Search Engines: The end of the Encyclopedia

For Mondays reading we were assigned to read “The Internet: The Bascis” by Jason Whitaker, as well as” The World Wide Web: A mass communication perspective” by Barbara Kaye, and Norman Medoff. Both of these articles focused on the way in which people search the Internet to gain information, and also strategies to have successful searches. Whitaker refers to the Internet as “a huge national library- although one frequently lacking quality control.” (p. 48) This statement talks about the two large issues presented throughout this discussion. The author gives us 12 different search engines, all of which have their own different functions. Whitaker also discusses the use of search tips like using the words AND, or OR in your searches. (I was first introduced to this during a library tutorial for minerva) This may cause the hits to be more accurate in reference to the search. Kaye, and Medoff focus more each different search engines, and goes into detail about all of there characteristics. The author speaks of email lists, and newsgroups. (like we had previously monitored)
I would like to take some time to reflect on the whole idea of search engines, and how they affect our lives in this day and age. Only a few years ago the Internet was not the same as it was today, literally anytime I need anything answered I turn to www.google.com. Whether I am looking for a phone number, definitions, or even directions. I even have google as the homepage for my computer, and my blackberry. I would say personally I visit google ten times a day to find out information. The authors speak of the large amount of hits that a search may yield, but I must sat that rarely I do not get what I was looking for. I infrequently visit other search engines, but this article shed some light on other effective ones such as www.altavista.com, and www.yahoo.com. These search engines have made the accessibility of information speedy, and highly efficient.

Kaye, Barbara K. & Medoff, Norman J. (2001). The World Wide Web: A mass Communication perspectice (Chapter 2) Moutain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing.

Whitaker, Jason. (2002). The Internet: The basics (chapter 1). New York: Routledge.