PHI 100
Critical Thinking and the Web
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PHI 100 Critical Thinking and the Web |
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Finding Stuff on the Web
How does a search engine actually work? What happens when you type something in the Google search box?
It all starts with a spider. Spiders and crawlers are computer programs that "crawl" the Web looking for Webpages to retrieve and send back to the search engine. The retrieved pages are put in a database that sits on the search engine's server. When words are entered in the search engine's search box, the database is searched for those terms. Pages with matching terms are retrieved and become the list of search results. When you search with a search engine you are actually only searching those pages the spider found and sent back to the database, not the entire Web!
How are the results displayed?
Each search engine uses a different method for creating a search results list. Some list the pages that have the most instances of the search terms first - the more times the search term appears in the page, the higher it will be in the results. Some may prioritize results based on where the terms appear. If the search terms are in the title of the page or if the terms are near each other in the page, that page is higher in the results. Some display the sites that have the most hits or are most popular with users first. Others use a ranking based on a combination of factors.
Another factor affecting how results are displayed is sponsoring. A sponsored site will be more visible and may even be first in the results because the search engine company was paid to put it there!
There are two excellent resources for finding out more about search engines:
Search Engine Watch: http://searchenginewatch.com/
Search Engine Showdown: http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/
What's with Wikipedia?
Wikipedia is the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. What does that mean for you?
Wikipedia vs. Britannica
Internet encyclopaedias go head to head
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7070/full/438900a.html
Washington Post article dated 9/9/2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5430-2004Sep8.html?referrer=emailarticle
Seigenthaler and Wikipedia
USA Today editorial dated 11/29/2005
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-11-29-wikipedia-edit_x.htm
Seigenthaler and Wikipedia – Lessons and Questions: A Case Study on the Veracity of the “Wiki” concept
http://www.journalism.org/node/1672
A Blast from the Past
Information on the Web is constantly changing. Not only has the type and amount of information varied over the years, the way it is presented has also become more sophisticated. The following examples demonstrate how the Web has evolved in the past 10 years:
Now.... and Then
To find out more about the history of the Web and sites of the past, visit the Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/.
The Memory Hole
Because the Web is constantly changing, stuff comes and goes. Sometimes there may even be an agenda...
The Disappearing Photos
Talking Points Memo article dated 1/26/06
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/007536.php
Time article dated 2/11/06:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0%2C8599%2C1158908%2C00.html
Note: The Washingtonian articles dated 2/14/06 and 2/17/06 that first alleged proof of an Abramoff/Bush connection with photo evidence are now now longer available online.
Public Documents?
OMB Watch: Access to Government Information Post September 11th
http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/213/1/104
Examples of Access Changes:
Department of Energy: National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents on the web:
http://www.gc.energy.gov/NEPA/
Department of Transportation National Pipeline Mapping System
https://www.npms.phmsa.dot.gov/
Space Track (NASA Orbital Data): http://www.space-track.org/
Yesterday's News
Try searching for a hot topic - something that was all over the news several months ago or even further back - that remains a topic of interest. What kind of information you can find? Can you get access to the original news articles that came out when the story broke? How far back do the news items available on the Web go?
See if you can find the original news story about any one of the following events:
The train bombings in Spain (March 11, 2004)
The Asian Tsunami (December 26, 2004)
The Pope's funeral (April 8, 2005)
Maine purchases oil from Venezuela (January 11, 2006)
Do a search in Google News, then compare what you find on the Web with the same search in the ProQuest Newspapers database (click here to get to the list of UMF databases).
Believe It or Not
What are these Websites?
Global Warming: http://globalwarming.org/
Institute for Historical Review: http://ihr.org/
Martin Luther King, Jr. – A True Historical Examination: http://martinlutherking.org/
What about these?
Microsoft Firefox 2007 Professional Edition: http://www.msfirefox.com/
Dihydrogen Monoxide: http://www.dhmo.org/
CarpSoft Key Solutions: http://www.brookview.karoo.net/CarpSoft/
Evaluating Information from the Web
The one thing that will remain constant is information on the Web will always need to be evaluated critically. The library has prepared a list of some things to think about when considering the usefulness any source of information: Evaluating Web Resources (PDF document).
Last Updated: 3/31/08 (lm/jr)
