2009Ron HoutmanEducation Technology ConsultantKent ISDJust Search ItDeveloping a Search Mindset

39Online content Billions of web pagesOffline content Billions of items becoming indexedTo organize the worlds information and make it universally accessible and useful.Googles mission

3The State of SearchA New Digital Divide?

A New Digital Divide?Those who know how to think about searchvs. those dont.Those who know how to validate soft informationvs. those dont.Those who know where to find information in new hot channelsvs. those dont.Those who understand the current culture of informallanguagesvs. those dont

A New Digital Divide?Those who know how to get information to travel to themvs. those who still chase it.

Those who have the knowledge and skills to create andre-mix digital mediavs. those who dont.Those that understand that learning is a continual processvs. those that view learning as achievement.

-Helen Blowers, Columbus Metropolitan Library

Our GoalTo help students and teachers develop a research stance.

Make research to be a part of everything that you do in the classroom.

Teach this attitude to your students.

Plan on learning new skills.Nothing stays constant on the web.Search engines are continually improving.New search tools are always being developed

Search Education TopicsSearch techniques and strategiesAdvanced features and tricks of the tradeNEW search curriculum for teachers and students

6Search BasicsReview for tech-savvy educators

Getting StartedWhenever you see text inside of square brackets, thats a query:

[ boulder colorado sports ]

To make that query, youd type those words into the search engine.

(And you would NOT include the brackets themselves!)

Anatomy of a URLhttp://www.nationalgeographic.com/domain, sitedomain type

(aka, top-level domain name, TLD)

Address barGoogle tool barQuery boxSearch buttonAnatomy of a search page

Right side adsYou might also see results from Desktop Search.Top adsNumber of resultsAnatomy of a search engine results pagelocal results

Oneboxes

Show options

How can you find something on the page?

Where does the name Lewis appear on this page?) How do you search a page?

Do you know how to find something on a web page?Hint: Use the Find command Edit>Find (or Control-F) Note that works differently on Firefox vs. Internet ExplorerCmd-F on Macs Find on a page

Easy reminder

NOTE that when you do the find, the computer will scroll the window to that location. How to find on a page (IE)

4Search StrategiesKeywords, Synonyms, Context, Alternative Sources, Specifiers

Google Confidential and Proprietary

What is it Im looking for? (think about common keywords)

How would someone else talk about it? (what words would they use? how would THEY describe it?)

Which of those terms would be most common?

Which of those terms would be very specialized to this topic?What kind of thing would make me happy? (do I want a single web page, a definition, a collection, an image.... or ?) How to organize a searchGuiding questions...

The art of keyword choiceThink about what you are trying to findChoose words that you think will appear on the pagePut yourself in the mindset of the author of those words

Google Confidential and ProprietaryChoosing search keywordsExample:

When you eat pig, the meat is called?When you eat sheep, the meat is called?What you eat deer, the meat is called?

Suppose you visit your cousin in Sydney, Australia and they serve grilled kangaroo. Whats another word for kangaroo meat?

SolutionSearch for [kangaroo meat name]

Scan through the results looking for a page with a plausible answer.

There are a number of ways to do this and the variations all will have different amounts of scanning.

Wikipedia has a good entry on this that includes a discussion of the controversy.

Think about synonymsWhen an artist is making a sculpture for a client, they often make a small version of the sculpture in wax or clay. This serves as a preliminary sketch, presented to the client for approval.

Question: What is this thing called?

Google Confidential and ProprietaryAnswer

The easiest solution I found was [small artist model in wax] and then I read through the snippets to find a definition.

To double check, you can use Google as a dictionary:[define: maquette]

Reading through snippets and double checking are important skills!

Everyone has a little indentationon their upper lip.

Question: Whats that thing called? Finding the un-namable

Start broad, use a few words!Start with the simplest search you can think of: [ upper lip indentation ] If its not right, you can always modify it.

When I did this, I clicked on the first result, which took me to Yahoo Answers. Theres a nice article there about something called the philtrum.

Then I double checked on that by doing a [ define:philtrum ] Note: If youre using 5 words, youre probably going about this the wrong way

I was walking to work and saw this interesting flower. It was about 3 feet high, and grew along the pathway in Grand Rapids Michigan.

Question: Heres the picture can you tell me what the common and Latin name is of this flower? Use context terms

Google Confidential and ProprietaryPath: I started with [ blue wildflowers michigan ], but that didnt work.Added [ blue wildflowers album michigan ] as a context term but still too many bad hits. Then shifted to using location name as my context term (and removing all the other words), giving me: [ wildflowers grand rapids ] I noticed the exact hit at position #1.Answer: wildflower image

Search: web for [ wildflowers album michigan color blue ] Look for collections of pictures. Look for a matching or similar picture. Moral of the story sometimes you really just have to search particularly when you dont know enough to specify all the words down to the final details.

Answer: Chicory (Cichorium intybus)Answer: wildflower image

I kind of like that wildflower! What else can I find out about it?

Where does it grow near me?

