The Airline Industry

Where to start?

This week we were able to blog about a random search tool. I decided to discuss Web directories and how I plan on using them for my term project. Web directories are a very useful tool. Using a directory as your first step in researching a particular topic is very efficient because the work has already been done for you. Who doesn't love that? Letting someone else do the work for once, I can definitely get used to that. The real test was how useful it would be in my quest for defining what exactly my topic for the term project will be. Although I had completed this process a week ago, I believe it can be beneficial for anyone who doesn't know where to start in their researching.

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Getting Started

In class we experimented with two different Web directories Yahoo Directory and DMOZ. I guess I'll try and expand my horizon beyond the familiar Google and Yahoo. So, I decided to give DMOZ a shot in assisting me to define my topic. When I first opened up the DMOZ page I wasn't impressed. It was very bare. They tried to be creative in only one aspect by making the Kids and Teens topics different colors. Anyways, I guess I'll stop being judgmental and see how it performs in defining my topic.

Once I was finally able to get over how boring there homepage was I decided to start my search.
Here's what my thought process was:

  • Okay, so…now that I'm on the site where do I begin. Thankfully, they had general topics to choose from.
  • Now the hard part what topic did I want to focus on?
    • Shopping? Oh I would love to do that, but I'm not so sure that is where Professor Moore saw the topic choices going.
    • Sports? Boy, I sure do love sports, but I want to do a topic that I'll learn more about through my research.
    • Hm…let's see what Business has to offer.
  • After clicking on Business I was given a bunch of more specific topics. Great. More decisions.
  • After thorough examination I decided to click on Transportation and Logistics. Not sure why that was the winner just seemed interesting.
  • From there DMOZ listed the aviation, bus, rail, taxis, etc.

And finally…

I decided with all that is going on with the airline industry today that would be my topic. I have always been interested in the industry and deep, down I want to be the person who is able to correct all that is wrong with it. Hopefully after having a better understanding of the problems one day I'll be that person.

DMOZ

Overall, I found DMOZ to be a great help in my quest. Having no idea where I was even going to start and then within the hour having my topic finalized was a great relief. DMOZ may prove useful in this alone, but its a start which is exactly what Web directories are effective at.

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