|
|
|
Cool4Kids / CyberSleuth Kids / Great Web Sites for Kids / IPL Kidspace / KidsClick! / Yahooligans!
Kids Search Tools / TekMom's Search Tools for Students
AOL NetFind Kids Only / Ask Jeeves For Kids
Resources for Parents and Teachers
General Search Engines Safe for Children
General Guides to Children's Search Engines and Directories
|
Child-oriented Internet retrieval tools:
Specific problems / objectives:
Keep children away from unsuitable sites;
Direct children towards appropriate sites.
Specific solutions:
|
Human evaluators select appropriate web sites;
organize in logical categories (tree and branch or Dewey-style structure);
user goes from broad subject to specific topic;
like original Yahoo! Directory.
These systems now considered peripheral by adults,
but still a valid concept for children.
Children can safely browse and search
directories of child-friendly sites.
Commonest structure for child-oriented systems
Note: systems are presented in alphabetical order.
http://www.cool4kids.com
Searches the Kids and Teens Open Directory Project
a subset of:
the Open Directory Project / ODP / Directory Mozilla
http://dmoz.org/
ODP claims over 4 million sites
66.000 volunteer editors
over 590,000 categories
Owned by Netscape / AOL
But can be freely used as a source by other directories
(notably Google Directory)
Cool4kids:
Over 17,000 links; aimed at users under 18;
Directory of fourteen major categories
Basic and Advanced search
Overview of policies:
http://dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/about.html
General appearance: clean; clear;
Directory subdivisions clearly visible at top of page
Date added, ratings; reviews: incorporated, but rarely seem to work.
Occasional adverts.
http://cybersleuth-kids.com/
"Student Homework Helper" for K-12;
Created by teachers and volunteers;
Directory of 21 major subdivisions
with three or four subcategories for each (similar to adult systems)
17 featured topics at left;
Relatively plain site, with numerous, intrusive, colorful adverts
Searches go beyond the directory, but items retrieved seem to be carefully selected.
Education World Site Review: Oct. 2003:
http://www.education-world.com/awards/2003/r1003-24.shtml
1997- ;
Plain appearance; numerous different elements presented; can be slow to load;
Take care with navigation:
"Home" at top left takes you to main ALA site.
Note colored pencil icons to indicate level of coverage.
No adverts.
Selection criteria:
http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/greatwebsites/greatwebsitesforkids/greatwebsites.htm
A. Authorship/Sponsorship: Who Put up the Site?
B. Purpose: Every Site Has a Reason for Being There.
C. Design and Stability: A Great Site Has Personality and Strength of Character.
D. Content: A Great Site Shares Meaningful and Useful Content that Educates, Informs, or Entertains.
http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/
Part of Internet Public Library, founded 1995 by the School of Information, University of Michigan
Ten major categories, also
Ten special features, listed at left
Clear and bright organization.
Directory subdivisions clearly visible at top of page
No adverts.
Search results in two stages:
title and URL of two or three top results shown immediately;
additional click for all results
Note also:
TeenSpace
http://www.ipl.org/div/teen/
Twelve basic categories, including College & Career; Dating & Stuff; Issues & Conflicts.
http://www.kidsclick.org/
Created by a group of librarians in New York State, 1997-
day-to-day operations maintained by the Colorado State Library
supported by Berkeley Digital Library Sunsite; alternative URL:
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!/
Directory: fifteen major categories (similar to adult directories)
most with five to seven sub-categories
Covers about 5,000 web sites in 600 sub-categories
Can also be viewed "through a librarian's eyes" (Dewey):
http://www.kidsclick.org/dewey.html
Basic Dewey order with Computers inserted after Technology
Selection policy:
http://www.kidsclick.org/selection.html
Included: sites that entertain or enlighten K-7 students;
Excluded: sites that are shopping-oriented; that do not protect privacy; that charge fees;
that celebrate evil, violence, hatred or illegality; that violate copyright.
No advertising.
Results cite reading level and number of illustrations (very rare in childrens' systems)
Site appearance: clear and straightforward.
