If not Google, then what?

[Kwesi]

I understand that our society has become one that can obtain information quickly and easily with little effort on the end of those who seek it but it seems that some people look this as a terrible thing. I've seen this point brought up a lot but I can't seem to get a clear picture of the opposing side's view. Exactly what is wrong with googling something that you don't know or would like to know more about? I can easily spend hours looking up a topic of intrest to me doing this and I'd like to think that however random or insignificant the topic, I accomplish what I set out to do, which was to learn something new. Besides, what alternative do we have? Run out to the nearest library for reference books that could possibly be out of date (much more common than you might think)? I can understand disliking this trend of "immediate information" on the grounds that the information isn't always accurate but this can usually be remedied by examining multiple sources (Proper internet search procedure, imo) instead of just taking the word of the first one you see.

So would anyone care to enlighten me a bit?

[MJ5150]

I don't disagree with anything you said. You may get a better discussion about this at a library, or a senior citizens center, with people who are not using the internet.

-Mike

[warwick.hoy]

I too engage in the same casual research of random topics that pop into my head. Often times a conversation on TB or ILF will lead me to dive into a topic I might not have otherwise.

The problems I could possibly conceive are the belief that just because you've read a few articles on wiki you are an expert on the topic. Also consider that there is a lot of disinformation and misinformation floating around out there. Also consider the divide between those that have access to this information and those that don't.

[jmattbassplaya]

Originally Posted by Kwesi

I understand that our society has become one that can obtain information quickly and easily with little effort on the end of those who seek it but it seems that some people look this as a terrible thing. I've seen this point brought up a lot but I can't seem to get a clear picture of the opposing side's view. Exactly what is wrong with googling something that you don't know or would like to know more about? I can easily spend hours looking up a topic of intrest to me doing this and I'd like to think that however random or insignificant the topic, I accomplish what I set out to do, which was to learn something new. Besides, what alternative do we have? Run out to the nearest library for reference books that could possibly be out of date (much more common than you might think)? I can understand disliking this trend of "immediate information" on the grounds that the information isn't always accurate but this can usually be remedied by examining multiple sources (Proper internet search procedure, imo) instead of just taking the word of the first one you see.

So would anyone care to enlighten me a bit?

I think most purists (if I may) believe that books are less likely to contain faulty or misleading information than internet sites and search engines. Wikipedia is almost always one of the first few sites that pop up when you google search anything, and we all know how often it can be hit or miss when it comes to the accuracy of its information. In addition, when someone writes a book you can always figure out who it is, where they got their sources, and why they wrote that particular piece. You can't do the same for many internet sites.

[()smoke()]

Originally Posted by Kwesi

I understand that our society has become one that can obtain information quickly and easily with little effort on the end of those who seek it but it seems that some people look this as a terrible thing. I've seen this point brought up a lot but I can't seem to get a clear picture of the opposing side's view. Exactly what is wrong with googling something that you don't know or would like to know more about? I can easily spend hours looking up a topic of intrest to me doing this and I'd like to think that however random or insignificant the topic, I accomplish what I set out to do, which was to learn something new. Besides, what alternative do we have? Run out to the nearest library for reference books that could possibly be out of date (much more common than you might think)? I can understand disliking this trend of "immediate information" on the grounds that the information isn't always accurate but this can usually be remedied by examining multiple sources (Proper internet search procedure, imo) instead of just taking the word of the first one you see.

So would anyone care to enlighten me a bit?

the only real argument for books over Internet sites IMO, could be the lack of annotated references in many webpages--but this is changing rapidly and really already not much of an issue ime...

mike--remember that there are still large swaths of the rural USA without high speed Internet access, so that also hinders one's ability to 'just google it' (dial up modem connection, tie up phone line, wait for pages to load, all around different experience than many of us jaw the privilege of having with cable or dsl connections)

[DwaynieAD]

If someone mentions something I do not know about and interests me I look it up. People around me tend to hate the fact that I know a little bit about a lot of things. My girlfriend is one of them. Its actually kind of frustrating to me to have access to that much potential knowledge and no outlet for it.

[Pilgrim]

One of our problems in today's world is that people don't know enough about a wide range of things. As far as I'm concerned, they more curiosity they have and the more information they look up, the better.

I wish the students in my online classes would take 30 seconds to check what words mean - or how they're spelled - to check facts - or to look up information they need. I need them to show more curiosity and ask more questions!

[Ziltoid]

I guess I'm young enough to say I don't remember not having quick access to information, even before I knew google I had copernic (Agent basic or something like that, the free one). And before that I only had dial-up.

