text “hurricane, radar, image, Atlantic, ocean,” will be ranked above those that contain only one or two of those words.

Effective Search Strategies
Two key terms used in comparing search engine performance are recall and precision. Having a high recall rating indicates that a search engine returns a great number of documents from a search. High precision refers to the percentage of returns that actually match your search criteria. The goal on which to focus is to increase the precision of your searches.
You can achieve more efficient search results through the use of search syntax. There are a few simple syntax elements that can greatly help you to refine your search. Incorporating search syntax into your queries makes each search far more effective in finding the information you want. In other words, it will increase the precision of your search.
Advanced searching alerts the search engine to the relationship between your key terms. You can specify that all your terms must appear, any of your terms must appear, or that the terms must appear in a specific order. Moreover, you can specify that certain words do not appear. This feature would be helpful if you were searching for information on pythons and wanted to exclude documents dealing with the British comedy group Monty Python.
You indicate the relationships between your key terms by placing operators between them. For example, adding a plus sign (+) between words in your search will produce results that include all of the words in your search. Note: Be sure to refer to a search engine’s Help page before doing an advanced syntax search. The Help page will indicate which operators are recognized in that search engine.

Boolean Searches
Search Engines also lets you perform Boolean searches. This is the search syntax that professional research librarians use. While Boolean searches can get complicated, knowing a few of the operators involved will help you refine your searches. The following are some useful operators. (Note that they are typed in all capitals.)

Searching Within a Site
You’ve seen that there are many ways to search. However, just because you have found a good site, it doesn’t mean that the search is over. You’ll find that even good sites contain a lot of filler. The goal is to cut through the filler and find the material that is useful and helpful to you. It is easy to get lost in a large website. Here are some standard rules for searching a very large website:
- Clearly identify the desired information. In other words, clarify the search.
- Think through the possible search terms that could be used.
- Remain focused in your search. Don’t be pulled into surfing if you are trying to find something specific.

Error Messages
When using a browser, an error message can come up for a number of reasons. Different problems will generate different error messages.
The Web is a dynamic and ever-changing environment; while pages are constantly created, others are removed. If you encounter a page, or a site, that does not exist, you will receive an error message. Here are some of the error messages you may encounter:
- Unable to Locate Server—If the browser is unable to locate a particular host computer (also called a server), you receive a message indicating the situation.
- Page Does Not Exist—If you try connecting to a specific Web page that does not exist, you receive another type of error message. Rather than a dialog box, an actual Web page appears, advising you that the site you requested is not a valid URL.
- Server Busy or Unavailable—When there is too much traffic on the Internet, or if you try to access an overwhelmingly popular site, you may receive an error message.

Plug-Ins
Your Web browser has various features that allow it to display graphics, play sounds, and run animations. Some specialized tools are required to access content on certain websites. For example, some sites provide streaming audio or video content. These sites usually require a special plug-in be installed in order to access the content.
Some of the most common plug-ins include Apple Computer’s QuickTime Player, Adobe’s Flash, and Acrobat Reader.

Websites of Interest to Administrative Assistants
The following websites may be of special interest to administrative assistants:
- 1-800-Flowers—www.1800flowers.com—an online florist
- All One Search—www.allonesearch.com—a search engine for finding reference sources, quotes, and other language usage resources
- Amazon.com—www.amazon.com—an online bookstore that is searchable by title, author, or topic; also sells CDs, DVDs, and other products
- American Management Association—www.amanet.org—Resources and training information for administrative assistants and their managers
- Bankrate.com—www.bankrate.com—a listing of mortgage rates across the country
- Better Business Bureau—www.bbb.org—a list of Better Business Bureau services
- BusinessTown.com—www.businesstown.com—a site dedicated to business resources that includes sample letters and forms, travel information, accounting and finance, and office procedures
- Career Builder.com—www.careerbuilder.com—a listing of thousands of job postings, resume listings, and employer information
- CitySearch—www.citysearch.com—a listing of entertainment, restaurants, hotels, and shopping for various U.S. cities
- CNN—www.cnn.com—an online news resource
- Dice-www.dice.com—a listing of job postings
- Dictionary—www.dictionary.com—an online dictionary and thesaurus
- EDGAR Online—www.edgar-online.com—a repository of corporate filings by public companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission
- E-Trade Financial—www.etrade.com—an online stock trading resource
- Expedia Travel—www.expedia.com—an online travel agency for booking airline flights, hotels, and car rentals
- Federal Express—www.fedex.com—an express shipping service for overnight letters, packages, and freight
- FindLaw—www.findlaw.com—a directory of legal resources, law firm listings, and legal news
- Fodor’s Online Travel Guides—www.fodors.com—a listing of restaurant and hotel reviews for various cities around the world
- Idea Café—www.ideacafe.com—a collection of resources available for small businesses
- InfoSpace—www.infospace.com—a search engine that finds telephone numbers, addresses, and email address of people nationwide
- Insure.com—www.quotesmith.com—a website with information on various types of insurance products
- Internal Revenue Service—www.irs.gov—The website of the IRS, with downloadable tax forms and tax information
- LinkedIn—www.linkedin.com—a social networking site for professionals
- MapQuest.com—www.mapquest.com—an online map that can provide driving directions between any two streets in the United States
- Monster.com—www.monster.com—a listing of job postings
- National Fraud Information Center—www.fraud.org—information on common scams
- New York Times—www.nytimes.com—an online version of the newspaper
- Office Depot—www.officedepot.com—an online office supply store
- Office Max—www.officemax.com—an online office supply store
- Priceline.com—www.priceline.com—a resource for purchasing air travel, hotels, and car rentals at reduced prices
- Small Business Administration—www.sba.gov—a listing of resources available for starting, financing, and running a small business
- Staples—www.staples.com—an online office supply store
- Travelocity—www.travelocity.com—an extensive travel guide for booking air travel, hotels, and car rentals anywhere in the world
- True Careers—www.truecareers.com—a listing of job postings
- United Parcel Service—www.ups.com—a shipping service for packages
- U.S. Census Bureau—www.census.gov—a website with statistical listings for individuals and businesses
- U.S. Federal Government—www.fedworld.ntis.gov—a resource listing U.S. federal government websites, publications, agencies, tax information, and jobs
- USA Today—www.usatoday.com—an online version of the newspaper
- Wall Street Journal—www.wsj.com—an online version of the newspaper
- Weather Channel—www.weather.com—an online weather report for anywhere in the world
- WebMD—www.webmd.com—a website with an extensive library of health- related information
- Zip Codes—zip4.usps.com/zip4—a site that lets you locate zip codes by typing in an address and a city