Ottawa, Canada
(4:15): issue query to AltaVista:
-> "upper deck" "star ferry" "hong kong" harbor tsimshatsui
Follow first link: http://www.asiatravel.com/harbour
Follow link on bottom of page: http://www.asiatravel.com/hkinfo.html
Find information: (4:17) "Ferries - The Star Ferry, which has connected
Hong Kong and Kowloon since 1898, runs regularly between 6.30am to
11.30pm. At HK$ 1.70 (upper deck) and HK$1.40 (lower deck), it must be
one of the cheapest and most scenic ferry rides in the world. The
crossing takes approximately eight minutes."
Translate HK$1.70 to US$ through The Universal Currency Converter™ (in
my bookmarks - http://www.xe.net/currency.
Answer: "1.70 Hong Kong Dollars is equivalent to 0.2193 American
Dollars"
Verify that 'Tsimshatsui' is 'Kowloon'
Map of Hong Kong (http://www.asiatravel.com/hknutmap.html) doesn't give
more information.
(4:22) Query AltaVista -> +tsimshatsui kowloon
follow link 2:
http://www.regit.com/regitour/hongkong/intplace/kowloon/tsimshat.htm
Read there that 'Tsimshatsui' means peninsula;
check on (previously found) Hong Kong map that Kowloon is on the (only)
peninsula (further evidence..)
Return to AltaVista results - hit #19
(http://www.thaisiri.com/hongkong.htm) cites: "... Hong Kong is truly a
shopper's paradise. In Kowloon's Tsimshatsui district, Duty Free
Shoppers has Thai speaking sales personnel, who can be identified by the
Thai flags they were on their labels." Regard this as enough evidence.
(4:31) Answer: 0.2193 American Dollars. Case closed.
Place: Dublin, Ireland
Date: June 11th 1998
Time: 3:00pm (local time)
Started search using Fusion
Query: Star Ferry Hong Kong harbor Tsimshatsui
Clicked on #7 "Star Ferry"
Picture of Star Ferry in Hong Kong
Clicked on #2 "rec.travel guide to Hong Kong"
http://www.math.toronto.edu/~joel/hongkong.html
Paragraph on Star Ferry near end of document
Costs $1.70 Hong Kong dollars to travel on the upper deck
[This is equal to 22 cents, according to Yahoo's currency converter]
Note that this document was last updated in 1996
Place: Aberdeen, Scotland
Date: 12. June 1998
Time: 2:30PM (local time)
went up to bookmark and clicked onto yahoo - search.
typed in hong kong - star ferry
found that to ride upper deck on the star ferry costs HK$2.20
could not find out how much this was in us$.
Iowa City, Iowa, USA
8 hours for 10 queries over 2 afternoons
o Submit to Altavista the query: "+Hong +Kong +Tsimshatsui +Star
+Ferries"
o This query returns 11 matches. The second and third links seem to
be relevant.
o Try the second link.
http://www.moon.com/travel_matters/14/hkp6j.html
o This is a long article about transportation in Hong Kong. I use
the "find" option of my browser to locate "Star". This lead me to
the paragraph that contains the information $HK1.20 ($HK 7.80 =
$US1). This seems to be OK but I'm not completely satisfied.
o Go back and try third link.
http://www1.minn.net/~kenrand/ferry.htm
o This page has the information I'm looking for. The fare is $2 HK,
about 25 cents U.S.
Tokyo, Japan
June 12nd, 1998
Local time
By default, search on Altavista
11:35 AM
Query : star ferry hong kong cost
clicked on 7 :
7. Star Ferry, Hong Kong Island
[URL:
www.expedia.msn.com/wg/places/HongKong/HongKongIsland/A10390]
-> no information
clicked on 6 :
6. HONG KONG FERRY (HOLDINGS) CO. LTD.
[URL:www.hkf.com/main_e.html ]
The HongKong and Yaumati Ferry Co.LTD
Route Map & Services schedules
21 Tsim Sha Tsui
Result : $32 for 1 adult, $17 for a child
Using a custom front-end tool AltaGCL
Waterloo 13 June 15:06
altagcl 2st query: "star ferry" and "tsimshatsui" and "fare"
URL : http://www1.minn.net/~kenrand/ferry.htm
Total time: less than 1 minute.
Using a custom front-end tool AltaGCL
Waterloo, Canada
15 June, 9:32am
issue query: "star ferry" and "tsimshatsui"
scan the solutions to find the following:
URL : http://www.filasia.com/avenue.htm
From Tsimshatsui (Kowloon) to Central (Hong Kong Island) on the upper
deck costs HK$2.00.
issue query: "exchange rates" and "hk"
quickly shows that on June 15, 1998 $1US = $7.7442 HK which makes the
ferry cost about $0.26.
time: 1 min
Using Fusion2
a metasearch engine with marking of relevant documents and query expansion.
