Assessing Google as a Teaching Research Tool

Assessing Google as a Teaching & Research Tool Dennis G. Jerz Seton Hill University Teaching & Learning Forum 31 Jan 2005 http: //jerz. setonhill. edu/resources/google

Quick Links l Basic use of Google ¡ Keywords ¡ Quotations Marks l Advanced Search Tips l Obscure but Nifty l Extended Features l Much More on Google http: //www. lib. berkeley. edu/Teaching. Lib/Guides/Internet/Google. html

Google: more underused than understood. l At an information literacy conference, I asked a group of librarians how they thought Google worked. l …counting links? l …counting clicks on links?

Overview l Background and Basics l Advanced Search Tips l Special Extended Features

Background and Basics l Using Google: Keywords and Quotation Marks l How Google Works: Brute Strength, Caches, and Page. Rank

Using Google l Google’s home page is uncluttered and ad -free (compare to Yahoo! or MSN). l Keywords: by default, uses Boolean “AND” seton hill = seton AND hill this + way up = forces inclusion of “this”

Quotation Marks l Enclose a term in quotation marks for an exact match seton hill = matches terms anywhere “seton hill” = matches this exact phrase

How Google Works l Brute Strength l Caching the Internet l Page. Rank Algorithm

Brute Strength l Banks of ordinary PCs (not supercomputers) l Multiple, geographically separate networks l Inexpensive to maintain or replace l Does not run Windows – saves $$

Caches l Google does not search the live internet. l Google stores a copy of the pages – faster than going live. l Google also caches the results of its searches. l Spidering – a “web crawler” follows links, searching for updated content.

Cache Issues l Cache can be out of date l Material removed from the internet may be available via Google’s cache for days or months ¡ This can be good (if a site is briefly down) ¡ …or bad (if you want to remove potentially libelous content)

Page. Rank l Google uses incoming links to rank its search results l But Google also evaluates each of those incoming links

Google Explains Itself l In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important. " -- Google Technology

Google is not Foolproof Historical example: Searching for “seton hill university” used to return the message, Did you mean ‘seton hall university’? ”

Manipulating Page. Rank l miserable failure l Jew ¡ Google’s explanation ¡ “google bombing”

Inherent Geek Bias l Search Google for apple l Context: googling for groceries? l Geek bias is real ¡ expected ¡ manageable

Teaching Implications: Sufficing l Sufficing: Natural Human Behavior l Even experts not good at rejecting “good enough” for “better” l Compare: Google: Internet Addiction Disorder

Advanced Search Tips l Wildcards: “to * or not to *” l Synonyms “seton hill” ~sports see: ~violence; ~mohammed, ~jesus l Domain search dean site: blogs. setonhill. edu l Number ranges: robots 1900. . 1950 l Definitions: define holocaust

Obscure, But Still Nifty Just type into the Google search box l calculator: "134 + 353" l airplane tracker: "united 103" l measurement converter: "three teaspoons"

Special Extended Features news. google. com images. google. com scholar. google. com

Google News (Historical Context) l “People who are savvy about how the Internet works don't even try to find breaking news on the Net. ” – Richard W. Wiggins “The Effects of September 11 on the Leading Search Engine. ” First Monday 6: 10 (2001). Published 1 Oct, 2001. l Much has changed: Google News l

Google News (Demo) l “seton hill” construction l “seton hill university” l Our student paper, The Setonian is one of several thousand of sites indexed

Google Images (Demo) l images. google. com l Returns saled-down “thumbnails” l Images classified by adjacent keywords seton hill hippocampus pygmalion and galatea

Google Scholar Explanation l Scientific Bias: Derrida: Physicist Bernard beats out philosopher Jacques. (Credit: Mike Arnzen) l Uneven results. “Jerz, DG” and “Jerz, Dennis G. ” are considered different authors. ) l Automated: If it looks like a citation, Google Scholar treats it like one.

Teaching Implications: Google Scholar l Google Scholar is likely to frustrate and confuse the average student. ¡ Many sources are offline. ¡ Searches not filtered by subject. ¡ Student papers get into the system. l More exclusive than ordinary Google.

Google Scholar Case Study l Google: Internet Addiction Disorder l Google Scholar: Internet Addiction Disorder l Google: l Google Internet Addiction Scholar: Internet Addiction