If you’ve ever taken part in a scavenger hunt, you’ve probably found yourself rummaging the neighborhood in pursuit of an empty pizza box, a broken yellow crayon, a torn ticket stub, or any of a thousand other elusive items. But you may not have imagined yourself sitting in front of a computer. Until recently, that is. Now, the burgeoning Internet has added a new dimension to this recreational activity.
In September 1992, Rick Gates, then a library school student at the University of California in Santa Barbara, began a contest called “The Internet Hunt.” It was basically an old-fashioned scavenger hunt, but with a modern twist—instead of collecting a variety of prescribed objects, participants answered a set of questions only by using information resources available on the Internet.
Gates wanted to encourage exploration of the Internet. He hoped the Hunt, besides being fun to play, would help people discover the net’s potential as a source for all kinds of information. He also thought it would provide a chance for some hands-on experience with various Internet search tools.
Once a month, Gates and a few friends formulated several questions whose answers lurked somewhere on the net. Questions were assigned a point value, from 1 to 10, based on degree of difficulty. (See the Original Internet Hunt below.) Gates distributed the questions to various Usenet newsgroups, LISTSERV discussion lists, and Gopher and FTP sites. Anybody who wanted to could participate. Contestants had one week to submit the answers in an e-mail message to Gates.
The winner was the first person to answer all the questions. If no one answered all the questions, the contestant with the most points won. Answers that described how to find the desired information earned more points than those that just gave the information by itself. Winners received prizes, such as a year’s subscription to Internet World.
The first few Hunts had no particular theme, but later editions often focused on a specific subject or the use of a certain net tool. In the October 1993 Hunt, for instance, all the questions dealt with locating e-mail addresses, while the September 1994 Hunt had a “Back to School” theme. Gates sometimes departed from the usual format. In June 1993, the Hunt had a single question: it simply presented an e-mail address and asked contestants to find out as much as possible about the owner.
The Internet underwent dramatic changes with the emergence of the World Wide Web (WWW). Suddenly, navigating cyberspace became much easier, with search services like Yahoo greatly simplifying the task of finding information on the net.
In October 1994 Gates decided it was time to revamp the Internet Hunt to take advantage of the WWW. He suspended the contest, intending to set up a Web site and resume in a few months. Alas, the Hunt instead seems to have entered a state of perpetual hibernation. The Web site has not materialized, and it’s uncertain whether Gates plans any more contests in the future.
But even if the original Internet Hunt never again returns, its legacy endures and inspires numerous imitators. In classrooms all over, teachers are using hunts to introduce students to net-based research. Organizations sometimes sponsor a hunt as a promotional activity. For example, the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) is commemorating its 30th anniversary with a monthly hunt during the 1996-97 academic year. You can get the details about their Internet Hunt from the ERIC site on the World Wide Web:
http://www.aspensys.com/eric/hunt
So if you should encounter one of these online scavenger hunts, consider joining in. You can have some fun, learn more about Internet resources, sharpen your search skills, and maybe even win a prize—all while taking part in an emerging net tradition.
Tom Kozma · Academic Computing & Customer Services
aa0024@wayne.edu
