Learning to refine searches by using search modifiers such as ‘+’or ‘AND’, ‘-‘ or ‘NOT’, ‘OR’ and double exclamation marks helps to greatly narrow the number of hits of your search and make your search a lot more efficient. Refining searches can also be as simple as using the Advanced Serach feature on most search engines to select a specific domain, specific file type, regions and dates of articles.
“Advanced searching involves the development of both techniques (including, for example, detailed knowledge of Boolean logic, but also speed in filling out search engines), and also informational competence, in which you instinctively consider and apply your knowledge of the ways information can be categorised and organised, translating from others classifications into the pattern that you are establishing. Technical skill in searching is not, thus, sufficient” (Concept 3. Effective communication combines technical and communicative competence NET11).
The use of advance search options may differ from search engine to search engine, so it is best to check the help file before using them. Boolean Logic is the term used for using ‘AND’, ‘NOT’ or ‘OR’ to link words and/or phrases. It is a good idea to always use CAPs when using these operators. Implied Boolean Logic is the term used for use ‘+’ and ‘-‘.
AND or ‘+’: narrows the search by returning sites that contain all of the keywords entered – the more keywords entered the narrower the search.
Eg: attention AND economy
NOT or ‘-‘: narrows the search by eliminating sites that contain keywords
Eg: attention NOT economy
OR: expands the search by suggesting sites containing any the keywords, the more keywords used the more sites that will be retrieved.
Eg: attention OR economy
“”: narrows the search by returning sites with containing the exact phrase.
These are basic search strategies only, “Lost in Space” is an excellent tutorial that will guide users through more advanced techniques.
Best search technique for:
- Biggest number of hits relating to these key words – simply type in Attention Economy in Google, about 8,870,000 hits
- Information most relevant to what you ACTUALLY wanted to look for – “Attention Economy” in Google Scholar, selecting Advanced Scholar Search and selecting Social Science, Arts and Humanities sites, about 375 hits
- Information coming only from University sources – Attention Economy, typing “.edu” in Search within site or domain (although this may not necessarily be universities it could also incorporate schools and colleges), or by using Google Scholar as above.
We were asked to choose the best three sources found in the previous task and record the following information about these sites (URL; author; institution; blurb/summary/screen shot) using whatever software or tool we thought appropriate.
I have downloaded and been using delicious.com and had already recorded one or two of the resources that I used for the assignment. I did however download three of the sites retrieved from the above searches.
To save a site into delicious.com, you need to have the "tags" button on the toolbar in your browser, it is then simply a matter of clicking on the tag while in the page. A “Save a Bookmark” form appears on your screen with the URL and title of the page already in place, you then have the option of adding notes about the page and ‘tags’ to help identify what the page is suitable for.
I really liked this program because:
1. You are able to categorise your bookmarks with the tags
2. You are able to make quite comprehensive notes on the site, which can come in handy when you are doing an annotated bibliography, and
3. I am able to access this site from any computer that has Internet access.
Just as a side note, I have recently (last night) downloaded connotea.com, another social bookmarking program, and have found it to be really good as well. It offers a lot of the same features that delicious.com does, but I am still playing with it to see if it is as good!
Annotated Site:
This is one of the annotations that I used in my Concepts Assignment, although I have changed the comments marginally.
The Attention Economy and the Net – http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue2_4/goldhaber
Michael Goldhaber is the author of numerous papers and articles on the Attention Economy, and has been invited to speak at various conferences and seminars on the topic. At the time of publication of this article, he was the head of The Centre for Technology and Democracy, and a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley’s Institute for the Study of Social Change. This paper is a draft of Conference Presentation, but I still found it to be comprehensive, explaining and covering in detail the concept of the Attention Economy. Goldhaber uses everyday comparisons and analogies to help students unfamiliar with the topic. Although written in 1997 it is still referred by current day advocates and I think is still relevant in today’s society.
In terms of my own personal future use, I think that the original body of information that I saved to delicious.com would be most useful. In delicious.com, I actually copied and pasted segments/paragraphs/abstracts from the webpage that gave me information about the relevance of the site, the sites were also tagged according to their use. The annotated version gave only some of this information, although the positive aspect to the annotation is that it verifies the validity of the site/author.
External users however would probably find the annotation more suitable; it gives the reader a brief overview of who the author is, why he wrote the paper, what the paper is about and whether it was still relevant in today’s society. From this information the external user could judge for themselves whether the site is worth visiting – relevance of information depends on why the reader wants to use it, and what is relevant to me may not necessarily be relevant to the next person.
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