Notes on Dan's Adventure:

Section: Example - Finding Information on the World Wide Web
...Subsection: Notes on Dan's Adventure:

You may want to try to follow Dan's steps, but the Internet has changed since this document was written. It is possible that the same path does not exist anymore!

Dan did not necessarily choose the most efficient path. Another person went to the Altavista search engine (http://www.altavista.digital.com) and typed in the whole phrase. She got several links to versions of the play on the Internet. (She also found some links to a column for the love-lorn !?!?) She found the answer much more quickly than Dan did, but she didn't get to any other related resources like the insult generator. Which approach was best? It doesn't matter. The important thing is whether the problem got solved.

Notice the process. Dan reached a couple of dead ends, but he just backed up and tried again. With persistence, he found what he was looking for.

Dan showed a lot of restraint. It is easy to get sidetracked on the web. Dan had to remind himself a couple of times that he was there to solve a problem, and he needed to solve that problem first. It's a good idea to write down or bookmark any places you want to visit later. Try to have the discipline to solve your problem without getting sidetracked.


Andy Harris, aharris@klingon.cs.iupui.edu