Place: Dublin
16 June, evening, home
Use Fusion2 for "Hong Kong Harbour" "Star Ferry"
this retrieves 27 URLs
rank=1 is HK island - dead end
rank=13 is excite trabel and I follow 4 links to a dead end
I add tsimshatsui to the query and re-enter
rank=1 is budgettravel.com which is a huge page of text and under local
transport deails I find star ferries HK to Kowloon upper deck costs HK$2.70.
Not US$ currency, but BINGO anyway.
Time taken - 8 minutes
At a university in Glasgow, Scotland
run a search withYahoo/Altavista and the full query, obtained 13291137 (!)
results among the first 20 found a link to Moving Around - Hong Kong -
Airlines,Railway, Ferry,Bus,transportation:
http://www.regit.com/regitour/hongkong/goaround/goaround.htm
and one to Star Ferry
http://www.hk97.net/ferry.htm
both agreeing that :
Upper deck, 1st class seats cost HK$1.50 (1997)
another link to Star Ferry updated December 1997:
http://lcom.com/HK/ferry.htm
says
HK$2.20 (for upper deck, lower deck was HK$ 1.70)--about 30¢ US
Answer:
about 30¢ US (the most updated!)
Novice WWW searcher!
Place: San Diego, CA
Date: June 16, 1998
Started search on Infoseek, Time: 8:31 am (local time)
Query: Star Ferry Hong Kong
Clicked on #1, "Star Ferry"
Picture of the ferry, dead-end.
Clicked on #2, "Hong Kong"
Clicked on "transportation"
Clicked on "Star Ferry"
"Page not available", tried to back up, unable to back.
Restart Query: Tsimshatsui
Clicked on "Budget travel - Hong Kong"
wrong site, back up.
Clicked on "Tsimshatsui Office"
Bo useful information, back up
Clicked on "Hong Kong"
Clicked on "How to get around"
Clicked on "Star Ferry"
Cost for ride on upper deck, given in Hong Kong dollars, HK$2
Back up, new search: Foreign exchange rates
Clicked on "Currency Converter"
As of 6/12/98, HK$1 = US$0.129
Cost of ride = US$0.26
Search completed at 8:51 am (local time)
Australia
Using a query re-formulation tool, the Hyperindex Browser (HiB)
HiB + AltaVista
o entered "star ferry" and chose the refinement
"star ferry to mackinac island" (thinking that Tsimshatsui
could be on this island) - realized it isn't!
o chose the refinement "star island ferry" as a query but got nowhere
o chose the refinement "star ferry rates" as a query but got nowhere
o entered "hong kong" as a query which gave many query refinements
o refined "links honk kong" to "useful links hong kong" and then used
this a query, but got nowhere
o then chose the query refinement "hong kong and kowloon" thinking
that Tsimshatsui" could be in Kowloon. This supposition was
confirmed when I was perused the document abstracts but found nothing
about ferries
o then chose the refinement "hong kong 1997 web site" as a query
thinking that it might have some links to tourist info- got nowhere
o entered "tsimshatsui" but got only one refinement
"tsimshatsui office", which didn't look relevant.
Beamed down to the "tsimshatsui" documents - got nowhere
o Then entered the query "hong kong ferry" and beamed down using the
refinement "hong kong ferry timetable", which gave ferry times but
no prices.
o Beamed down using "hong kong ferry" and
found the required information
($1.50HK = US$0.1937 via the currency converter -
http://www.xe.net/currency/)
in:
http://www.regit.com/regitour/hongkong/goaround/goaround.htm
Place : Nacsis. Tokyo Japan
Date : June 18, 1998
Time : 2:00 PM (Japan Time)
Started search on Netscape Navigator
Query : Star Ferry Hong Kong
Clicked on #9 " Hong Kong - The Star Ferry"
"Upper deck, 1st class sets cost HK$1.50’¡Ä"
Query : "Exchanging Rate"
Clicked on #6 "International Exchange Rates"
"US1$=HK7.730$"
Used Calculator HK1$=US0.13$
upper deck cost of The Star Ferry is HK1.5$=US0.195$
US 20cents
Finish Time : 2:15 PM
At a university in Toronto, Canada
Metacrawler query: Star Ferry Hong Kong
Clicking on #2 "Excite Travel: Hong Kong, China - Sightseeing..."
Giving up after seconds.
Clicking on #6 "Star Ferry, Hong Kong Island..."
