Transcript Slide 1

21st Century Information Fluency Project
21cif.imsa.edu
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Power Searching:
Digital Information Fluency at your Fingertips
June 25, 2007
Find today’s workshop materials online
using only the clues on this page.
21st Century Information Fluency Project
21cif.imsa.edu
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Power Searching:
Digital Information Fluency at your Fingertips
Carl Heine
Dennis O’Connor
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
21st Century Information Fluency Project
21cif.imsa.edu
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
21st Century Information Fluency
Mission -- build the capacity of librarians,
teachers and students to Locate, Evaluate and
Use digital information resources efficiently,
effectively and ethically …
… by providing professional development and
instructional resources.
21st Century Information Fluency Project
21cif.imsa.edu
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
21st Century Information Fluency
History -- A 6+ year project funded by federal ED
grants working initially with Middle and High
Schools in Illinois. We are now involved in
expanding information fluency in lower grades,
higher education and globally.
21st Century Information Fluency Project
21cif.imsa.edu
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
21st Century Information Fluency
Traditional
Library Skills
Technology
Skills
Our niche: the intersection of Information Literacy and
Technology Literacy that enables people to locate,
evaluate and use digital information resources
efficiently, effectively and ethically.
“Fluency” encompasses the competencies that are
required. Successful searching and evaluation
requires multi-tasking, critical thinking, flexibility,
and is mastered only by practice.
Information Fluency and NETS-S 3
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Digital Information Fluency – Big 6
2. Locate
3. Evaluate
4. Use Ethically
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
21st Century Skills
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Today’s Workshop Materials
21cif.imsa.edu
events > Jun 25, 2007 > Agenda page
Google: information fluency fingertips
Bookmark the Agenda page
IE: Favorites
Firefox: Bookmarks
Manage multiple windows
Close windows to avoid clutter
Toggle
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Translating a question
into a query
Verifying the
credibility of
information
Finding better
keywords
Choosing the
best database
Recognizing
information
that’s relevant
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Free Resources available in the Full Circle Resource Kit
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Group Search
How many buffalo are there in
North America today?
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Getting Started
What do you already know?
Methods that may be used,
depending on what you know:
Subject directory
Browsing
Search engine
Table of Contents
Flip through the pages
Index
?
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Getting Started: Subject Directory
Little knowledge of the subject or how to find info
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Getting Started: Browsing
Knowledge of the subject and/or an appropriate site
How many buffalo are there in North America today?
NATURE: American Buffalo: Spirit of a Nation - Buffalo Nation
Like people, the buffalo -- known to scientists as Bison bison -- came to
North America long ago from Asia, crossing a land bridge that once
connected ...
www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/buffalo/html/intro.html - 2k - Cached - Similar
pages - Note this
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Getting Started: Search Engine
Knowledge how to turn a question into a query
How many buffalo are there in North America today?
Write your query on the index card provided.
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Buffalo Search Challenge
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Common Search Engine Mistakes
What doesn’t work?
One word query (missing
important ideas)
Too many words
What works best?
2 – 3 strong keywords
Nouns, numbers
Keywords with multiple
meanings
Progressively more specific
keywords
Looking in the wrong
database
Generally, Google, then
multiple databases
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Translating a question into a query
 Starts with a question or a problem to solve.
 Task: Translate a natural language question or statement
into language that is understood by a search engine.
 Search engines differ in how they process queries, but for
the most part, what works on one big commercial search
engine tends to work on the others.
 Search engines perform a variety of literal matching
functions with Boolean and special operators.
21st Century Information Fluency Project
21cif.imsa.edu
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Translating a question into a query
Which of the following is an effective query for
'find the top speed of earth's fastest animal'?
 speed fastest animal
 what is earth’s fastest animal
 top speed earth’s fastest animal
21st Century Information Fluency Project
21cif.imsa.edu
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Question to query checklist
1. How many key concepts (important ideas) are found in the
question?
2. How many key concepts will I search for?
3. What keywords are probably effective “as is?”
4. For which concepts are more effective keywords probably
needed?
5. Are there hyponyms or professional language for any of the
intermediate words?
6. Are there words that have multiple meanings?
7. Did I use any stop words or clutter words?
8. Did I spell the words correctly?
9. Did I put the most important words first?
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Try it: What toy models a construction principle
that can reduce damage from earthquakes?
1. How many key concepts (important ideas) are found in the
question?
2. How many key concepts will I search for?
3. What keywords are probably effective “as is?”
4. For which concepts are more effective keywords probably
needed?
5. Are there hyponyms or professional language for any of the
intermediate words?
6. Are there words that have multiple meanings?
7. Did I use any stop words or clutter words?
8. Did I spell the words correctly?
9. Did I put the most important words first?
Build an optimal query using this list. Write your query
on your index card.
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Earthquake Toy Challenge
What toy models a
construction principle that
reduces damage from
earthquakes?
Keyword Challenge
Game
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Earthquake Toy Challenge
What toy models a
construction principle that
reduces damage from
earthquakes?
Search for the name of
the toy online.
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Earthquake Toy Challenge
What toy models a
construction principle that
reduces damage from
earthquakes?
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Choosing a database
 This failure occurs before submitting the first query.
 Task: Predict where expert information may be found.
 No search engine performs a live Internet search when you
submit a query. (Otherwise, how could they come back with
a page that’s not found?)
