Tutorial 3: Search Engines

When I was deciding what to cover in my tutorial blog, the first topic that came to mind was search engines. We use these valuable tools almost everyday of our lives and we've even included a search engine name in our English dictionary. It comes as a surprise to me however that many people still don't know how to efficiently search the web. Also, there seems to be a standard when it comes to search engines and people will refuse to do anything but Google their search. This is why I want to share some tips on how to efficiently search the web, and maybe even offer different possibilities when it comes to your next search.

To start, I wanted to see the difference between 2 of the titans of the search engine market. First the Market Leader Google, then the new guy, Bing. Bing seems to be in competition with Google and boasts about how they are a "decision engine" and can offer more specific returns. So just to get a feel between the two, I typed in a search that had enough vague words in it to bring back some kind of discrepancy. The following are the results returned when I typed in: "greatest achievements of the past 100 years:" 

I note just a couple of differences between the 2 search engines, but they could be important ones when you try to do research for your next project. First of all, it seems like Google returned better results for what I was trying to accomplish. For example, if I was doing a project which required me to present on one of the greatest achievements of this century, it would appear that Google's results were more focused on inventions and scientific achievements which would probably be more helpful. It is interesting to note however that Bing returns videos and Google doesn't. Sometimes a video can be more helpful and can even be more credible based on the source.

Now that we've looked at some small differences between different search engines, I thought it would be useful to look at one search engine and see how you can more efficiently return results that will better suit your needs. For this I will be looking only through Google. I will be focusing on the 3 most helpful (and sometimes lesser known) tips for searching.

1) Use "quotation marks" - I know it seems simple enough but many of my friends still don't use this trick. If you put quotation marks around a phrase, then Google will only return results with that exact phrase included. For example, If I searched...best anti-aging regimen... it returns any result with any of these words. The problem with that is that it gives back sites on anti-aging creams when I want regimens. When I type in..."best anti-aging regimen" I get much more specific results and fewer that I have to go through (951,000 vs. about 3,000,000)

2) Use (-) - Using the subtraction key is actually a very cool useful tip that not a lot of people know about. Basically what it allows you to do is narrow your results. For example if I typed in...cars -sale....it would return all results that had to do with cars that excluded the sites that had to do with sales. It will eliminate the word directly to the right of the (-)

3) The last tip I can give is just one I have come to realize over the years. It really has to do more with logical sense. When you are using a search engine, try to understand that these are computers and bots returning your results, so try to think like a bot. Try to think about what will make the most sense to a computer if you typed something in. Essentially you are trying to think of what end result you are trying to achieve. For example, instead of typing in "what are the best songs to play at a bar to get the crowd involved" you might want to type something like "best bar sing a longs." You are basically achieving the same result but with much less words. You are trying to find songs that can get the bar involved and singing and having a great time. The second way will get you that result.

Acknowledgments: The two images are screen captures from the computer of Leandro Gutierrez 2011

Database Project

       I learned a lot when completing the Database project, and that is because I had never used Microsoft Access before. First of all, the learning began even before I started the project. Downloading Access was a lesson in its own. I didn't use the detailed instructions in the "How Do I" section because I feel like I know a little bit more about computers than I did at the beginning of the year and I wanted to test my knowledge. Seeing as how I was able to download the program I would say I was pretty successful. I also learned a thing or two about patience ( : But like I've said before, it's one thing to watch a lecture and think you know how to do something, and it is a totally different ball game when you actually go out and try to do it yourself. I feel like a have a pretty good basic understanding of Microsoft Access at this point. Maybe even enough to be able to write "basic knowledge in Microsoft Access" on my resume. Creating new tables and importing data was new to me at first, but by the end of this project, I had a much better understanding and I am much more comfortable with the program.
       I can think of just a couple ways that we could possibly enhance the database we have been working on. Firstly, it is possible that different groupings could be more helpful. For example, in our database we grouped by cities, however the instructions made it seem like there was more significance involved in whether or not the member was an individual or with a family. Also, there were only 2 cities, Gainesville and Alachua so grouping by those 2 cities alone didn't really seem helpful. Another way we could maybe make the database more helpful is if we exported the data onto some type of document. Putting it all together could make the information seem more organized, and might cause a few less headaches. Having a slightly better understanding of how the database would be used could be helpful as well.