Giving up after seconds.
Clicking on #11 "HK Star Internet Ltd - Transport Information..."
No fares to be found. Site primarily non-English. Giving up after
30 seconds.
Moved to second page of results
Clicking on "Hong kong Travel Information Provided by Asia Travel Ho..."
Possible answer found:
The Star Ferry, which has connected Hong Kong and Kowloon since 1898,
runs regularly between 6.30am to 11.30pm. At HK$1.70 (upper deck) and
HK$1.40 (lower deck)
New question: Is Tsimshatsui part of Kowloon?
New query: Tsimshatsui
Nothing appears to be useful.
New query: Kowloon Map
Clicking on #1: "WWW Sites and Pages in Kowloon and North Hong Kong"
Giving up after seconds.
Clicking on #4: "HongKong-map"
Only shows location of Ramada Inn. Giving up after seconds.
Clicking on #6: "Map of Hong Kong WWW Sites and Pages"
Poor quality map. Giving up after seconds.
Text for result #8:
776 Traveller Services (HK) Ltd. - Location Map
How to find us . Our office is conveniently located on the Kowloon
Side of Hong Kong right at the heart of the Tsimshatsui Business &
Shopping District. We can be easily reached
http://www.traveller.com.hk/location.htm (Infoseek)
Tsimshatsui is part of Kowloon, presumably the ferry docks there.
I need a currency converter.
Going to www.oanda.com
(one of my bookmarks)
At the current interbank rate the cost is US$0.22. Cheap.
At a university in Massachusetts, USA
Using multisearch
Entered "Star Ferry across Hong Kong harbor to Tsimshatsui" into multisearch
Scanned results, looked at one Excite found site, no good
AltaVista found
http://www.regit.com/regitour/hongkong/useful/ferry.htm
...which says
two-decker ferries weave their way through the 0.8 nautical mile course
between Hong Kong and Tsimshatsui (Kowloon). Upper deck, 1st class seats
cost HK$1.50 and the view of the harbour from there will delight any
shutterbug.
Site is copyrighted 1997, so figure is probably accurate.
Went to currency exchange site
http://www.xe.net/currency/classic/
converted HK$1.50 to around 20 cents.
At another university in Glasgow, Scotland
Visit AltaVista
Query: +"Star Ferry" +"Star Ferry" harbor +Tsimshatsui
Click #5 (http://www1.minn.net/~kenrand/ferry.htm)
Answer: The fare is $2 HK, about 25cents U.S.
After reading the web page I was not sure if this was the
right fare, so I went back to my AltaVista results page and
clicked on #6 (http://www.budgettravel.com/hk.htm). Found
similar price there which confirms that the answer is:
Answer: The fare is $2 HK, about 25cents U.S.
Elsewhere in Ottawa, Canada, using AltaVista ...
ANSWER: HK$1.50 for adults and $1 for children
Queries: 3
Links followed: 4
Time: 5 minutes
--------------------------------------------------
Query: Tsimshatsui "Star Ferry" "upper deck"
Strategy: Choose rare words and phrases
Found out:
hits are varied and not obviously relevant
Followed Link: http://www.asiatravel.com/harbour/
First hit has Star Ferry and Tsimshatsui in a
list of destinations
----------------------------------------------------
Query: Tsimshatsui "Star Ferry" deck upper ferry across ride
Strategy: Add boat words
Found out: same first few hits as previous query
Followed Link: http://web3.asia1.com.sg/tnp/journey/travel/hk/hkfacts.html
chose second hit which seemed to be a compendium
of tourist information.
-> http://web3.asia1.com.sg/tnp/journey/travel/hk/hkget.html
followed a link on "getting around"
Found out: Entry on Ferries:
new related terms:
Inter Island Ferries
Central
----------------------------------------------------
Query:
Tsimshatsui "Star Ferry" deck upper ferry across ride cost price US
"Inter Island" Central
Strategy: Added cost and price terms
Found out: First link was:
http://www.hk97.net/ferry.htm
France
Metacrawler: [Full question text]
--> 10 results (Excite)
1st: http://www.regit.com/regitour/hongkong/useful/ferry.htm
....
The most famous mode of transportation for residents of Hong Kong.
Tourists are agog at the magnificent site of the world.s third busiest
harbour and one of the best natural habours in the world, as the
double-bowed, green and white, two-decker ferries weave their way
through the 0.8 nautical mile course between Hong Kong and Tsimshatsui
(Kowloon). Upper deck, 1st class seats cost HK$1.50 and the view of
the harbour from there will delight any shutterbug.
....
Price: HK$1.50 . Still, the price in US currency is unknown.
