Nature, Range and Types of web information seeking
The Internet, and its most common manifestation in the form of the World Wide Web, has made a profound contribution to modern higher education’s ways of seeking information by providing access to a diverse range of information sources and systems. Many nowadays feel that the Internet offers maximum access to information in any field anywhere in the world. It is a rich environment in which students can investigate and collect data because the learning resources of colleges and universities are augmented by the learning resources of the world via the web. Today, a substantial part of the resources accessible by researchers and university students are offered through the World Wide Web, making the supply of easily obtainable information larger than ever. With the development of a wide variety of technologies, the amount of information available to people is growing rapidly. Furthermore, through different channels, this information is diffused in various forms, which accelerates the speed of information growth.
According to Lee et al (1999: n.p), the World Wide Web is one of the most accessible tools available for use in higher education. It is an easy way through which one can publish material, has a low learning curve, the majority of its browsers are graphic and user-friendly, and above all, it is free to most people. An additional feature that the web has brought about is the presentation of data in a connected, dynamic manner. Information that was static, linear, non-modular, and printed is now displayed in a ‘live’ fashion, linked by hypermedia.
