Why Google?

We talked about the search engines in the first lecture of DL, especially on why people were googling everyday and how google worked, and just now, Google came back to the classroom again.

"Why Google" here means why we are searching online, either by google, yahoo or Daidu. Most people will answer:"For information" And when do we need to search? People will go:"when we need some information that we don't have on hand". That may sound funny but it's really the fact. I am not going to talk about which searching engine is better, as the engines will serve different people. As long as your searching purposes are fulfilled, it will be a good searching tool. It's true that there is always fake stories and unauthorised information online, however, the benefits of searching are deniable. What if someone is alone at home and he/she needs to know what movies are on show, or a student of International Relations wants to get some latest news on the Middle East, GOOGLE, which may not be the only and the best way, but a direct and fast way to solve problems.

If google is recognized as a good means for information and learning, some will argue that search engines are making today's students number. My point of view again on this kind of issue is that who should be blamed, the technology or the people who are using it. We reckon searching is a skill because not everybody can do it or do it well, which means the searching skills and tragedies should be emphasized, as some people haven't mastered the real nature of googling. It is not simply to key in some random words, click the first several web pages and copy down whatever there is on the web page. We have seen how to fully understand Digital Literacy(4 steps)in David Bawden's work and discussed the skills and tragedies of using digital information. It is clear that some google searchers haven't acquired essential skills, let alone tragedies. That is to say, it's not the searching tools that make students number but students themselves will not make efforts to make full use of the engines wisely.