Search engines allow people to look up information on the topic that they are interested - people can search for local sports clubs, holiday destinations, cooking recipes, current affairs and any other topic that they are interested in and want to find out more information about.
Social search engines are a more sophisticated type of search engine as they take into account the online profile that a user has created and developed. This enables results to be tailored towards how the person currently behaves online.
Teaching points in the classroom:
- What are the results that come up in a search? What is the order that the results come up in and are they reliable?
- In using someone's social profile in a search engine, how does that impact what results are displayed? What are some positives and negatives of using social profiles?
- Compare search engines - google, bing, yahoo and also the new search engines that are entering including searchcloud, witguides, timetube, taggalaxy, rollyo, hunch, flipboard and newstrust. Use the same keyword for all searches - what results do each show? How are they different or the same?
Kate, I really like your suggestions for teaching points and questions that students should be aware of when exploring the internet. I think bogus websites are a good place to start for student exploration. I was looking at the DET bogus websites and found this jewel,
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dreamweaverstudios.com/moonbeam/moon.htm
It is kind of amazing, students have the opportunity to purchase their piece of the moon. You could provide students with this website and allow them to explore and start planning their intergalactic adventure, before asking them to stop and evaluate what they are looking at and can it really be real? Great resource to develop students' critical literacy skills and also a great entertainment resource for me ;)
I agree with Lexie that you've got some great teaching ideas here, Kate.
ReplyDeleteAnd Lexie, I also agree that the DET bogus websites pages is a treasure trove of useful material to promote information/critical literacy.
It is all too confusing!
ReplyDeleteYour final point about comparing search engines if you enter the same words is a good one. Will the same results come up? If not, why? Is it consistent each time? Is the search better on Google this time and Bing the next?
How do those who do not understand the in's and out's of how the cyber world works technically, know if the results we have are the best?
If the subject of our search is programmed to display first on each search engine does that mean it is the best item or just great programming by the person who puts it on the internet?
Lex - during that phase of the "21st season" a few years ago, my friends and I got stumped on what to buy this one girl who has everything - so we bought her a star :)
ReplyDeleteCindy - the search algorithms are complex and based on a number of variables including the most popular sites and also inter-site linking. Companies that create the search engines, such as google and bing, want to be the most used to maximise their revenue. They are not going to have sites that are bogus or that add little value come up in the top search results because then people will move away from using that search engine. Just like people can "vote with their feet", people can also "vote with their mice (mice? Mouses? hehe)"