Search help: KidsClick! Worlds of Web Searching:
http://www.rcls.org/wows/
Cheerfully-written, but now somewhat dated
Education World Site Review: July 2000:
http://www.education-world.com/awards/past/2000/r0700-22.shtml
http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/
Yahoo for kids; oldest major directory for children; March 1996-
Reduced version of Yahoo! Directory
Six major categories only:
Around the World; Arts & Entertainment; Computers & Games
School Bell; Science & Nature; Sports & Recreation
with three sub-categories each
(Full Yahoo! has fourteen major categories,
also with three sub-categories each)
Search box searches Directory only;
this is clear within a category,
where the search options are
All of Yahooligans!
Just this category
Includes only sites selected according to four criteria:
Accessible, Accurate, Appropriate, and Appealing:
http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/tg/evaluatingwebsites.html
Thirteen featured information sources in left-hand column: e.g.:
News (The Big Picture)
Reference
Ask Earl (Answers to questions)
Bright, attractive site.
Directory subdivisions clearly visible at top of page.
At top right: Help
At lower left: Parents' guide; Teachers' guide; Online safety
Teachers' Guide includes useful:
Teaching Search Strategies
http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/tg/search.html
Frequently Asked Questions about Searching Yahooligans!
http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/tg/faq.html
No adult-oriented banner advertising.
Adverts clearly marked.
|
Metasearch engines forward queries simultaneously to several other search engines
and present the results in organized form.
Popular with general users; e.g. Mamma.com; Vivisimo.com.
Valid solution for children: metasearch engine only queries child-safe sources.
http://www.dibdabdoo.com/
Metasearch engine that uses sites and databases reviewed by humans and classified as kid/teen safe.
Developed by a parent.
Bright, clean appearance; no ads.
Unusual organization; looks like a Directory,
but clicking on a directory term launches a metasearch for that term.
Any term can be searched via the search box.
http://www.ithaki.net/kids/
Metasearch engine: searches simultaneously across
Dmoz Kids, Yahooligans, FactMonster, ArtKidsRule, AolKids, AwesomeLibrary & KidsClick.
For children up to 12 years old.
Search only, no directory access.
Will search for MP3s or images
Clean results;
non-obtrusive ads at foot of results pages.
Part of Ithaki:
http://www.ithaki.net/
Ithaki: from the Greek for Ithaca; created by an Argentine microbiologist
|
Search page contains several search boxes;
each box is
linked to a single resource;
one search can be conducted at a time.
"All-in-one search pages" were common a few years ago;
but have now been largely replaced by metasearch engines.
They are still relevant for children,
as they can easily be set to search only child-friendly resources.
Kids Search Tools
http://www.rcls.org/ksearch.htm
This "All-in-one search page" was
the first initiative
from the team which later created KidsClick.
TekMom's Search Tools for Students
http://www.tekmom.com/search/
"All-in-one search page" for kid search sites and research resources.
|
AOL NetFind Kids Only
http://www.aol.com/netfind/kids/
For AOL members only, links to sites considered safe for children.
http://www.ajkids.com/
Automated question answering service;
indicates web sites that answer that question.
Sites vetted for appropriateness;
also offers results from various other sources considered safe.
"Each Web site included in Ask Jeeves for Kids is carefully selected by an editor. We include only "G-rated" pages and those written specifically for children. We select sites for the quality and depth of their content, and for safety."
http://www.ajkids.com/hr_site/AboutUs.asp
Does not list sites that are on SurfWatch's block list.
Bright opening screen, but plain results, often presented via drop-down boxes.
Ten additional featured topics, listed at right.
"Peek at what kids are asking right now!"
Opening screen feature (the queries have clearly been rewritten by adults)
Based on Ask Jeeves
http://www.ask.com/
Ask Jeeves / Teoma: one of the few systems in a position to possibly challenge the "Big Three" (Google; Yahoo!; MSNSearch).
Note: several other systems now offer limited question-answering capacity.
|
Sites relevant to children, but presented for interested adults,
such as parents and teachers.
Awesome Library
http://www.awesomelibrary.org/
More than 25,000 carefully reviewed sites, including the top 5% in Education. Presented directory style, specifically organized
for teachers, parents and students. Browse or search access. 1995- . Selection criteria:
http://www.awesomelibrary.org/about.html#selection
Education World
http://www.education-world.com/
Links to a large number of teacher's resources; more than 500,000 relevant sites. Browse or search capabilities, also by grade level; 1996- ; advertizer supported.
