Power searching videos

Learn from an expert

The ability to search the internet effectively is a skill everyone needs. There are many online courses and sites to help but why not learn from the experts at Google? If you missed the Power Searching courses presented by Dan Russell, he has now posted all the videos used in the lessons online. Each video is only a few minutes long but by viewing them sequentially one can gain a better understanding of how search works and how to become a more effective searcher.
Learning how to search Google effectively eliminates many frustrations for those not finding their desired results.

Dan has listed all the videos here: 
http://searchresearch1.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/video-content-from-powersearchingwithgo.html
Alternatively you can search for PSWG3 which will find the YouTube channel but I do recommend that you watch them in lesson number sequence to get the best result for your efforts.

Here's the first video to get you started.

One of my favourite search techniques is to use the site operator to search within a site. Dan teaches this technique in Lesson 3 1. Happy viewing and learning!

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/08/power-searching-videos.html

Leveraging libraries

Help from 66,000+

One effective way to use the expertise of librarians worldwide is to search through the LibGuides Community site.

This site enables search across the libraries which use the LibGuides platform to publish their online guides. Libraries across many countries have wonderful online resources not always obvious to those outside their region of influence.

A search for genealogy, heritage, family history and genealogy or any other term of interest will reveal a wealth of resources collated by librarians. A family history search reveals some of my favourite resources from the State Library of South Australia along with guides from dozens of other libraries.
Results display:

• a brief summary of the content of the guide 
• tags used
• the latest edited date 

Individual guides usually contain details of the library's online, print and database collections along with any other materials they house. There are often tutorials specific to individual sites or databases. Whilst a library login may be necessary to access some materials, one often sees references to little known resources, access to which may then be sought through a local, state or national library.

Tags are local to individual libraries so they often lead to other resources on that library's website. While there is no advanced search function there is enough variation in results provided by combining and altering the order of search terms.

The profile of individual librarians and their expertise is often displayed on individual guides sometimes with contact details.

Search by locality

To see which libraries in your area publish these online guides use Browse Institutions and use the drop down menu to select your region, state or country.

Happy searching!

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2014/09/leveraging-libraries.html

Search and comment

Tech Help - Search a site

Most sites and blogs have a search bar embedded which will search for content only on that site. The search bar is usually near the top of the page but on some blogs it will be found in the side bar. Some searches will highlight the search word on each page, some will just give you a list of pages where your search term can be found. Examples are provided in the slideshow at the end of this post.

Once you have located the page use Find on page, CTRL-F (Windows) or CMD-F (Mac) to pinpoint the exact information you seek. This individual page search box will list how many occurrences of your search term appear on that page and you can use the down arrow next to the search term to find the next occurrence.  In the example below, the word 'user' was located 8 times on the page searched.

Comment on a post

Most bloggers appreciate comments as it lets them know that readers are reacting to their work. There are a variety of comment forms but one usually needs to provide a name and email address or login with Google or one of many other services. This ensures that your comment is not a machine generated comment and is not spam. The writer of the blog can see your email address but it is not published on the site.

In many cases one also needs to fill in a Captcha code which is simply used to ensure that you are human. If the captcha is difficult to read, generate a new code with the refresh button provided or click the speaker icon to have it read to you.

Search and comment

This post first appeared http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/search-and-comment.html

Tech Help 3

This is part 3 of an on-going series of sessions designed to help those who seek assistance in the Noosaville Library.

Google search

Here's a reminder of some simple tips. There is extensive help available from Google on the Inside Search site.

1. "exact phrase" enclose your words to refine your search
2. Use the - minus sign to exclude an unwanted term
3. Use the Search Tools drop down to refine by date, time and more, investigate all the options
4. time place | London time
5. weather town | Noosa weather
6. author books | Alex Miller books
7. flight number | QF6
8. set timer | set timer 3 minutes
9. define word | define verisimilitude Notice the icon for speaker, gives pronunciation
10. aud to euro | gives you today's conversion value

View the slideshow below to see examples and for a short (3.41) video An introduction to blogging.

Searching everywhere

Tip of the day - 7

Add-ons for quick searching

Google is a useful search engine but there are times when an alternate search tool would serve you better.
Add a range of other Search Providers in IE and now you are one click away from searching the tool you need without having to go to that site first.

