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CATEGORY: Web Searching |
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Every now and then, Mary Ann is seized by an idea or topic that really takes hold of her, piques her interest, and engenders new enthusiasm for learning and exploring. This year's big idea has been data visualization. She has discovered that she had been a fan of various presentations of data visualization without being aware of the term. Read and "see" what she's got to say about it in this month's Belltones.
In this age of easy access to Google, standardized testing, and AP curriculums, why should we teach research skills? Don't students "know everything" about research and the web? Hardly! Carolyn Foote has a lot to say about this, and even more about why teaching research skills counts for even more today than in the past. What we're striving for, she says, is student empowerment.
In the September/October 2009 issue of MMIS, having noted (with some surprise) that most of today’s crop of elementary school students were born in or after 2000, Stephen Abram launched into the first of a 2-part series of musings on what their world will be like in the near and not-so-near term. Check it out if you missed it. And now … here’s Part 2.
There's been a lot happening with Wolfram|Alpha since we linked you to an Information Today, Inc. NewsBreak on its arrival last May. Most recently, we noted—and are herewith passing on to you—an excellent posting at ResourceShelf on moves at Wolfram|Alpha on behalf of educators and students, including plans for an October 21 Homework Day Webcast.
News/Cool Links - Posted 12 Oct 2009
There is no better way to enhance your knowledge of a topic than to teach it and engage in discussion with a diverse group of graduate students representing various age groups and professional experiences including practicing media specialists, classroom teachers, and paraprofessionals. This column reflects Mary Alice's recent experience teaching an online reference course for Minnesota State University–Mankato and discussions with other media professionals.
It is not unlikely that the corpus of information that today's learners in grade four will encounter as adults will be doubling in minutes. That likelihood should provide pause for every educator. What is their world going to look like, and what are the skills, aptitudes, and competencies we need to be facilitating, teaching, and encouraging? Here, in Part 1 of a two-part series, are some thoughts on where things are and where they’re headed.
As a kid, Mary Ann used to collect insects, setting the critters into their respective boxes and tagging them by laboriously printing information on little slips of paper. Apparently the process of classifying appealed to her deeply, and ultimately lead to … what else? … this month's discussion of tags, folksonomies, and tagging as a participatory sport and useful intellectual activity.
From a scan of ResourceShelf listing in early August, we pick up on The K-12 Web Archiving Program, from the Library of Congress.
News/Cool Links - Posted 10 Aug 2009
The postings on the Inside Google Book Search blog, usually by folks from the Google Books Online team, are thoughtful, sometimes provocative, often featuring multiple media, and, of course, full of news about new features brought online at Google Books. They're very busy folks, so it's worth keeping up with them.
News/Cool Links - Posted 18 Jun 2009
It's the hot new ... what shall we call it? Search engine. No. Information tool? Maybe. How about "finding tool?" It's Wolfram Alpha. And as it's being written about by those in the information and search business, phrases like Web 3.0 and semantic search are coming into play. Woody Evans has written about it for Information Today. (From Information Today, Inc.’s NewsBreaks.)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 22 May 2009
Google has just implemented some great Search Options on its site ... and blogged about it at the Official Google Blog. Read the posting (and watch the demo video) to see what's what ... and cool.
News/Cool Links - Posted 13 May 2009
For February 1, 2009: Through Government Information Online (GIO) you can ask questons of government information librarians who are experts at finding information from government agencies of all levels on almost any subject.
Cyberbee Web Pick/Cyberbee's Web Picks - Posted 01 Feb 2009
By
Linda C. Joseph
“My Portfolio” allows educators to collaborate and share digital resources at school and district levels.
News/Breaking News - Posted 23 Jan 2009
Searcher magazine editor Barbara Quint has done some research on the Reference Extract project involving OCLC and the information schools of Syracuse University and the University of Washington, which she reports in an ITI NewsBreaks story. It’s a much deeper and more thorough look than you may have seen yet, so we recommend the read.
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 01 Dec 2008
Here’s a link to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education—Wired Campus section that reports on a cool project for and by librarians and involving OCLC and the information schools of Syracuse University and the University of Washington.
News/Cool Links - Posted 13 Nov 2008
Greg Notess, internet columnist for Information Today, Inc.’s ONLINE magazine, is on top of the launch—beta launch, that is—of Google’s Chrome. What, why, what’s it like … ? Here's how to get to his report. (From Information Today, Inc.'s NewsBreaks)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 11 Sep 2008
Mary Ann Bell is mad about the internet filtering going on today in so many schools. She believes it is past time to stop letting paranoia, combined with laziness, block teachers, counselors, administrators, and students from the internet resources they deserve to access at school. So … herewith she’s starting to speak out!
The ResourceShelf folks recently briefly noted the relaunch of the AskKids search engine and interface, something we’ve been anticipating for quite a while now.