Linkopedia
Kids Sites
http://www.linkopedia.com/kids.html
Rated and reviewed sites for children aged 2 to 10. Plain presentation, aimed
at parents ("The Internet is a wonderful place for your child to learn,
play and explore") rather than directly at children.
SearchEdu.com
http://www.searchedu.com/
Crawls .edu web sites and reference sites.
TeAch-nology.com
http://www.teach-nology.com/
Directory of over 200,000 reviewed web sites and other resources for educators and teachers. Lesson plans. Adverts.
|
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Includes major search engine, three top searches etc.
Why search the web with the BBC?:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/whysearch.shtml
Family friendly.
SCIRUS
http://www.scirus.com
"For Scientific Information Only". "Scirus is the first not-for-profit, science-related search engine that is specially designed to ensure relevant results through the latest in search engine technology and validated sources. This means families can now safely search science-related topics on Scirus without wasting time, without clicking through pages of ads, and without fear of pornography". Elsevier; powered by Fast.
Most search engines offer a certain level of protection to children.
Sullivan, Danny. Kids Search Engines. Search Engine Watch. 2004 Feb. 25.
http://searchenginewatch.com/links/article.php/2156191
Includes a section on filtering options.
MSN Search routes search terms that are likely to return adult content to an adult-oriented service.
|
Google directory category: Family friendly search engines: 5 items:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/Searching/Search_Engines/Family_Friendly/
Google directory category: Family friendly directories: 17 items:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/Searching/Directories/Family_Friendly/
Google directory category: Kids and Teens directories: 95 items: http://directory.google.com/Top/Kids_and_Teens/Directories/
Yahoo! directory category: Sites for kids, Web Directories: 23 items:
http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Cultures_and_Groups/Children/Sites_for_Kids/Web_Directories/
Internet Public Library Guide to Kids Search Engines and Internet Guides:
http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/browse/cai1000/
Internet directories reviewed at Education World:
http://www.education-world.com/awards/past/topics/internet.shtml#directories
Many reviews are fairly old.
Note: this field is highly dynamic;
child-oriented search tools often only operate for a couple of years before closing down.
|
Bilal, Dania. Children's Use of the Yahooligans! Web search engine: I. Cognitive, physical, and affective behaviors on fact-based search tasks. Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 2000 May; 51(7):646-665.
http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=BLIB00009271&db=llh&loginpage=login.asp
Bilal, Dania. Children's Use of the Yahooligans! Web search engine: II. Cognitive and Physical Behaviors. Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology. 2001 Jan.; 52(2):118-.
Investigates the cognitive and physical behaviors of middle school students using Yahooligans! Percentage of respondents successful in locating relevant information for an assigned research task; Variation of respondent cognitive and physical behavior; Implications for formal web training and system design improvements.
Bilal, Dania. Children's Use of the Yahooligans! Web search engine. III. Cognitive and Physical Behaviors on Fully Self-Generated Search Tasks. Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology. 2002; 53(13):1170-.
This article presents the third part of a research project that investigated the information-seeking behavior and success of seventh-grade science children in using the Yahooligans! Web search engine/directory. In parts 1 and 2, children performed fully assigned tasks to pursue in the engine. In the present study, children generated their tasks fully. Children's information seeking was captured from the cognitive, physical, and affective perspectives using both quantitative and qualitative inquiry methods. Their information-seeking behavior and success on the fully self-generated task was compared to the behavior and success they exhibited in the two fully assigned tasks. Children were more successful on the fully self-generated task than the two fully assigned tasks. Children preferred the fully self-generated task to the two fully assigned tasks due to their ability to find the information sought and satisfaction with search results rather than the nature of the task in itself (i.e., selfgenerated aspect). Children were more successful when they browsed than when they searched by keyword on the three tasks. Yahooligans! design, especially its poor keyword searching, contributed to the breakdowns children experienced. Implications for system design improvement and Web training are discussed.
