A Databses must have data...data is submitted or entered in the Database...it becomes available and useful...browse-able, search-able, surf-able, find-able. All this depends on how easy it is to navigate...how "able" it is designed.
BLUE-GREEN: introductions, emphasis, conclusion
PINK: tutorial steps
YELLOW: notes and hints for tutorial steps
The "SEARCH" process in this Tutorial has been stretched out for drill value. Once you understand the process of narrowing searches, your navigation skills will become very quick and efficient...bear with it...think simply and clearly.
For this Tutorial, you will search ADU to find out about an Indigenous Art Gallery in the Northern Territory of Australia.
"INDIGENOUS" for Australia means Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
GO:
......to start ANY KIND OF SEARCH of ADU's databases, click on the "Search ADU" link on any page. In this tutorial, we've done so on the front or 'Home page' of the site. This takes you to......
- Note:
ask "what am I searching for...all records, a specific set,
or an individual record?. What category am I interested
in? What place am I examining?".
- Note:
the "Home page" of any site is another name for either
index.htm (or.html), or default.htm
(or .html).
- Task: Find out about hyper-text mark-up language: html .
- ....the "Search Selection page". Here you select the KIND of search that you want to make. Click on "Arts Business". This takes you to.....
-
Note: there are three major divisions: "Arts Individual", "Arts Business", and "Arts Event". The first and last titles are self-explanatory...but "Business" is ADU's broadest category title. It's used where some would suggest "Industry" and "Service"...but they are rationalisations made by Politicians, Nationalists, Economists, and Commercialists...Anathema.
- Note: the two other search choices on this page, "Much ADU" and "Visitors Book" are to do with interaction and expression rather than with DIRECTORY data, they are treated in separate tutorials.
-
....the "Search Arts Business page", where you start to narrow your search...towards the "nitty-gritty"....
- Note: when you're proficient at searching the databases, you will find that one visit to this page will be enough to get you to the core page and the entry you want, or to the answers for your questions and research...aim for this skill level.
- Note: if you decide that you want to search the "Arts Individual" record instead, or any other of the search possibilities, use your Browser's "Back" button to return to the "Search Selection page"and make your new selection there.
- ...now go to the
text box marked "Nation"
and click-drag on the drop-down menu that
appears until you reach the nation you want to search.....select "Australia"...
- ...then do the
same for the text box marked
"Main Category"...for this
tutorial, select "Galleries"...
- Note:
these two text boxes automatically fill in your choices. These
can't be avoided. The other text boxes are for typing in
Alphabet letters (initials, abbreviations, acronyms) or information
that will narrow your searches and make
them more and more specific and acurate.
- Note:
to guide your thinking about Major Categories and Sub-categories, you
will find a double list on the "Browse ADU" page and
on the "Submit ADU" pages...see how categories will aim
your search, and how sub-categories make the search more accurate. This
is the heart of Databases.
- Note: you don't have to click-drag on the drop-down menus to make a selection...you can click on the text box, move your cursor to your choice and click once again.
- ...only two
search fields have been touched, all the other text boxes should
be vacant at this stage of the tutorial. The choice of just these two
means that the database will find ALL records in Australia having
something to do with the major category of "Galleries".
In other words, you will find out just how many Galleries there are
in Australia (if they've been entered in ADU up to today).
- Click "Find
Results", and the "Search Results" page
appears. This is usually more than one page for business searches.
The entries are not in alphabetical order...but chronological.The one at the top of the first page is the most recently submitted or modified record. The page will tell you how many entries you've found and how many are on this page. The other pages will be accessible with a click on "Next" at the bottom of the page...
- Note:
remember as a rule / habit...leave
text
boxes and fields empty if you haven't a clue.
Don't make guesses unless you're surfing/browsing or a player of poker
machines....
- Note: if there is a requirement to CLEAR text boxes and fields anywhere in ADU before making entries....DO SO...after youv'e read them of course.
- ...for certain Main Categories...such as "Galleries"...this "Search Results" page can show several thousand entries!...a very poor result. SO YOU MUST NARROW YOUR SEARCH. Click your Browser's "Back" button...this steps you back one page...to just before you clicked the "Find Record" button. Notice that the page is as you left it...ready to proceed...
- Note: when you arrive at this "Search Results" page, the layout shows a column of underlined titles down the centre. These are "links" to the CORE DATA concerning that title. If you find the one you're looking for, click on the link to see that record right from it's beginning, OR CLICK ONE OF THE FOUR "QUICKLINKS" TO GO TO THE MOST UP-TO-DATE PAGES OF THAT SITE.
- Note: return to the page at left to make another choice using your Web Browser's "Back" button...browse ADU's database from this page.
- ...narrow your search further by typing an "N" in the "State" text box and hit the "Find Records" button again.
©
MM-MMVII
Artsdownunder