Lab 05 - Search me
More and more, searching is how we interact with our web browsers. As the world
of information available to us through this interface expands, the more difficult
it can be to find what you're looking for. Search engines use things like
web crawlers
to build information about webpages and websites using a technique called
indexing. But why
should we, as end-users, care about the technical details of how search systems work?
We talked about the "filter bubble" in Lab 01 and how it might affect
which results we see when we search. Understanding the limits of our searches and their
results gives us tools to use when the results aren't what we expected (or even what we
really wanted).
One thing you might notice about some of the information in the book is that
it may have changed by the time you work through the book's examples.
Providing search functionality is a valuable and profitable business, and pdates that maintain that level of profitability
happen more frequently than ever in the competitive search landscape. Part of being
fluent in information technology is to understand the rapid pace of change and
to use what you have learned before to take advantage of what is new.
For optimal search experiences, the goal is to deliver what librarians call
precision
and recall while still having the most relevant results show up at the
top. Search engines employ extraordinarily complex algorithms to deliver those optimized
results, and as the scope of information changes, so must the algorithms. Similarly,
look-and-feel changes help highlight or hide functionality based on changes made by
the search provider.
Why does this matter? Because you may develop a routine around
searching and not realize your access to certain parts of the search tool has
changed, or the tool works in a different way than you have been used to. Keeping
a critical eye on any tool you use is a good idea in this environment of change.
To consider:
- As we discussed in Lab 01, search results you get in a search engine may be
affected by information about you that you didn't know was a part of your search.
What are the things a search engine might know about you? How might that affect
what you see in your search results?
- Searching in a given language means that results containing the words in that
language are returned. What can you do to find information in a different language?
Is typing the words into your search box in that language enough?
- Many search tools have an "advanced search" section. Do you use it
regularly? Why or why not? when do you think it might help you to try using the
advanced search over the default search?
- Are all search tools basically the same? Should you expect to get the same or
similar results when you put the same information into the search box? Explain
your reasoning.
- How do you know you are getting the right information when you get the results
of your search? In other words, if you search for information about Buckminster Fuller,
how do you know that what you get is factual and accurate? What kinds of things
should you look for to help you decide?
Putting search tools to work: compare and contrast
In this fifth lab, you'll enter the same search terms across a variety of web search
tools, including bing, Yahoo!, Google, and Wolfram Alpha. We'll also take a closer
look at other search tools, like finding materials in your library catalog.
As you explore, review your answers from the To consider: section
above. Have you changed your mind about any of them?
Learning more
- Let's begin by comparing the web-based search tools to each other. Try
the following searches in bing,
Yahoo!,
Google,
Google France, and
Wolfram Alpha. Enter the
search terms exactly as they are shown below:
chocolate rain
apollo 13
123852/238.6
convert 100 euros to us dollars
how do I change the battery in my laptop?
poisson
translate poisson
a modest proposal
the prince
java
art
- What did you notice about the "type ahead" or "suggested
search" features (if present) that try to complete your search for you?
Were they always helpful? Do you know where they come from? Could you turn
that feature off if you wanted to?
- How do the search engines differ in their results? Why do you think
they do? If you were a programmer working for one of these search companies,
why would you choose certain search results as more relevant than
others? How could you get those results to come up earlier in the "hit list"
or results set?
- Many times the first page of results will look similar from search tool
to search tool. Take a look at the second pages of the search results for the
search "java". Do the search tools' results sets begin to diverge
(get less alike), or converge (get more alike)? How many of the results on the first
and second pages are related to commercial products? Is the ratio of commercial
sites different on the second page compared to the first? Is the ratio different
from one search tool to another?
- Were there any results you were suprised by? Which ones, if any?
- Now take the same search terms and enter them into a few library search tools.
You can use our own institution's library, or you can search the
New York Public Library,
Arizona State University's
library catalog, or ASU Library's discovery layer service,
Library One Search.
- What were the similarities and the differences between the web-based
search tools and the library search tools?
- Were the differences in the results what you expected? Why or why not?
- Which tool was the best at each search? Were some tools just as good
as the others, depending on the search?
- Find the advanced search functions for each search tool. Could any
of these options helped you get better results? Which ones?
- Which search tools had ads at the top of the results list? Was it
easy to tell they were ads?
- What did the search tools assume about your search for "java"? Which
"java" did you think you were searching for? Was it one of the
listings on
Wikipedia's disambiguation page for "java"? Do you think
any of the results were affected by your own "filter bubble"? Why or why not?
- Were any commercial results in the results sets you got from the library?
How do you know? Were there any resources you were not allowed to get to because you
were not a library patron? Could you get to those resources legally and
for free anywhere else? Where?
-
We've taken a look at the differences in results we can get just by changing which
search tool we use. Now we need to think about what exactly it is we're getting. How
do you know when the site you click on has accurate information? How do you know
when it's trying to sell you something, or when it's trying to convince you
of a particular point of view?
Try IT: critically assessing results
One way to determine whether or not a website is giving you reliable and
accurate information is to examine it closely. Who is responsible for the site?
Is it easy to contact them? How recently was the site updated? Do other sites
that you know are credible link to that site?
- Imagine you are doing some research for a paper you are going to
write on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his work. Go to a search tool like Google, and type in "Martin Luther
King" (without the quotes). What are some of the "type ahead"
suggestions?
- Take a look at the results set. Which of these sites look legitimate?
Do any of these sites look like they might not be legitimate? Why or why not?
- Find the entry for the site martinlutherking.org. The link text
reads "Martin Luther King Jr. - A True Historical Examination".
Click on the link to the site.
- Without clicking on any of the links, look at everything on
the homepage of the site, even the small print
at the bottom. What is your first impression?
- Now click a few links. Has your impression changed? Why or why not?
- If you haven't yet, click on the "Hosted by Stormfront"
link at the bottom of the page. Is the page you get to what you expected?
- Can you tell some things about the Stormfront organization from
the logo on the page, and from the forum topics? Do you think this
organization is able to give accurate information about
Martin Luther King Jr.? Explain.
- How can you discover whether or not the information on the
martinlutherking.org site is accurate? Where could you corroborate
or disprove the information you find there?
- Go back to your search tool and type in "martinlutherkingorg"
(without the quotes). What are some of the "type ahead"
suggestions? does that tell you anything about the site itself? How
would you find out how those search suggestions are made?
The barriers to publishing a website are not very high. As you may recall from Lab 04,
you can do it yourself for free. What does that mean in terms of how accurate
the information is that you find on the web? What are some things to keep in
mind as you search the web, not just for papers you need to write, but other
things you might need to do. How do you know the person tweeting as Lady Gaga is
really her? If you don't know for sure, how would you find out?
Moving on
Web-based search tools are capable of doing more than just search, and are handling
natural language search requests with more and more accuracy. Still, searching is
a bit more complex behind the scenes than we may have realized, and we may not also
realize what factors affect any given set of search results. We can remain hopeful
that search tools will usually give us what we want. But we need to know what it looks
like when they don't - which you may now know can look more subtle than expected.
What techniques will you use to evaluate your search results, and what will you
do when they don't meet your expectations?