 That which is stored in one search engine’s database is
invisible to another search engine (also called the Deep Web
or Enterprise Data)
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Deep Web, Invisible Web
 Information that is stored in a different database than
where you are searching now.
 Information that is “buried” deeper in the abstracts than
results from another database.
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Evidence of Database Searching
 Retrieval Speed
e.g., Results 1 - 10 of about 111,000,000 (0.11 seconds)
 HTTP Error 404
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Database Searching
 Information available (Google):
 One or more matching words in the <title>
 Characters in the URL
 One or more matching words in the description or body
(except stop words)
 Pages that link to this page
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Choosing an alternate database
1. What person would know the answer I am looking for?
2. Where would I find that expert?
3. Use Google/Yahoo to get there and then use the proprietary
search engine to go farther.
4. To find a relevant database use keywords like DATABASE,
ARCHIVE, INFORMATION, ALMANAC, REPOSITORY in
combination with subject matter keywords.
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
John Williams Challenge
Classical guitarist John
Williams has composed all
the music for only one
motion picture. What is the
name of the movie?
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
John Williams Challenge
Who wouldto
Questions
know
ask the answer and
how do I locate that person or
organization?
Classical guitarist John
Williams has composed all
the music for only one
motion picture. What is the
name of the movie?
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
John Williams Challenge
Who would know the answer and
how do I locate that person or
organization?
movie soundtrack database
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Air Race Challenge
What airplane finished the Sport
Qualifying race in second place
at the Reno Air Races,
September 11, 2002?
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Magic Squares Challenge
Page Not Found
Google cache
truncation
Database search
http://www.pse.che.tohoku.ac.jp/~msuzuki/MagicSquare.html
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Sorting Hat Test Challenge
Copyright Owner Not Found
Search the page
Search the site
Search a different Database
Who is collecting the data from
this online test for research?
www.personalitylab.org/tests/ccq_hogwarts.htm
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Homing in on information
 This failure starts when a student looks at the results returned
by a search engine and doesn’t recognize relevance.
 Task: Match findings with expectations, evaluate relevance
 Task: Select and try increasingly specific keywords
 Frequently, effective keywords go unnoticed in snippets.
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Homing in on information
Resource Kit Resources
To improve scanning:
• Gold Rush
To find clues in snippets:
•
•
•
•
Snippet Sleuth
Snowsport Challenges
Soccer Challenges
Viking Challenge
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Viking Challenge
What type of
coins were
highly
treasured by
Vikings?
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
21st Century Information Fluency Project
21cif.imsa.edu
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Using Operators Effectively
 This failure occurs while building a query.
 Task: Increase the effectiveness of keywords with Boolean
and special operators
 Students generally do not use operators, but when they do,
they tend to use them inappropriately.
21st Century Information Fluency Project
21cif.imsa.edu
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Using Operators Effectively
Resource Kit Resources
To improve use of operators:
• QuickPick: Operator Smarts
• MM Companion: Operators
• Operators Assessment
Try your operator skills with the Piranhas Challenge
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Using Operators Effectively
Practice with keywords and operators:
What query would you use to
find information about an artist
by the name of Paul Saint?
not that St. Paul
On your index card: Build a query for this
search using keywords and operators.
21st Century Information Fluency Project
21cif.imsa.edu
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Evaluating credibility
 This failure occurs after information has been located.
 Task: Check the credibility of the information and its source
 Typically, students forego this decision altogether and
uncritically accept whatever information they found.
 Depending on which database the information was taken
from, information may be unedited, unendorsed and
inaccurate.
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Evaluating credibility
• $3.95 – anyone can be a .org
• Free/anonymous hosting sites
http://www.angelfire.com/me3/bsbsyncfiction/
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/9570/bach/
• The Tilde ~ in .edu
Means un-edited, un-endorsed
http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~dbrooks/
Resource: http://www.whois.net
Investigate site ownership
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Sifting information to verify credibility
Should I keep searching? (Revision Decision)
Evaluate the Source
Evaluate the Content
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Author
Publisher
Bias
Links From
Evidence
Accuracy
Date
Links To
Asking the right questions, knowing where to look
for answers
21CIF Evaluation Wizard
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Golf Cross
Challenge
What compelling
evidence can you
find to determine
if this is a real
sport or a hoax?
www.golfcross.com
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Ethical Use
Copyright
Plagiarism: MM Companion
Fair Use: Scenarios
Citation
Secondary searching: Citation
Assessment
Find the publisher in the Fish Ladder Challenge
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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More Ethical Use
Tutorial MicroModules on plagiarism and copyright
Copyright Webliography
CreativeCommons.org
Copyscape.com
Web-based citation tools:
Citation Wizard (websites only)
http://21cif.imsa.edu/tools/citation/
Citation Machine (websites and print materials)
http://citationmachine.net
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Explore
Check out a topic of interest:
Question to Query
Deep Web Searching
Recognizing Relevance
Finding Better Keywords
Using Operators Effectively
Evaluating Credibility
Maximizing Resources
Ethical Use
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Questions? Comments?
What practical strategy or information
did you learn today that you will share
with others?
Please leave your
index card
21st Century Information Fluency Project
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Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Digital Information Fluency
21cif.imsa.edu (information fluency)
Full Circle Resource Kit
Online Courses