Shelly Sorochuk, a CBC Radio AP in Vancouver, asks:

I was wondering if you knew of any way to search the internet–ie. using Google–to find stories specifically relating to Canada and Cdn things? Is there an easy way to search international papers for stories that talk about things that are Cdn?

There are a couple of ways to restrict your search in Google to Canada. The easiest way is to add

     site:.ca

to your search term (remember both the colon and the period). So, for instance, if you wanted to search for articles about shampoo but only wanted to get a list of pages within Canada, you’d type this into Google:

     shampoo site:.ca

You can restrict your search to specific web sites, too, by adding the domain name after site:. For instance “shampoo site:cbc.ca” will get you pages on the CBC.ca site with shampoo on them.

One other way, if you’re looking for more newsy items, is to do your search at http://news.google.ca and add the word “canada” to your search term. For instance, on that site:

     shampoo canada

Are you a CBC employee with a nerdy question? Ask me!

Posted at  3:20 pm ( 05 Jan 2007 )   |    2 Comments »
Related: Secret Nerd Tips

By popular request, here’s a quick Cheat Sheet that covers the Google search tips from the past four days.

It also includes frequently-called CBC numbers, and a list of stat holidays for 2007! All you have to do is download it, print it out, and tape it to your computer monitor!

Please note that the number listed for English Dalet Support is for Toronto users only. Everyone else should contact their local Radio Maintenance Department. Please make this change to your own copy of the cheat sheet.

Any suggestions for future versions of this Cheat Sheet? Let me know by posting a comment here.

Download Cheat Sheet v1 now!

Posted at  1:02 am ( 08 Dec 2006 )   |    9 Comments »
Related: Behind the Scenes

This series continues today with a look at the Results Screen, using Search History to find sites you’ve looked at before, and using Google Groups to find potential interview subjects.

Posted at  1:01 am ( 06 Dec 2006 )   |    3 Comments »
Related: Secret Nerd Tips

Whether you’re a journalist, associate producer, researcher, host, or really anyone at the CBC, these quick tips should help you become a lot better at finding things using Google (as opposed to spending your time just searching for them).
     This is Day One of a week-long series. The videos will each be less than 10 minutes long, so they’re a great way to do your own personal Learn At Lunch!

Let me know if this kind of thing is helpful.

P.S. These facts are not, in fact, a secret. That was a cheap ploy to get you to read this.

Posted at  4:49 pm ( 03 Dec 2006 )   |    12 Comments »
Related: Secret Nerd Tips