Even as Google
is now taking down 250,000 links per week due to copyright infringement
(more than fifty times the amount it took down in 2009 alone), it also seems
eager to make its ever-popular search engine all the more appealing and useful.
It recently released a video describing its new “Knowledge
Graph”, which Alex Madrigal, writing
in the Atlantic, says “makes the process of Googling something faster, easier,
and better”. Here is that video:
Interestingly, Google has also just re-launched a site that
attempts to help instructors to teach about “information literacy”. It is called “Google
Search Education”, and at the site, one will find lesson
plans about “picking the right search terms”, “narrowing a search to get
the best results”, “evaluating credibility of sources” and more.
(note that Concordia’s library has done some videos regarding
these things as well. See the tabs on
our help
page – here is the tab for research
steps in particular – I’ll be interested in seeing how they compare!)
In addition, Google's Daniel Russell, their "Uber Tech Lead for Search Quality and User Happiness" (yes, this is his job title), recently did a talk at Princeton: "What Does It Mean To Be Literate in the Age of Google?" It may be worth your time.
In addition, Google's Daniel Russell, their "Uber Tech Lead for Search Quality and User Happiness" (yes, this is his job title), recently did a talk at Princeton: "What Does It Mean To Be Literate in the Age of Google?" It may be worth your time.
As to how we might begin to address the notion that Google
is the best source for everything, I think the following analogy may be a
useful place to start: information
is food.
Hat tips: http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/24/technology/google-search-copyright/index.htm
; http://cloudofdata.com/2012/05/googles-knowledge-graph-bringing-semantics-to-the-masses/; http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/update-google-search-education/40023; and http://blog.jweinheimer.net/2012/05/what-does-it-mean-to-be-literate-in-age.html