Metacrawler: "Star Ferry"
--> Many results.
--> 2th result: http://www.halcyon.com/jfk/tpic4.htm
Beautiful picture. But still no notion of US currency.
--> 4th result: http://www.hk97.net/ferry.htm
Again prices in $HK.
Metacrawler: "Star Ferry" upper deck US
--> Many results
--> 1st: http://city.net/countries/china/hong_kong/essentials/sightseeing.html
General info on sightseeing in HK, but no notion of prices.
--> 2nd: http://asiatravel.com/hkinfo.html
Again only prices in HK$. But different higher price for the same
ride: HK $1.70
--> 3rd: http://city.net/countries/china/hong_kong/essentials/transportation.html
Prices, but no US$
I resign. Foreign exchange rates with asian currencies are not stable
these days anyway, so I try to find today's exchange rate.
Metacrawler: foreign exchange HK US
--> 33 results.
--> 2nd: http://www.iba.com.hk/forex-indicator.html
A list of exchange rates of other currencies with HK$. 1US$~=7.71HK$
as of today (6/16/98).
That gives:
THE PRICE FOR A TICKET IS ABOUT 0.22 US$.
(20 minutes)
Another searcher in France
- used http://www.altavista.digital.com/
- search on keywords: Tsimshatsu Hong Kong Star Ferry
- Clicked on 10: http://www.spark.net.hk/~khleung/traffic/ferry4.html
but couldnt find anything.
- went back to altavista result seach
- clicked on http://www.regit.com/regitour/hongkong/goaround/goaround.htm
and found the information:
"Upper deck, 1st class seats cost HK$1.50"
Another Australian searcher...
[5:45pm Aus EST]
Try AltaVista Australia powersearch. [Checked help]
Search for:"host:hk and (Tsimshatsui OR (Hong NEAR Kong) OR (Star NEAR Ferry))"
ranked on "cost (Tsimshatsui OR (Hong NEAR Kong) Star Ferry"
-=> "1. Hong Kong Ferry Time Table" [new window]
Paged down
-=> "Ferry Page"
Went back, removed trailing part of URL to move to home page.
[Killed window]
Next page of search results
-=> "14. Directory of Hong Kong" [new window] Nothing useful.
[Killed window]
Next page of search results
Idly tried www.gov.hk
Back to AltaVisa: Added "ferry" to OR part of query
[paged through results]
[6:00pm Aus EST]
-=> "51. Hong Kong Traffic"
Page taking time to load; only partially loaded:
-=> "Hong Kong Key Plan" [new window]
-=> "Transportation"
-=> "Ferry"
"Sorry, the page you requested is not available..."
-=> "Site map"
-=> "Search"
-=> "Topics"
-=> "Transportation" no good.
-=> "Hong Kong Government Transport Department"
image map:
-=> "Fares & Charges"
image map
-=> "Ferry"
[scroll to bottom of page]
Ah-ha. Fares for the The "Star" Ferry Company,
Upper Deck fares are HK$2.0 and HK$2.5, for various
routes. Nothing about a "TsimShatsui" route.
Hmmm. The page is dated 1-July-1996, and according to
its HTTP details was last modified 30-Aug-1996...
it could be out of date.
New AltaVista search: "Star and Ferry and Company"
-=> "1. Hong Kong - The Star Ferry" [new window]
Excellent: cost is HK$1.50.
The page copyright 1997, last modified 18-Feb-98, so should be ok.
What's the cost in US$ ?
Need an exchange rate.
Go to SIGIR'98 Page [via personal Bookmark],
-=> "Major Currency Exchange Rates"
AUS$ conversions only.
[Cheer about improved showing of Aussie dollar)
New AltaVista simple search: "international exchange rates HK dollar"
No good: too many articles on HK dollar
Trim search: "international exchange rates"
-=> "3. The International Exchange Rates
Hongkong Standard Currency Converter." [new window]
Enter 1.5 into currency converter
-=> Answer US$0.193650!
[6:15pm Aus EST]
Saarbrucken, Germany
22 June 1998, 19:20-21:20 p.m.
Metacrawler: What does it cost ($US) to ride on the upper deck of the
Star Ferry across Hong Kong harbor to Tsimshatsui?
first result: http://www.regit.com/regitour/hongkong/useful/ferry.htm
contained the info: "Upper deck, 1st class seats cost
HK$1.50 and the view of the harbour from there will
delight any shutterbug."
used the OANDA 164 currency converter (http://www.oanda.com/cgi-bin/ncc)
to convert HK$ 1.5 to 0.1938 USD (at today's Interbank Rate)