News/Cool Links - Posted 29 Aug 2008
Wikia, Inc., the for-profit cousin of the Wikimedia Foundation, launched the alpha release of its new search engine, Search Wikia, on January 7. (From Information Today, Inc.’s NewsBreaks)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 14 Jan 2008
As you can tell, this article in Slate online has little good to say about Yahoo's answer service. It's a good read!
News/Cool Links - Posted 07 Jan 2008
Read how AskEraser works, what exceptions obtain, why it's important, and, in general, what's the current state of web search privacy in Greg Notess's January 3, 2008 NewsBreak. (From Information Today, Inc.'s NewsBreaks.)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 03 Jan 2008
These days, students are inundated by information in all formats and from all corners of the world, and they are apt to believe what they see, hear, or read without carefully evaluating it. At her school, Debra Gniewek and her colleagues frequently review website evaluation strategies with students and even have some “quick and dirty” methods to help them develop information evaluation skills. Still, they find the students are sometimes too trusting of the information they find on the World Wide Web. To address the problem, they created a unit in which the students study urban legends, which has proven useful in helping them look at information with a more critical eye. The students are genuinely drawn to this modern folklore, one that illustrates the most profound fears of society.
RSS allows you to keep up with just about anything that you want to on the web. If you want to stay focused on the latest blog posts on the effect of global warming, RSS can help. If you just want to be updated whenever The New York Times publishes its latest book review, RSS can help. And, if you want to know when the next Dave Barry column appears, RSS can help. The greatest part of RSS is that it can do all of this in one place, without your needing to parade all over the web looking for the new content. RSS is a continuously updated customized online newspaper, and it can not only help you in locating new information (in fact, the content comes to you, not vice versa), but it can help you do it in a quarter of the time.
When enabled by the user, AskEraser deletes all future search queries and associated cookie information from Ask.com servers, including IP address, User ID, Session ID, and the complete text of their queries.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Dec 2007
It is essential, says Stephen Abram, that we teach information literacy skills to our learners—and today, the younger the better. We are already getting good at teaching how to select great sources, directories, and indexes; full-text searching skills; advanced and introductory modes; and the evaluation of quality. We’re getting better at warning our learners about the bad guys—the four horsemen of gambling, sex, stalkers, and racists—plus other bad guys in black hats. What do we need to focus on next? Stephen's column this month concerns some of the stuff he says we need to teach but are less comfortable with, mostly because it doesn’t involve information so much as manipulation--advertising literacy and media literacy in the Web environment.
The new netTrekker channel provides educators and students with three pathways to find resources that support the core elements of 21st century skills.
News/Breaking News - Posted 27 Jun 2007
The folks at ResourceShelf recently posted a very interesting current and historical analysis article on federated searching.
News/Cool Links - Posted 18 May 2007
Collaborations add new educational multimedia resources, plus new ways for users
to access netTrekker d.i.
News/Breaking News - Posted 26 Jan 2007
The free AOL@SCHOOL Desktop Sidebar is designed to help students find the best K-12 educational content on the Internet while they do their homework without having to search, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 Jan 2007
A team of Canadian educators who are specialists in their content areas worked with Thinkronize to identify and evaluate high quality resources that specifically support Canadian teachers and students.
News/Breaking News - Posted 14 Nov 2006
Author, librarian, and database expert Mick O’Leary turns his discerning and skeptical eye to Google Book Search in this Information Today article. From Information Today, Inc.'s Information Today monthly.
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 06 Nov 2006
That’s a long, dry article title, but the article on ResourceShelf is not long, just good and useful … and the concept it covers is cool.
News/Cool Links - Posted 30 Oct 2006
Gary Price and his ResourceShelf team are so concise and so “on target” with this particular ResourceShelf item on finding real-time news photos that we just have to point you to it.
News/Cool Links - Posted 20 Oct 2006
On October 11, Google very quietly launched Google for Educators, a site that pulls together access to and, in a sense, annotates a whole bunch of Google features, tools, and resources in a way that will make them easier for educators to find, understand, and use for teaching purposes. Read all about it!
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Oct 2006
In the book, leading trainer and search guru Greg R. Notess augments his personal advice with examples, approaches, and techniques from a “who’s who” of the search training world.
News/Breaking News - Posted 18 Sep 2006
It's been almost 2 years since Google dramatically expanded its book digitization program--originally known as Google Print but now called Google Book Search--from only having publisher partners to including five major research libraries. Now, another major research institution has joined the Google book Search library program. Barbara Quint has the story. (From Information Today, Inc.’s NewsBreaks)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 14 Aug 2006
The newest version of FSCreations’ ExamView integrates netTrekker resources for immediate reinforcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 06 Jul 2006
netTrekker d.i’s new Read Aloud feature is designed to support special needs learners.
