Finding something on Google sounds like a simple and easy procedure. That is true when searching for something broad. However, when searching a specific thing using Google, you have to really understand how Google generates searches and shows sites for answers. Google basically can allow any random website to appear. This is where searching on Google does not turn out to be so easy. Sometimes, it takes a long time to find accurate information and there are other times when you cannot find any info. at all. Our history class will be using the web every day and more than likely using Google as a searcher. For the first few days, we did class activities. One was called a Google a Day. The other was called Accuracy, Authenticity, and Reliability. These activities showed us how to find original information using proper sources to get the information. It also showed us that there are so many unverified websites that contain wrong or unproven information. For our class, we need the best information to successfully complete the tasks that we are given.
A Google a Day http://www.agoogleaday.com/#game=started was one of the activities we did to help us use the Internet responsibly. It was a site where a question is asked by Google and we had to find the correct answer. As a group, we had to determine what the question was really asking and what we needed to search. Then, we had to search a key phrase from the question and find a result. Then the online responsibility part came into play when we had to find relevant information from a verified source that our group all had to agree on. The fun part was figuring out the key phrase and finding out what the question meant. The frustrating part was finding irrelevant websites that either didn't have an answer or was full of advertisements that kept popping up every minute. But the most frustrating part was typing in a answer and realizing we were way off or we were so close and just couldn't find the exact answer quickly. This activity taught us all that in order to find clear and precise information, you have to think before you search so that more of the relevant sites and sources will show up rather than more counterfeit websites.
The other activity we used was called Accuracy, Authenticity, and Reliability. This is when our groups defined and explain the importance of all three of these terms and why it is important to make sure a search fits into these. Then, we searched a site for the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. We found an entire website that describes everything about the tree octopus. We determined that the site is authentic because it is original and it is a website that started from scratch about this topic. However, we knew that this site was not reliable nor accurate because there is no such thing as a tree octopus. The internet hoax was created by Lyle Zapato and the URL of the website is http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/links.html which is close to the creator's name. Also, the URL is not a '.gov' or '.org' site. When using a site in school, preferred URLs are those because they have been approved as accurate, authentic, and reliable so using this site for research is not a valid option to successfully complete a search for any assignment.
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