Group items tagged

"If you do a Google search about how much information Google really controls, there's a little bit of hyperbole (from users) out there. There's a litany of searches like 'Google wants to own your mind', 'Google wants to control you'. There's also a 'Google wants to teach computers regret' which is just creepy, really. Those living in fear of a barcode on their psyche have been prolific with their concerns, no doubt about it. But they're not totally barking up the wrong tree. Just ask Google. Its own mission statement says this: "Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Luckily, its motto is 'don't be evil'. Right guys?"

Check out the G-Male movie, very funny and thought provoking all at the same time.

"Google has made it possible for us to have instant information gratification. Just start typing the first letters of your search word and the site intuits your question and offers you the smartest choice of answers. Seems simple enough. But as quick and facile as the process is, there are ways to be even more efficient, more search-savvy. And it's our responsibility to teach kids how to find and research information, how to judge its veracity, and when it's time to ask for a grownup's help. I spoke to Daniel Russell, Google's "search anthropologist" in charge of Search Quality and User Happiness (yes, really), who brought to light some important tips you may not have known."

If you use Google to search you need to check this out

"Google Alert allows you to create alerts around topics you are interested in and start receiving emails with updates about your search query. For instance as a doctoral student with a research interest in emerging literacies , I have created an alert with the name " emerging literacies" and each time something new published online with those key words in it I get an email with a link to it. This keeps me abreast of the latest releases in my area of research. I also use Google Alert to track down authors and scholars whose works are related to my research areas. I simply create a Google Alert with their names as the alert titles and next time they publish something I get it first. Another way to use Google Alert is to create an alert about yourself by using your full name and anytime somebody mentions you somewhere online you will instantly receive an email with a link to it. Here is how to create a Google Alert"

"Google is an even cleverer beast than you thought until now, and this new Google Search Tricks infographic provides a handy guide for 13 of the most useful shortcuts you can use to make your search experience a whole lot more efficient, faster and easier…and more fun to boot."

"I've been reading snippets of Eli Pariser's book, The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding From You. He leads off the book with a discussion of the effect of Google's "personalization" feature on the ranking of search results. This feature uses 54 signals (what browser version you're using, your prior searches, geographic location, and so on) to customize search results for each user. Pariser was concerned about this and tested it by asking two friends to run the same search at the same time and comparing the results. He found that the results were disturbingly different, and concluded that search engines are "increasingly biased to share our own views. More and more, your computer monitor is a kind of one-way mirror, reflecting your own interests while algorithmic observers watch what you click.""

"A quiet revolution has taken place in recent months, as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and other internet gatekeepers have revised their search algorithms in an attempt to bring users more personalized information. This subtle shift has enormous implications for students, researchers, and society at large, experts say. When web surfers use Google or Bing to look for information about, say, the national debt, the search results they now see at the top of the page might differ from those of their neighbor. That's because all the major search engines have revamped their formulas to include social media data as key indicators of a website's importance."

Get information on Google's newest search features and learn tips from basic to advanced. For even more on Google search, explore our Playground of fun features, or go "Under the Hood" to explore the technology that powers your searches.

I have been updating my collections of search engines - adding in new ones that I've previously blogged about and removing ones that no longer exist. It's of course not a complete listing - some I simply have ignored as I really don't rate them, others I just don't know about! However, the majority of them are ones that I think are worth looking at in different subject areas. There's more to search than Google. If you have time, please take a look, and consider trying out some new ones. You can access them all via my 'Which Search Engine When' page and pull down menus, but here's an overview.

"Today's students have grown up in the digital age, and are generally accustomed to having questions answered at the click of a button-but that doesn't mean they all know how to conduct meaningful, thorough research. Studies show that while a majority of students turn to search engines when conducting research, most of them are behind the times when it comes to utilizing keywords or smart search methods to retrieve the best possible results. Three in four college students monitored were deemed incapable of conducting a "reasonably well-executed" Google search, and for many educators, the concern is that while students do have a great deal of data at their disposal, most of them don't know the best way to access it. "

"Using Google Search is making us believe we are more knowledgeable and intelligent than we actually are. That's not necessarily an easy idea to swallow, but sometimes the truth hurts. The harsh reality is that although search engines enable us to find out all sorts of information in a very short period of time, this is not a marker of our intelligence. We are not the only primates who have learned to use tools to our advantage."

"You can use Google Earth to simply search for a place or try one our advanced features, such as recording a tour or importing GPS data. Whether you're learning to use Google Earth for the first time or you're already an expert user, here are some tools to help you explore further. "

"My opinion was (and still is) that the internet is ultimately expanding the possibilities of innovation for the coming generations. It is a catalyst for open communication and will provide us with mental framework that will propel the geniuses of our time forward with more vigor than ever before. The person I was talking to did not agree with my somewhat sunny view of the internet. She said that the invention was making people dependent on it as an extension of their brains, and leaving little room for new ideas or improvisation. In fairness, there is ample evidence for both conclusions in current events and our daily lives. So here's the dish on the estimated effects of Google, a favorite gateway for internet users worldwide."

"YOUR search history contains some of the most personal information you will ever reveal online: your health, mental state, interests, travel locations, fears and shopping habits. And that is information most people would want to keep private. Unfortunately, your web searches are carefully tracked and saved in databases, where the information can be used for almost anything, including highly targeted advertising and price discrimination based on your data profile."

"A little over a year ago, Google officially changed the name of its Docs app to Drive and gave users cloud storage to compete with Dropbox. While so far the search giant has yet to dethrone the incumbent, the service does have one distinct advantage over the competition: a wide array of extensions and apps that integrate directly into the service."

"Google Images - free video tutorials. Visit TeachertrainingVideos.com for more free online courses and online IT courses."

This series from Mashable has a number of posts looking at the world of search and how it is/will develop.

"The day when your hat can extrapolate your mood from your brain activity and make a spa appointment on your behalf may not be far away. The next big thing in the digital world won't be a better way for you to find something. If a confluence of capabilities now on the horizon bears fruit, the next big thing is that information will find you. Welcome to contextual search, a world where devices from your phone to your appliances will join forces in the background to make your life easier automatically."

"Teachers and their students are moving more and more online. Kids are blogging their learning as an excellent way to build confidence, reflect and gather feedback. Schools are showcasing the best of their students' work on their websites.and the educational world is benefiting from a collaborative worldwide connections. That's all exciting and positive but we have one important question: Who owns the material and it's components when it's published? This is where we must all be careful. A quick Google search will find a growing number of cases where people have sought damages for even single images republished on both blogs and social media like Twitter. This link tells the story of a bad photo taken on a phone that was found on Google and used In a blog Post resulting in an $8000 out of court settlement. Every photo is owned by the photographer automatically and if you choose the wrong image you can loose out substantially."

"The business of finding facts has been an important gear in the workings of human knowledge, and the technology has just been upgraded from rubber band to nuclear reactor. No wonder there's some confusion about Google's exact role in that-along with increasing fear about its power and its intentions."