Finding Information on the Internet

1. What Can You Find?

The Internet contains information on almost every subject you can imagine. There are three basic types of information source.

1.1 The main core of the Internet is the World Wide Web.

• Information is available on companies, markets, government legislation, weather reports, airline tickets, sports results and much more (see 3 and 4). See Useful Internet sites.
• Some information pages are linked to computers that automatically update the contents every few minutes.
• Some web pages are static, such as those for annual reports or dictionaries.
• Other sites can do things for you, such as translating text from foreign languages or updating you on the progress of an airliner on a long flight.
• Many larger websites include access to a database of related information (see 1.3).

1.2 There are more than 35,000 newsgroups, which are often the most active part of the Internet.

• Newsgroups provide a good way of 'listening in' to discussions on a subject, an industry or a product. You can also participate in these discussions yourself.
• Newsgroups also provide a method of getting direct user or customer feedback.

1.3 Commercial databases and archives are provided by many large organisations.

Access to most of these sites is free. But you may be asked to register by entering your name and other details, including information about your business.

• Newspapers and business magazines often provide searchable online archives, going back several years.
• Financial companies publish current and historical share price information and company results.
• Some search engine sites, such as Northern Light, offer searchable databases and archives spanning thousands of different sources and publications.