science

The Internet Hunt

The Internet Hunt is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Internet Hunt rather than just read about it. In short: The Internet Hunt was a monthly online game and search training tool, conceived and conducted by Rick Gates, as Director of Library Automation UC Santa Barbara, which began 31 August 1992, before the World Wide Web. Gates studied at the Graduate Library School at the University of Arizona and later developed the concept of Interpedia, a precursor to Wikipedia.

Key takeaways

The Internet Hunt belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Internet Hunt to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Internet Hunt from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Internet Hunt was a monthly online game and search training tool, conceived and conducted by Rick Gates, as Director of Library Automation UC Santa Barbara, which began 31 August 1992, before the World Wide Web. Gates studied at the Graduate Library School at the University of Arizona and later developed the concept of Interpedia, a precursor to Wikipedia. Most Internet Hunts were composed of ten questions that Gates had verified could be answered with Internet sources exclusively, and tools of that time, such as Usenet, Telnet, FTP, and, Archie, Jughead, Veronica, and Gopher. The first individual or team to answer all ten questions correctly and provide the method used to answer them was declared the winner(s). The Internet Hunt ran from Aug 1992 to 1995. It was mentioned in a book, on a website, and on LISTSERVs.

References

External links Gates, Rick (25 November 1992). "The First Internet Info Hunt". Pigulki. 1 (12). ISSN 1060-9288. Retrieved 15 October 2020. And the winner is Hope N. Tillman of Babson College, who submitted an entry scoring 46 points on Friday Sept 4, at 03:22 GMT. (Questions and answers) Savetz, Kevin (1994). "10 Where Are All the Fun and Games? 2 Other Diversions: 15. What is the Internet Hunt?". Your Internet Consultant - The FAQs of Life Online. ISBN 0672305208. OCLC 924947250. Archived from the original on 2006-01-04. Retrieved 15 October 2020. Gates, Rick (1 January 1993). "Internet cruising with the Internet Hunt". The Electronic Library. 11 (1): 19–24. doi:10.1108/eb045204. ISSN 0264-0473. Retrieved 15 October 2020. Heard of some interesting new resource on the Internet? Wondering how to get access? Feeling like the Internet is a confusing collection of tools and data? Archie, telnet, gopher, WAIS, Usenet, FTP, world‐wide‐web, Freenet, finger … Garfinkel, Simson (2000). "The Biggest Database In the World". In Russell, Deborah (ed.). Database Nation: the death of privacy in the 21st century. O'Reilly. ISBN 1565926536. OCLC 247759893. Retrieved 15 October 2020. Back before the explosive growth of the World Wide Web, Rick Gates, a student and lecturer at the University of Arizona, was interested in exploring the limits of the Internet database. In September 1992, he created the Internet Hunt, a monthly scavenger hunt for information on the Net. "Net Surf". Wired. 1 April 1993. Retrieved 15 October 2020. The Internet Hunt: a monthly contest hosted by Rick Gates, Director of Library Automation at UC Santa Barbara...To find this cool hangout, paddle out to usenet group alt.internet.services. Whether you're a novice surfer or a pro, you'll want to check this one out. Gerber, Brian (October 1994). "The Internet Hunt as a Learning Tool". Computers in Libraries. 14 (9). Blackstone, Pam. "Internet Hunts". Random Access. Victoria, British Columbia, Canada: Times Colonist. Archived from the original on 2000-08-23.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Internet Hunt

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Internet Hunt claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Internet Hunt before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Internet Hunt ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Internet Hunt

In research: The Internet Hunt appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Internet Hunt in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Internet Hunt is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics History of the Internet, Internet properties established in 1992, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Internet Hunt outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Internet Hunt in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Internet Hunt means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Internet Hunt out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Internet Hunt in simple terms?

Why does The Internet Hunt matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Internet Hunt?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Internet Hunt.