Search tactics & strategies… a Teach-in

1. Search tactics & strategies… a Teach-in Daniel M. Russell, Ph.D. Google Search User Experience Research Nov 20, 2008

2. Topics • How to use internet search and internet resources • Develop effective search query formation • Learn how to evaluate the trustworthiness of web sites • Special advanced features and tricks-of-the-trade

3. Search changes everything • Your experience of this talk is radically changed from what it was just a few years ago. • Now if I say something like… “…this topic is much so much more interesting if you first have a bumper of Nottingham ale…”

4. Nottingham Ale

5. What you need to know…

6. ► Search literacy site: ricoh.com “double quotes” minus (as exclude) plus (include)filetype:pdfintitle:”cheat sheet”… etc … knowing when to shiftknowing when to stopmove from wide to narrowpreserving state… • Six kinds of knowledge & skills needed to search: pure engine technique searchstrategy

7. medical knowledgeplumbing knowledgeEnglish litworld languages … reverse dictionarykeyword frequenciescontents of domainsWikipediaknowing what’s available… etc… domain knowledge informationmapping

8. Is this believable? How does this link to other information I already know? What is the relationship of this information to authoritative sources? Knowing particular layout and features of a site (metadata sort/filter; variant query mechanisms; location of “print version” alternate view) assessment site-specificknowledge

9. Six components of expertise pure engine technique domain knowledge assessment informationmapping searchstrategy site-specificknowledge

10. The Art of Keyword Choice ►

11. Hints to choose keywords… • Think about what you’re trying to find • Choose words that you think will appear on the page • Put yourself in the mindset of the author of those words

12.  Choosing the right keywords [ small note chant notation ]

13. Ah ha! • From: http://lphrc.org/Chant/

14.  When you’re choosing search keywords… • When you eat pig, the meat is called “pork.” When you eat sheep, the meat is called “mutton.” When you eat deer, the meat is called “venison.” • Suppose you visit your cousin in Sydney, Australia and they serve grilled kangaroo. What’s another word for “kangaroo meat”?

15. Solution: • Search for [ kangaroo meat name ] • Scan through the results looking for a page with a plausible answer • There are a number of ways to do this… the variations all have different amounts of scanning • Wikipedia (as it turns out) has a very nice article on this… with discussion of the controversy

16.  Think about synonyms • When an artist is making a sculpture for a client, they often make a small version of the sculpture in wax or clay. They’re usual a preliminary sketch, presented to the client for approval • Question: What is this thing called?

17. Answer • The easiest solution I found was [ small artist model in wax ] – then read through the snippets to find a definition. • To double check, you can use Google as a dictionary: [ define:maquette ] • An important skill… reading through the snippets

18.  Asking about the un-namable I noticed the other day that everyone has a little indentation on their upper lip. Question: What’s that thing called?

19. Answer • Start with the simplest search you can think of: [ upper lip indentation ] If it’s not right, you can always modify it. • When I did this, I clicked on the first result, which took me to Yahoo Answers. There’s a nice article there about something called the philtrum. • Then I double checked on that by doing a [ define:philtrum ]

20.  Use context terms • I was hiking in the woods nearby in March when I saw a pretty blue flower. It was about 3 feet high, and grew along the pathway in the middle of the woods in Henry Coe State Park. • Question: Here’s the picture… can you tell me what the common and Latin name is of this flower?

21. Answer: Wildflower image • Search: web for [ wildflowers henry coe park ] • Look for collections of pictures. Look for a matching / similar picture. • http://www.coepark.org/wildflowers/blue/blue.html • Answer: Hound's tongue (Cynoglossum grande) • Path: I started with [ blue wildflowers california], but that didn’t work. Added [ blue wildflowers album california], as a context term… but still too many bad hits. Then shifted to using location name as my context term (and removing all the other words), giving me: [ wildflowers henry coe park ] I noticed the exact hit at position #1.

22.  Going deeper on a topic • I kind of like that wildflower! What else can I find out about it? • Where does it grow near me? • Does it like to live in the sun or the shade? • Question: How can you find out more gardening information about this particular wildflower?

23. Answer: Going deeper • I started with the Latin name because it’s the MOST specific term you can use. So I did a copy & paste from the previous search: [ Cynoglossum grande ]and then started looking around. I quickly found that I could see it in Coe Park, near Morgan Hill. • When I looked up the Wikipedia entry, I found that it likes shady conditions. I then checked my work by doing a search for [ Cynoglossum grande shady ]Sure enough, other places say the same thing. It checks out!

24.  Keep looking! Think of synonyms! • Sometimes you need to keep trying, thinking your problem through in different ways. Usually, if you think about how someone else would describe the thing you’re looking for, that will suggest search terms for you. • Question: A friend told me that there is an abandoned city in the waters of San Francisco Bay. Is that true? If it IS true, what was the name of the supposed city?