News/Breaking News - Posted 05 Jul 2006
The scholarly Web is getting noticed more because of new digitization initiatives underway and the enormous publicity search leaders are receiving for their fledgling work. Many librarians and researchers seem to be pleasantly surprised by the continually changing face of the scholarly Web and its freely available quality full-text offerings. This article brings together pertinent resources on the free Web of interest to anyone, including librarians and other educators, who conducts research and would like to easily supplement their currently available holdings, in print and electronic formats and via commercial vendors’ fee-based subscription databases, within their own libraries.
Another article on filtering? Well, Mary Ann Bell writes, "Truth is, I did not go looking for this topic. It reached out and grabbed me while I was looking for information about something else. While researching general computer use in schools and libraries, I noticed the topic of filtering to be a continuing issue." There are lots of stories and further "troubling trends" she writes about in this round of Belltones.
Gary Price has posted a noteworthy article on ResourceShelf covering changes at Ask Jeeves … and in his own professional life.
News/Cool Links - Posted 27 Feb 2006
Thinkronize’s netTrekker d.i. search engine will now feature links to Promethean lesson plans and resources for educators to use with their ACTIVclassroom solutions including the ACTIVboard, Promethean’s interactive whiteboard.
News/Breaking News - Posted 10 Feb 2006
In her newly published book Super Searchers Go to School, Joyce Kasman Valenza interviews a dozen prominent K–12 educators and educator-librarians who share their strategies for helping students become effective, lifelong information users. In this excerpt, Joyce elicits wisdom that points the way toward a successful future for K–12 libraries from Ken Haycock, whose impressive professional experience includes being a school librarian; principal; school board president; president of the American Association of School Librarians; and, currently, director of the school of library and information science at San Jose State University.
Pinpoint helps students access and use the best district resources for learning by gathering, evaluating, ranking, and reporting the most relevant results (as defined by the district) from multiple sources simultaneously, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 07 Dec 2005
Barbara Quint, editor of Searcher magazine and well-known observer of and commentator on the information industry, has written about LC’s project in an ITI NewsBreak published this week. (From Information Today, Inc.’s NewsBreaks)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 28 Nov 2005
Barbara Quint, editor of Searcher magazine and well-known observer of and commentator on the information industry, has written about Microsoft’s MSN Book Search and placed it in the larger context in an ITI NewsBreak published this week. (From Information Today, Inc.’s NewsBreaks)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 31 Oct 2005
The Mobilepresenter BT is a lightweight cordless tablet—and mouse replacement—that provides remote control of a connected computer system using Bluetooth technology.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Sep 2005
ResourceShelf’s Gary Price notes that “… the Ask Jeeves of 2005 is not the same poor … service that was around in 1998 or 1999” and discusses new additions to their Smart Answers program.
News/Cool Links - Posted 25 Aug 2005
In the latest in the Super Searchers book series, leading librarians and educators share their strategies for helping K-12 students become effective, life-long information users.
News/Breaking News - Posted 24 Aug 2005
These days, students are creating reports, portfolios, presentations, or other works that need to incorporate—legally, but without enormous hassles—multiple media “objects” such as music, voice, video, images, and more. Laura Gordon-Murnane’s Searcher article explains how “librarians now have a useful tool they can use to help identify content that patrons might want to use in a podcast, a mash-up, a collage, a video contribution to a blog, a document, a presentation, or whatever.” (From Information Today, Inc.’s Searcher magazine)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 25 Jul 2005
The new Internet search tool allows educators to more easily differentiate their instruction for each student, matching educator-selected, standards-based online resources to individual students’ learning needs, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Jun 2005
Since Google wants to “organize the world’s information,” the company is working toward making book content searchable and available from its new Google Print Web site. Learn about it, then try it out in beta.
News/Cool Links - Posted 01 Jun 2005
ONLINE magazine columnist Greg Notess has taken a sophisticated and up-to-date look at new, free full-text search choices offered by your favorite search and book sites … search choices that enable you to get inside e-books, and not just those in the public domain.
(From Information Today, Inc.’s ONLINE magazine.)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 04 May 2005
Do you know Danny Sullivan's SearchEngineWatch? Follow the link to this article and check out the site.
News/Cool Links - Posted 19 Apr 2005
Challenged to identify common information needs across the community and to gather and deliver the resources for them, librarians at Cherry Hill Public Library created a “Digital Community Center.” Sirsi’s Rooms content manager serves to organize and house the resources, and to open them up everyone.
Pinpoint is a Web-based research utility tool for K-12 schools and libraries. The product allows users to simultaneously research school library resources, subscriptions, and Internet sites and harvest age-appropriate annotated resource lists.
There is a method to locate and textually or graphically display links to sites that amplify the content of a useful Web site. The method can also be employed to assist in verifying the credibility of a Web resource and as a very effective search technique.
As the Web continues to develop and faster Internet access becomes available to more individuals, the likelihood of Web-based programs replacing CD-ROMs is becoming more and more real. The advantages provided by subscription Web-based services will lead them to be used for direct instructional purposes in the classroom.
The Internet has added whole new dimensions to databases—not only to the type and breadth of information available—but to the complexity and problems involved in getting the information.
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