Does it like to live in the sun or the shade? Go deeper on a topic; use specific words

I started with the Latin name because its the MOST specific term you can use. So I did a copy & paste from the previous search: [Cichorium intybus] and then started looking around.

When I looked up the Wikipedia entry, I found that it likes shady conditions. I then checked my work by doing a search for [Cichorium intybus shady ] Sure enough, other places say the same thing. It checks out! Answer

Keep looking! Think of synonyms!Sometimes you need to keep trying, thinking your problem through in different ways. Usually, if you think about how someone else would describe the thing youre looking for, that will suggest search terms for you.

Question: A friend told me that there is an abandoned city in the waters of San Francisco Bay. Is that true? If it IS true, what was the name of the supposed city?

AnswerYes, its true there IS an abandoned city near what is now Fremont. It was called Drawbridge.

The trick here is to think about other ways of describing anabandoned city dont just assume thats the best way todescribe it. Try this search:

[ ghost town san francisco bay ]

Google has many different kinds of content: NewsImagesVideoPatentsMapsetc

Question: What are all the parts of a bicycle called? Try different tools & collections

Do the obvious search: [ bicycle parts ]

but then click on the IMAGES tabAnswer

Specifiers: Using terms for certain kinds of resultsSome search terms suggest results that are of a specific type.Wikipedia - will usually bring wikipedia articles to the frontImageVideo when looking for videosReview to find reviews of products, books, movies, etc.Forum a forum is an online discussion between people on a given topicExample: [ Chinese wedding forum ]Overview for an on-topic overviewTutorial when looking for a tutorial on topicWorkbookHelpDocumentation to look for documentation on a topicFAQ frequently asked questions list (often useful for topic summaries)DIY do it yourself useful when looking for instructions

Summary: The Art of KeywordsChoose words that will be on the page(s) you seek.Start as simply as possible (dont start with 5 words in your initial query).If you know a very specific related term, use it, but make sure its correct!Learn from what you see on the pages you visit.Dont get stuck on a particular term or phrase. If youre not making progress, re-think the terms you are using.

Try an image search when normal means fail, you might find something that will be useful or spark your interest in a different way.

Word order matterswhen its not working one way, try another.

When searching for common phrases, dont leave out the stop words. (e.g., [ Lord of the Rings] )

Use double quotes properly, and only when you need them (to find a particular sequence of words) Daniel M Pink or Grand Rapids Library Other general search tips

5Search Features

Search FeaturesDefine wordsConvert currencyTrack flightsPerform calculationsLook up weather forecastsLocate movie informationFind stock pricesTell timeTrack packagesFind area codesLook up patent numbersFind sport scoresFind earthquake data

DefineFind definitions and related phrases.

EarthquakeAccess data from the U.S Geological Survey.

CalculatorSolve equations.

ConversionGeneral pattern: number units1 in units2

Problem

How fast does the worlds fastest man run in miles per hour?

Steps:

Whats the current world record?Make the conversions.Do the calculations.Use web search (news) to find out world record.Note that the record is in meters (100 meters).Convert distance from meters to miles.Convert time from seconds to hours.

Advanced Search

Advanced search box

Advanced searchPhrase search [ Denver Broncos ]Search within a site [ admissions site:colorado.edu ]Term exclusion [ jaguar -cars -football -os ]Term inclusion [ +how buy cell phone ]Fill in the blanks [ Tim Allen born * ]Related [related:colorado.edu]Allintitle [allintitle:rocky mountains]

Filetype: find specific kinds of documentsSearchable file types:Adobe Portable Document Format (pdf)Adobe PostScript (ps)Lotus 1-2-3 (wk1, wk2, wk3, wk4, wk5, wki, wks, wku)Lotus WordPro (lwp)MacWrite (mw)Microsoft Excel (xls)Microsoft PowerPoint (ppt)Microsoft Word (doc)Microsoft Works (wks, wps, wdb)Microsoft Write (wri)Rich Text Format (rtf)Shockwave Flash (swf)Text (ans, txt)

Resources

ResourcesGoogle Search Curriculum google.com/educators>Tools for Your Classroom>Web SearchGoogle Search - the Essentialshttp://www.google.com/educators/p_searchbasics.htmlExplore Google Searchhttp://www.google.com/landing/searchtipsGoogle Search HelpSearch Features http://www.google.com/landing/searchtipsGoogle Search Webinar - August 12th 5PM PSThttp://tinyurl.com/googlesearchwebinar

Classroom lessons and resources

Choose keywords carefully

Think of the target you seek / how would it be written there? Start broad, scan quickly, focus inUse precise terms when you know themUse type specifier terms e.g., wikipedia, image, video, review, forum, overview, tutorial, help, documentation

Consider other content types (images, videos, maps)

Explore advanced techniquesMinus to remove terms from searches Check your result by looking for same answer elsewhere Calculator ConversionsSite:

Search summary

Remember our goalTo help students and teachers develop a research stance.

Make research to be a part of everything that you do in the classroom.

Teach this attitude to your students.

Plan on learning new skills.Nothing stays constant on the web.Search engines are continually improving.New search tools are always being developed