To
Google or not to Google?
Different Web research tactics
By
Diane Duffey
Special to Wisconsin Law Journal
Oct.
5, 2005
 |
Diane
Duffey |
It
is very common to hear people make plans to address their information needs by
“Googling,” that is, using the popular Google search engine — or
really any general search engine — to try to gather data from the World Wide
Web.
Is
doing a search of the Internet necessarily the best way to get worthwhile information?
Is it the most efficient? This article will discuss whether Googling is always
the appropriate choice for Internet research and propose alternative sources.
Using
a search engine, be it Google, Alta Vista, Teoma or any other given engine, has
proven to be an amazingly fast way to plumb the depths of the World Wide Web for
information. However, there are two key downsides to using general Internet search
engines. One is the problem of efficiency. In spite of the speed at which search
engines operate, they still usually generate an enormous collection of results
which the researcher must wade through to determine relevance.
Another
issue is that of authority. There was a famous cartoon by Peter Steiner that appeared
in The New Yorker back in 1993, which features two dogs sitting at a computer.
One dog says to the other, “On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog.”
This is a humorous illustration of the problem of authority on the Internet: one
does not always know the source of the information one is retrieving. If the source
is identified, its reliability may be dubious.
In
terms of information sources, there are a vast number of “dogs” out
on the Internet; it is a great vanity press, meaning that anyone who has an account
with an Internet service provider (ISP) which allows them to publish to the Web
(and almost all ISPs do this) can put any and all types of information, misinformation
or non-information out there. Googling is generally the best way to retrieve questionable
material, because general search engines are designed to troll the entire World
Wide Web with little or no discrimination.
What,
then, are good sources for finding authoritative information efficiently? What
guidelines can one keep in mind?
Back
in the 1960s, the slogan, “Question Authority” was a popular inducement
for people to question the authority of the government. Conversely, with Internet
research, government sources often serve as prime authorities for various studies
and reports, and are naturally a good place to consult for primary legal material.
Firstgov.gov
(www.firstgov.gov) and Searchgov.com (www.searchgov.com)
are specialized search engines which retrieve results solely from government Web
sites.
Other
search engines exist which address specific topics; Scirus (www.scirus.com),
for example, is restricted to scientific information only, and its search capabilities
can be tailored to retrieve journal abstracts and articles.
Other
unique search engines concentrate on news or journal articles online, which are
worthy sources since they should have an editor or even an editorial board —
pers and journals already existing in print. The following sites may be used to
access articles: Google News (http://news.
google.com), Badgerlink (www.badgerlink.org),
Findarticles.com (www.findarticles.com)
and Google Scholar (http://scholar. google.com).
There
are a number of other Internet reference tools which have an existing counterpart
in print, produced by an authoritative publisher. Consulting this type of source
online unites authority and efficiency at once; the task is reduced to a simple
lookup of a term in a web based source such as the Merriam-Webster Dictionary
(www.m-w.com), or the Columbia Encyclopedia (featured
at www.bartleby.com).
Reliable
portal-type sites should lead to reliable sites for lookups. Some examples of
good portals are:
These
sites are compiled by professional librarians. Librarians are well trained in
discerning authority and ease of information access to the end user.
Googling,
or Alta Vista-ing, or Teoma-ing, or what have you, is still an incredibly useful
way to gather information, especially cursory information when little or nothing
is known about a subject. In this way, general search engine results can serve
as springboards to other sources of information which may prove more dependable.
They
also are helpful for the “needle-in-a-haystack” search, as the subject
matter at hand becomes especially focused and rare, e.g., “dogs” versus
“the Swedish Vallhund.”
The
World Wide Web provides us with a quick way to access information, and is an attractive,
low-budget alternative to fee-based resources like Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis. However,
Internet researchers are advised to overcome the impulse to Google everything,
and choose their Web-based research tools carefully.
General
search engines may not always be the vehicle of choice.
Selected
Sources for Searching for People, Places, Things
- People
People
are a popular target of Googling. Naturally, the more widely known an individual
is, the more information can and will be retrieved on the Web about him or her,
and vice versa. However, if one wanted information on a senator and put the senator's
name into a general search engine, it is likely that some very subjective hits
may be retrieved, considering politics is extremely charged with opinion.
Therefore,
to research famous or known people, it may be much more practical to avoid general
search engines in favor of sites such as Biography.com (www.biography.com),
which offers encyclopedic entries on historical or famous people. For political
figures in particular, a government site such as www.senate.gov
will provide contact and biographical information for senators in additional to
issue positions. Another political resource is www.votesmart.org,
a purportedly nonpartisan, independent political site.
As for data gathering
on members of the general public, Googling may be required in order to dig up
anything. Public records may also be consulted; Searchsystems.net (www.searchsystems.net),
“the Largest Free Public Records Directory,” is a helpful guide to online
public records nationwide. Peoplespot (www.peoplespot.com)
is a fairly comprehensive portal which provides links to many varieties of people-related
information: statistics, famous and historical people, public records sources,
FBI's Ten Most Wanted, etc.
- Places
Useful
sites for information on geographical places include the CIA World Factbook (www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html),
which provides quick facts about countries, including statistical economic and
demographic information, as well as the basics such as capitals and current government.
The USGS Geographic Names Information System (http://geonames.
usgs.gov) is a handy site for looking up a U.S. city to check its county,
as well as latitude, longitude and elevation information. When the place in question
is a business entity, there are two tools worth consulting. First, Hoovers (www.
hoovers.com) is a source for finding out quickly the principals of a public
company and basic annual sales information. Second, the Business Journal site
(www.bizjournals.com), which offers concise
articles on the status and history of businesses nationwide.
- Things
When
checking factual information, one should look to useful reference sources such
as the Infoplease Almanac (www.infoplease.com),
and Bartleby.com (www.bartleby.com), which
provides access to several well known tools such as Bartlett's Quotations, Roget's
Thesaurus and Gray's Anatomy.
For product research, one may want to seek
information which is independent of the manufacturer. A search of newsgroups,
via Google (http://groups.google.com),
may yield feedback from other individuals who are using a given product. To locate
professional reviews of information technology products, Techrepublic (http://techrepublic.com),
PCWorld (www.pcworld.com) or PCMagazine (www.pcmagazine.com)
are worthwhile. For other products, the Consumer Reports Web site (www.consumerreports.org)
offers a number of articles with sound advice for free on its site, although the
bulk of its product reviews are only available by paid subscription. Recalls of
most products may be sought at www.recalls.gov.
Drugs may be looked up at the National Library of Medicine site (www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/
druginformation.html); the NLM site also makes a medical encyclopedia and
dictionary available. The Food and Drug Administration site (www.fda.gov)
has recall and safety information.
Rumor
has it that there are legal professionals out there who regularly Google the legal
cases they need. As stated earlier, government Web sites may be alternatively
consulted for primary legal information. Findlaw.com (www.findlaw.com)
is a practical legal portal to primary legal sources. Lexisone.com (www.lexisone.com,
which requires free registration) allows registered users to look up case law
from the past five years by search term, party name or even citation.
Diane
Duffey is the law librarian at Habush Habush & Rottier in Milwaukee.
