Today, it is easier than ever to find yourself "surfing" on the web. You end up maneuvering and sifting through endless information, trying to narrow down your search, finally realizing after several minutes that you are now reading and looking at information that has little direct relevance to your initial search. I think we have all had the same type of experience, if not daily, when attempting research papers. We type in a word or phrase in Google and about a thousand or more results appear. Even though we seem to have access to a cyber world with endless possibilities at our fingertips, we routinely find ourselves using search engines only to be led to several articles with more weblinks and suggestions. I am not stating that search engines are not helpful because I personally rely on them daily but I constantly find myself reading through articles that popped up as a result for my search only to find that it contained one of the words I had typed. I do take responsibility for not being as precise as I could be but more often than I would like to admit I feel overwhelmed by searches and "results" on the web.
I hope I demonstrated my frustration with my exaggerated examples of weblinks throughout this post. I love the Internet and I think I take it for granted but sometimes I just feel there is TMI (Too Much Information) for me to sort through.
The overload of information available has definitely trained me to be extra concise (brownie points...) with my searches. Adding in an extra word or phrase can deliver a whole different type of search results - it can be so frustrating!
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you. It drives me crazy when i just want a quick bit of information on a topic and i find myself sifting through different websites trying to determine which one has the best information or which one is up to date! There is way Too much information on the web.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely! I too find myself constantly using search engines; yet, I'm hardly ever satisfied with the results I find. Usually I try to work with what I find, but it's definitely not the best way to use the internet and not always the fastest!
ReplyDeleteI glad you wrote about your frustrations with search engines because I feel like they are a catch 22! I love them, but hate them. I am constantly relying on them though, because they take me to where I need to be (in the general area) fast. The problem is that you do whined up reading and searching through articles endlessly! This is what it really too much. At this point though with the web just getting bigger and bigger, I can't see things getting any better! Maybe more organized? Let's hope!
ReplyDeleteChelsey,
ReplyDeleteI completly agree with you. I wrote the same thing on my post. I hate when I have to research and write a paper on a topic and I spend most of my time on the research because it takes me to different links. I do think they can be helpful because I use google everyday. I believe that the more we use the internet, the more information will be coming good and bad. Its time for us to embrace it and deal with "surfing the internet"
I definitely understand your frustration with search engines. I get most frustrated with search engines when looking for legitimate sources. Not only do you spend countless hours scrolling through websites, but most of the top results end up being sites you cant reference like Wikipedia. Google scholarly gives great sources, but the results are much fewer, not to mention the fact many journals want you to subscribe in order to read the article in its entirety. As the internet expands, the debate between TMI and whether it's a good thing will only get more challenging.
ReplyDeleteI've had my share of frustrating web searches. Jordan brings up a good point here about alternative search engines (like Google Scholar): sometimes they can be just as bothersome for "teasing" you with information that has to be paid for. There have been so many times when I've been trying to find some sources for an essay and I get results that sound great but then I have to fork over cash to be able to use them, or I get a message about "your institution does not have access" to certain sources..
ReplyDeleteI share the same experience. I also am greatful for search engines and its capabilities. However, I often times wish that when doing a search, there wasn't so much "fluff" or unrelated information coming back. It can be taxing trying to sort through all of the unrelated results in search of what you really need.
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