Information literacy is a major component of my 7th grade Digital Literacy class.  At a fundamental level, effective searching requires using (1) the right words and (2) the right tools.  The first lesson on this topic examined how keywords and snippets can lead to better search results.  This week, we explored some of Google’s advanced search features and several alternatives to Google.

Google Advanced Search

Despite being the favorite search engine of many students, most are completely unaware of Google’s advanced search features.  Simple techniques such as using quotes to locate an exact phrase or limiting results to a specific domain can filter millions of results down to a handful.  Google’s Search Help provides a quick overview of the advanced options, and this extended guide covers Advanced Search in considerable detail:

Google search

Alternatives to Google

Although Google is an extremely powerful general-purpose engine, it is not always the best option for students.  Tools should be matched to the task, and depending upon one’s needs, other search engines and/or directories may be more appropriate.  NoodleTools maintains an excellent resource page that helps students choose the right tool for their information need.  A quick visit to NoodleQuest and some preliminary planning can make for a significantly more productive search experience.

In addition to the options featured on NoodleTools, there are a number of lesser-known search engines that can be of particular value to students.  Here is an abridged list of some of my favorites, organized by type/function:

Academic Search Engines

• Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. Google Scholar helps you identify the most relevant research across the world of scholarly research.
• iSeek Education is a targeted search engine for students, teachers, administrators, and caregivers. Search hundreds of thousands of trusted resources from universities, government, and established noncommercial providers, and instantly identify lesson plans, activities, school subjects, grade levels, and more with iView navigation.
• OJOSE (Online JOurnal Search Engine) is a free powerful scientific search engine enabling you to make  search-queries in different databases by using only 1 search field. With  OJOSE you can find, download or buy scientific publications (journals, articles, research reports, books, etc.) in up to 60 different databases.
• Scirus is the most comprehensive scientific research tool on the web. With over 350 million scientific items indexed at last count, it allows researchers to search for not only journal content but also scientists’ homepages, courseware, pre-print server material, patents and institutional repository and website information.
• Wolfram|Alpha is a computational knowledge engine: it generates output by doing computations from its own internal knowledge base, instead of searching the web and returning links. It produces pages of new information that have never existed on the Internet.

Multimedia Search Engines

• Pixsy is a multimedia search engine that draws its results from selected RSS feeds rather than from general web trawling. Although it returns fewer results than other engines (millions instead of billions), its selective image gathering  is likely to include some content that is out of the reach of other engines.
• Picsearch uses its own technology to crawl the web and has created a searchable index of images. When a user sends a query to Picsearch the result is received as a set of thumbnail images that are sorted to ensure that they are as highly relevant as possible. When the user clicks on a thumbnail they are linked to the original web site where that image is located.
• Blinkx bills itself as the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine. Users can search for video content, create personal video playlists, or build a customized Video Wall for their blog or MySpace page.

Kid-Friendy Search Engines

• KidRex is a fun and safe search for kids, by kids! KidRex searches emphasize kid-related webpages from across the entire web and are powered by Google Custom Search™ and use Google SafeSearch™ technology.
• KidZui is a free Web browser, search engine and online playground for kids 3-12.  KidZui has the largest number of games, websites, videos and photos reviewed by parents and teachers anywhere. Kids can find what they need to help with schoolwork, by themselves.
• Quintura for Kids brings a unique experience to an increasingly important group of Internet users. The intuitive nature of the cloud allows kids to develop and refine their search by clicking on keywords that appear in the cloud. The interface also allows for relevant searches around a set of rotating icons on the site, and the search interface can be embedded on a webpage (try it out below):

Visual Search Engines

• Quintura presents information in a visual manner, rather than a straight text presentation. With Quintura, you search within a “tag cloud”; a collection of terms, usually related to each other in some way either by context or links.
• oSkope is a visual search assistant that  lets you browse and organize items from Amazon, Ebay, Flickr, Fotolia, Yahoo!Image Search and YouTube in an intuitive way.
• Viewzi is a whole new way to search. Instead of one big list, you can get results from Google, Yahoo!, and dozens of other great places–all arranged into unique “Views”, each custom-tailored for that content.
• Middlespot is a way to visually discover, organize, and privately share your collection of interests. Each middlespot mashtab you create can contain webpages, images, music, videos, web widgets, files, documents, embeddable code and more.

All of the aforementioned tools have their strengths and shortcomings; there really is no one “best” search engine.  At a minimum, though, students should develop fluency with at least one general purpose engine (I recommend Google) and be aware that different types of queries require different tools.  The Internet offers an almost unimaginable amount of information…for those who can find it.

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Posted: 10|7|09 at 11:36 am. Filed under: Digital Literacy.
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