OMG … Search Engines have to be one of the best tools created for wasting time, since the late 90’s I have used many (Copernicus, Wolfram Alpha, MSN, Yahoo and Google…just to name a few). The one thing to keep in mind constantly is verification, in particular, the need to properly verify the sources and value of the information as presented from the search results.
Looking at the tools presented in this lecture, they highlight the differences in the information submitted by each of the search engines. This week, for example, through comparison of MSN & Google (including Google Scholar) and Serendip-o-matic the same search criteria reveals that information as presented had noticeably different results.
It was also found that Serendip-o-matic showed results only from a limited database of mainly historical records while the MSN & Google (including Google Scholar) contained results gathered across the internet. What was found to be interesting about the results is that they can be unexpected and may lead to (sway) an alternative perception of the subject matter and subject you were researching.
Through the knowledge of different ways to use search engines and data networks and the right tools to use, research times can be reduced and the outcomes for finding verifiable information achieved.