Bilal, Dania. Perspectives on children's navigation of the World Wide Web: does the type of search task make a difference? Online Information Review. 2002; 26(2):108-117.
http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=BLIB02005219&db=llh&loginpage=login.asp
Bilal, Dania and Kirby, Joe. Differences and similarities in information seeking: children and adults as Web user. Information Processing and Management. 2002 Sep.; 38(5):649-670.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4573(01)00057-7
This study examined the success and information seeking behaviors of seventh-grade science students and graduate students in information science in using Yahooligans! Web search engine/directory. It investigated these users' cognitive, affective, and physical behaviors as they sought the answer for a fact-finding task. It analyzed and compared the overall patterns of children's and graduate students' Web activities, including searching moves, browsing moves, backtracking moves, looping moves, screen scrolling, target location and deviation moves, and the time they took to complete the task. The authors applied Bilal's Web Traversal Measure to quantify these users' effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of moves they made. Results were based on 14 children's Web sessions and nine graduate students' sessions. Both groups' Web activities were captured online using Lotus ScreenCam, a software package that records and replays online activities in Web browsers. Children's affective states were captured via exit interviews. Graduate students' affective states were extracted from the journal writings they kept during the traversal process. The study findings reveal that 89% of the graduate students found the correct answer to the search task as opposed to 50% of the children. Based on the Measure, graduate students' weighted effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of the Web moves they made were much higher than those of the children. Regardless of success and weighted scores, however, similarities and differences in information seeking were found between the two groups. Yahooligans! poor structure of keyword searching was a major factor that contributed to the "breakdowns" children and graduate students experienced. Unlike children, graduate students were able to recover from "breakdowns" quickly and effectively. Three main factors influenced these users' performance: ability to recover from "breakdowns", navigational style, and focus on task. Children and graduate students made recommendations for improving Yahooligans! interface design. Implications for Web user training and system design improvements are made.
Chelton, Mary K and Cool, Colleen. Youth information-seeking behavior: theories, models, and issues. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press; 2004. xiii, 403 p ZA3075 .Y68 2004
Contents:
--
Information-seeking behaviors of children using electronic information services during the early years : 1980-1990 / Colleen Cool
-- Student learning in the library : what Library Power librarians say / Carol Collier Kuhlthau
-- Learning and the digital library / Delia Neuman
-- Do scribes learn? : copying and information use / Joy H. McGregor and Denise C. Streitenberger
-- Composing Boolean search statements : self-confidence, concept analysis, search logic, and errors / Diane Nahl and Violet H. Harada
-- "If you don't have it, you can't find it" : a close look at students' perceptions of using technology / Jinx Stapleton Watson
-- Children's information choices for inclusion in a hypothetical, child-constructed library / Linda Z. Cooper
-- Children's information seeking at school : findings from a qualitative study / Melissa Gross
-- Domain knowledge and children's search behavior / Sandra G. Hirsh
-- Research on children's information seeking on the Web / Dania Bilal
-- Information seeking on the Web by elementary school students / Andrew Large
-- Adolescent decision-making for careers : an exploration of information behavior / Heidi Julien
-- Adolescents' information seeking and utilization in relation to drugs / Ross J. Todd and Susan Edwards
-- Future direction and bibliography / Mary K. Chelton
Haycock, Ken. Kid's search tools. Teacher Librarian. 2004 June; 31(5):39-49.
http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=13573704&db=aph&loginpage=login.asp
Presents a list of children's search engines, extracted from the book "The Neal-Schuman Authoritative Guide to Kids' Search Engines, Subject Directories, and Portals," by Ken Haycock, Michele Dober and Barbara Edwards.
Full text EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier.
Haycock, Ken; Edwards, Barbara, and Dober, Michelle. Neal-Schuman authoritative guide to kids' search engines, subject directories, and portals. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers; 2003. xvii, 234 p (Neal-Schuman netguide series).
