FRIT 7234 Post 3

Searching the interwebs has become a necessary part of my world and probably the world of most educators. After completing the Google Challenge on multiple days, I realized that my search techniques are effective for finding the necessary information but a bit “messy”. I understand how to use keywords and multiple phrases to find the answers to the questions. What I don’t know are all the ins and outs of Google’s searching shortcuts. I have decided to spend some time in the coming weeks learning how to incorporate two or three shortcuts to improve my searching skills. I think the asterisk, quotation marks, and colon will be the three I will begin using.

What I’m realizing is that these “shortcuts” can help narrow the abundance of information to a better collection of credible sources. In today’s world where anybody can be an author, the more tools we have to decipher reliable sources from garbage the better. Finding information on any topic is possible, but the reliability of the source must always be questioned.

Back to a brief reflection on my searching pattern. I recently read the article, “The Information Behavior of the Researcher of the Future” and began thinking about how I conduct internet searches. I’m not going to lie, there are times (more often than not) where I will type in the actual question I am trying to answer. After reading the aforementioned article, I fall into a category of searchers who bounce from site to site, skimming content, and sometimes squirreling away PDFs to print off and read at a later time. I think much of my search behavior stems from having such limited time due to my profession, family responsibilities, and lack of free time.

Interestingly enough, some of my searching techniques are similar to teenagers. According to the article “How Teens Do Research in the Digital World,” teenagers often want to find answers quickly, lack patience and persistence when searching topics, and conduct searches based on questions. This occasionally occurs during my research as well. Another issue with teens doing research is that results can be reiterations of similar content. Debbie Abilock recommends using the method of triangulation to avoid this. Triangulation involves locating three different points of view pertaining to a topic.

Having been born in 1976, I’ve been labeled as a member of Generation X, arguably the greatest name for a generation since “The Greatest Generation.” People with birth dates beginning in 1993 are known as the Google Generation. Those born during this year and the years after have never known a world without the internet. Their first stop for information: “Okay Google.”

With the advancement of the internet, Google searches have become an integral element of our daily lives too. From checking weather, to ordering toilet paper, to consuming news, to connecting with friends, to researching any possible topic; the internet has become an element we can’t live without. I guess that makes us all adopted members of the Google Generation.