1. IE 8 - Select the down arrow on the far right side of the top tool bar. (IE9 Select the gear icon and choose Tools)
2. Choose Find More Providers Add your choices and select whether you want to have search suggestions turned on or off. 
3. Choose Manage Search Providers to put them in your preferred display order.

Now when you click in the search bar, select the tool of your choice before entering your search term.

Inspiration for this post came from Chris Betcher, who tweeted a link to his excellent Searching Everywhere tutorial for Chrome. Thanks again Chris.

Wily Widgets

Breaking through the wall with widgets

In many schools IT departments control the software available and the tools that users may add to browsers. An excellent way to point to students to resources that can often otherwise be added as toolbar extras, is to provide them with a range of widgets. Widgets expose both students and staff to tools they may not regularly use, or indeed they be unaware of their existence.

Two categories of widgets that I find particularly useful are Search and Dictionary widgets. Many of these come in a variety of colours, shapes and sizes. Once you have selected the look you want, simply copy the code and paste into your website.

Database widgets are prolific and depending on which ones your school subscribes to, can also be easily adapted for your needs.

Search

The newest widget in the pack is an Instagrok widget.

Many of these other favourite search tools are also embedded liberally throughout our LibGuides site.

Sweet Search is one of the most useful widgets directing users to sites that are all suitable for students. The widgets are available in a variety of sizes along with the Sweet Search4Me widget suitable for early learners.



The text and colours on the Duck Duck Go search box can be edited to suit your preferences.

DuckDuckGo is a search engine that protects privacy and has a wide range of features.

Google Books and Google Scholar search boxes focus attention on specific search functions. By the Terms of Service, the HTML code cannot be altered in these search boxes, but if you use LibGuides you are able to set a default search term in the boxes so that students see the most appropriate search term for the context. An example of such a default search can be seen on our Pyschology guide.

Of course no reference to search boxes would be complete without Wolfram Alpha who provide a wonderful range of customised widgets in addition to basic search boxes.



Blekko also has a range of useful tools including this embeddable searchbox.

search

Trove searches Australian content

Dictionaries

Dictionary widgets are very useful for students working in situations where there are no inbuilt define functions.

This widget provides access to Oxford Dictionaries

Free online English dictionary from Oxford

If you have a preference for Cambridge there is a Google widget or a HTML version of this widget.

Merriam-Webster have a variety of 13 different search boxes for their dictionaries and thesauri such as the Learner's Dictionary below, suitable for younger students.

These are just a few of the many widgets available that can assist your users. Do you have favourite search and dictionary widgets that I have missed?

Collaborative searching - Learning with jigsaw

photo © 2008 Liza | more info (via: Wylio)

The issue
A common problem with student assignments is the lack of acknowledgement of image sources used within their documents. I wanted to engage the students "who know all about search" at age 13. This was a successful lesson that begins to address those problems.


Objectives

• Familiarisation with Creative Commons, and recognition of the need for attribution
• Introduce a range of search tools for finding CC images
• Foster collaborative learning

How do you engage 13 year old boys who know all about search? I decided to use a jigsaw activity to expose students to a range of search tools not previously encountered.
After viewing and discussing the video about Creative Commons, students numbered off from 1 to 4 around the room. Each student then had the task of  investigating  one of the following search tools according to the number they had been given. They were tasked with the expectation that they would be able to teach someone else about that tool, along with the advantages and disadvantages of using it.

1. Compfight
2. Flickr CC Advanced
3. Wikimedia Commons
4. Morguefile

After about 5 minutes of individual endeavour, each number 1(2,3,4) gathered with his group to share the information they had found. This way any student who missed basic points, learnt from the others and expertise was developed.
The number 1s then paired with a 2, and the 3s with a 4. Each had to teach the other student about the search tool they had used. Then the 1s met with 3s and 2s with 4s, where they now had to explain both the tools they had seen.
This enabled me to help those students less confident and provide some guiding questions to those who needed further assistance; individual attention for those most needing it. Students were well engaged and willingly shared their learning. Movement around the classroom also helps boys' concentration in a 50 min period.
Have you used this jigsaw method? I'll certainly be using it again.
The Jigsaw classroom