"A timely guide to the top search engines, subject directories, and portals especially designed for kids. Based on recent research and a thorough review of the literature, this resource explains children’s searching behaviors and describes the kinds of logical thinking, critical evaluation, and search strategies they need to use when doing research on the Web. Beginning with definitions of search engines, subject directories, and portals, the authors explore the elements of a search tool, discuss ownership and documentation, examine the selection and content coverage, look at display and navigation tools, search features, results and rankings. The top twenty recommended search engines and subject directories for kids (including Ask Jeeves for Kids, Cyber Sleuth – Kids, Homework Planet, KidsClick!, Lycos Zone, Searchopolis, and Yahooligans) are covered in detail, the strengths and weaknesses broken down, and each is rated. Descriptions of online tutors and homework help sites are particularly helpful for teachers and parents. Issues such as filtering, privacy, and commercialization are aired. Useful appendixes provide tips for enhanced searches and Internet safety, along with tools for evaluating sites." (Publisher). Education Resource Center, 227 Middleton ZA4230 .H38 2003
Hornung, Eva. Children's evaluation criteria of search engines. E-Prints in Library and Information Science. 2000.
http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00002164/
Search engines on the Internet are widely used as a starting point for Information Retrieval. Children are increasingly users of the Internet and therefore also of search engines. Some companies and institutions have responded to that demand and have created search engines with a young target group in mind. Still, there is no study to date on how children themselves judge these search features with regards to design and functionality without having given them pre-defined "adult" criteria. This presentation, which derived from a master’s thesis completed in 2000, tries to shed some light into the dark.
Large, Andrew; Beheshti, Jamshid, and Rahman, Tarjin. Design Criteria for Children's Web Portals: The Users Speak Out. Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology. 2002 Jan. 15; 53(2):79-.
Explores the design criteria that might be applied to Web portals intended for use by students between the ages of approximately 10 and 13. Young Web users' first impressions on using portals designed with young users in mind; Suggestions for improvement; Information-seeking strategies.
Minkel, Walter. The Online Engines That Could. School Library Journal. 2004 Mar.; 50(3):36.
http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=12497107&db=aph&loginpage=login.asp
Comments on the educational benefits derived from search tools and its impact on libraries. Advantages and setbacks of using Google; Gains made by search engines in translating foreign languages; Improvements made by search engines in searching for graphics.
Full text EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier.
Minkel, Walter. They Can't Always Find What They Want. School Library Journal. 2004 Aug.; 50(8):29.
http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=14072663&db=aph&loginpage=login.asp
Focuses on the book "Youth Information-Seeking Behavior: Theories, Models, and Issues," edited by Mary K. Chelton and Colleen Cool, which is a collection of several studies on how young people find-or fail to find-relevant information on the Web. Browsing behavior of young students; Differences in the Internet searching behavior of boys and girls; Way of getting kids to take librarians more seriously.
Full text EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier.
Sullivan, Danny. Kids Search Engines. Search Engine Watch. 2004 Feb. 25.
http://searchenginewatch.com/links/article.php/2156191
"The services below are designed primarily to serve the needs of children, either in focus, or by filtering out sites that some parents and teachers might find inappropriate for kids. These usually include sites that deal with explicit sexual matters, porn sites, violence, hate speech, gambling and drug use." The only search engine site with a section specifically on children's systems. Includes a section on filtering options.
Trotter, Andrew. Web Searches Often Overwhelm Young Researchers: New Search Engines Aimed at Children's Needs Seek to Clear Confusion. Education Week. 2004 Dec. 1; 24(14):8.
http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,url,uid&db=aph&an=15319674&loginpage=loginpage=login.asp
This article reports that a growing number of educators are now experimenting with a new generation of search tools that presort results using simple, visual formats, rather than the endless lists of Web hits that often confuse students, and send them off on searches that waste valuable learning time. Dania Bilal, a researcher who studies how children find information on the Web, said that even search engines marketed expressly for children have serious limitations. In one of two studies on middle-school students that Bilal has published in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, children from ages 11 to 13 were given searches for science information to perform using Yahooligans! After they completed the assignment, the students were interviewed by graduate-level researchers. Full text: EBSCOhost
|
Fact Monster
http://www.factmonster.com/
At first sight, this looks like a Guide to Internet resources, but it is in fact a closed information system, similar to an encyclopedia or almanac.
|
Cavan McCarthy, Ph.D., Assistant Professor,
School of Library and Information Science, 267 Coates Hall,
Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-3920. Phone: (225) 578-1489; Fax: (225) 578-4581. E-mail: mccarthy [at] lsu [dot] edu
http://www.lsu.edu/faculty/mccarthy/index.htm
|