25. Answer: Synonyms • Yes, it’s true… there IS an abandoned city near what is now Fremont. It was called Drawbridge. • The trick here is to think about other ways of describing an “abandoned city”—don’t just assume that’s the best way to describe it. Try this search: [ ghost town san francisco bay ] The former town of Drawbridge

26. Specifiers: term to get a certain kind of result • Some search terms suggest results that are of a specific type. • Wikipedia – will usually bring wikipedia articles to the front • Image • Video – when looking for videos • Review – to find reviews of products, books, movies, etc. • Forum – a forum is an online discussion between people on a given topic • Example: [ Chinese wedding forum ] • Overview – for an on-topic overview • Tutorial – when looking for a tutorial on topic • Workbook • Help • Documentation – to look for documentation on a topic • FAQ – frequently asked questions list (often useful for topic summaries) • DIY – “do it yourself” useful when looking for instructions

27. Art of Keyword Summary • Choose words that will be on the page(s) you seek • Start as simply as possible (don’t start with 5 words in your query) • If you know a very specific term, use it (but be sure it’s right!) • Learn from what you see on the pages you visit • Don’t get stuck on a particular term or phrase. If you’re not making progress, re-think the terms you’re using

28. ► Consider using other content types • Video: Youtube –be sure to look for [ TED talks ] – great speakers e.g., Ola Rosling or Jane Goodall

29. For example.. when are images a good resource? • “What’s a fore topmast studding sail?”

30. Ship diagram: Use image search [ ship sail diagram ]

31. Using Maps • Using Google Maps is a great way to find where something is. But suppose you want to find out how far APART two things are. Question: (a) Can you figure out how far the De Young museum is from the San Francisco train station? (b) Suppose you want to hike from the Yosemite Visitor’s Center up to Glacier Point. How would you figure out how far a hike that is?

32. Answer • Use maps with driving directions to get the rough distance from point to point. • For Yosemite, you have to look for a map at the Yosemite Park website. • Then… use the maps “Distance measurement tool” (under My Maps)

34. Using other resources Someone told me that in the mid-1500’s, people often would carry around a special kind of notebook. They would use the notebook to write down quotations that they heard, or copy passages from books they’d read. The notebook was an important part of their education, and it had a particular name. Question: What was this kind of notebook called?

35. Answer • This is a really hard question. The best way to answer it is to first look for a reverse dictionary. [ reverse dictionary ] • Then, go to the reverse dictionary (such as http://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml ) … and type in the words [ notebook quotations ] – then look thru the list of words it shows you. • Answer: “commonplace book”

36. How to remove bogus results from your searches • Sometimes you want to look up something that’s pretty common, so there are LOTS of web pages out there. It’s even worse when the word is really common. So how do you eliminate things you don’t want? • Question: Can you find a great recipe for salsa to make for dinner tonight? IN PARTICULAR… your nephew is allergic to tomatoes. Can you find a salsa recipe without tomatoes in it?

37. Salsa - answer • The trick here is to remove all those “salsa as dancing” meanings. The quick way to do that in a web search is with the MINUS sign. [ salsa –dancing ] -- this will remove all the dancing references [ salsa –dancing -tomatoes ]

38. You found a site you like and want to search JUST it… • I really liked the recipes on Epicurious.com – use SITE: to restrict search to just the site(s) you like [ site:epicurious.com salsa ] • Also use site: to limit searches to just universities (in the US): [ site:.edu history american romanticsm literature ]

39. Always check your work… Get multiple answers • Can you figure out the diameter of the earth?

40. Checking your work… • Just do the obvious: [ diameter of the earth ]But CHECK YOUR ANSWER by looking at different sites. Depending on which one you choose, you’ll get somewhat different answers! Site #1: 7,926.41 miles Site #2: 12,756 km Site #3: 12,756.3 km Site #4: 7,900 miles Why the differences? - different measuring techniques - different circles around (polar vs. equatorial) - different resolutions of measurement (cm vs. mile scales)

41. Calculator • Can you figure out how to use the calculator on Google? • Just type the expression into the search box • 4 + 5 + 19 • 45023 / 34 + 5 / 29 • Sin(0.5) ^ 2

42. Conversions • General pattern: numberunits1inunits2

43. Problem: How fast does the World’s Fastest Man run in MPH? • Steps: • What’s the current world record? • Make the conversions • Do the calculations 1. Use web search (news) to find out world record 2. Note that the record is in meters (100 meters) 3. Convert distance from meters to miles 4. Convert time from seconds to hours

44. Finding tools on the web • General point:When you want to do something complex, LOOK for a tool to do it before building your own. • Find a way to graph the equations: y = x2 + sin(x) y = x2 * sin(x)

45. Answer: Look for a tool • Answer: use [ graphing calculator ] – then choose one From coolmath.com

46. ► Credibility • We all want to teach it… but how? • Credibility = trustworthiness + expertise • Oh yeah… it’s also socially contextualized: What’s credible to you might not be credible to another social group. • A large part of learning how to judge as credible is… • What does your social group recognize as credible?A large part of this is name recognition. • (NYTimes v. Fox v. CNN…) • (Folger Shakespeare Library v. Renaissance Pleasure Faire v. …)

47. Credibility / Assessment • How can you tell if something is credible? 1. Check links pointing TO the page: use: [ link:<URL> ] e.g., [ link:www.ufos-alien.uk ] 2. Check the page and site on Alexa.com use: www.alexa.com – look on the “Site overview” and “Traffic” 3. Check links pointing OUT from the page: use: www.linkvendor.com/seo-tools/outbound-links.html

48. Example: Did NASA fake the moon landing? • [ lunar landing hoax ] • Click on first result:www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html

49. Heuristics to check credibility • Look at the contact info for website • usually on the home page, not a deep linked page • Look at ads that run on the site • what do they tell you about the content / operator? • Use the link operator: [ link:www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html ] • to see what other web pages link to this page [ link:/www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/ ] • to see what other web sites link to this page

50. Use Alexa to get overall sense of site www.alexa.com