[superbassman2000]

in my experience, it's very similar to what people used to say when pocket calculators became popular. It's knowledge in your head vs. having to go get it. For instance, my grandpa was a whiz at math...he could multiply/divide/add/subtract fractions, decimal numbers, etc, and I need a calculator...am I worse off? I don't think so, and while he didn't really care about people using calculators, but i know a lot of people that used to look down on calculator users when they could do it all in their head. I think the spell-check crowd is a similar group where it's a "I know how to spell, you need to look it up" kind of thing. In the end, it probably does come down to a credible source issue, where it's considered "better" if you learn it from a teacher in a classroom vs. the internet, which isn't considered the most credible source as a whole.

[jbaird]

Originally Posted by superbassman2000

in my experience, it's very similar to what people used to say when pocket calculators became popular. It's knowledge in your head vs. having to go get it. For instance, my grandpa was a whiz at math...he could multiply/divide/add/subtract fractions, decimal numbers, etc, and I need a calculator...am I worse off? I don't think so, and while he didn't really care about people using calculators, but i know a lot of people that used to look down on calculator users when they could do it all in their head. I think the spell-check crowd is a similar group where it's a "I know how to spell, you need to look it up" kind of thing. In the end, it probably does come down to a credible source issue, where it's considered "better" if you learn it from a teacher in a classroom vs. the internet, which isn't considered the most credible source as a whole.

I always hated this since I'm pretty terrible at basic math but have done higher level university math without too much problem. I'm no math genius by any means but I thought I was terrible at math in the first couple grades since I can't for the life of me do basic math without some (sorta) quick counting in my head or on my fingers while plenty of people could quickly rattle off what 6x8 is. Figuring out higher level math is a whole other skill though, which thankfully I'm better at.

I did have a teacher though who was a scary math genius, I saw him reduce a fraction that was something like 221/1014 to 17/78 after looking at it and going 'ehh..' for about half a second.

Also I think spellcheck has made me a better speller too since I get annoyed every time I type anything that has the squiggly red line of failure under it.

[tplyons]

I feel that with the ability to lookup this info at anytime, we're no longer required to retain needed information and that can be problematic. However, I believe the general, varied knowledge allows us to be more understanding of our world and empathetic with our peers. I probably google a dozen different things a day in the middle of a conversation to make sure the data I am providing is accurate, if I'm not 100% sure.

[tplyons]

Originally Posted by jbaird

Also I think spellcheck has made me a better speller too since I get annoyed every time I type anything that has the squiggly red line of failure under it.

+1

Squiggly red life on failure... I'll have to remember that one!

[Balog]

My objection to the "just google it" phenomena is scientific issues. No matter how much you google some topics there is simply not the depth of information present in the appropriate journals. And with many controversial subjects (the sort one might see in the news and become curious about) there are many, many thousands of news articles, pseudo-science sites, blogs, commercial sites etc for every even remotely valid source. And much as I find the current peer review system dysfunctional, it beats the pants off "Well, I saw a very convincing blog about it..."

[Selta]

Originally Posted by jbaird

...the squiggly red line of failure under it.

Can we get one of these on Mark Failson's user name somehow?

[cassanova]

Originally Posted by superbassman2000

I think the spell-check crowd is a similar group where it's a "I know how to spell, you need to look it up" kind of thing. In the end, it probably does come down to a credible source issue, where it's considered "better" if you learn it from a teacher in a classroom vs. the internet, which isn't considered the most credible source as a whole.

My professors all said something about spell check. Don't rely on it. There are words that it won't pick up because they are spelled correctly but used wrong. For example: two, too, to, there, their, they're, choose/chose, you get the point.

The credibility of the sight is the most important when doing any kind of research. They frown upon most .com type sites because they're business related and have inherent bias. We were allowed to use most sites ending it org, edu, and gov. Though I've found many a site with org/gov to be equally biased. So I limit myself to edu sites when having to do papers.

[Phil Smith]

The unintended consequences of looking stuff up.

How many phone numbers of your closet friends do you know i.e. you could call them without your cell phone, speed dial, etc?

[iamlowsound]

Originally Posted by cassanova

My professors all said something about spell check. Don't rely on it. There are words that it won't pick up because they are spelled correctly but used wrong. For example: two, too, to, there, their, they're, choose/chose, you get the point.

The credibility of the sight is the most important when doing any kind of research. They frown upon most .com type sites because they're business related and have inherent bias. We were allowed to use most sites ending it org, edu, and gov. Though I've found many a site with org/gov to be equally biased. So I limit myself to edu sites when having to do papers.

Spell check is needed in my case, I am a 4.0 student, but I honestly cannot spell to save my life. I know which words are the correct ones to use (see what I did there?), and I can tell you when a word is spelled wrong, but I could not tell you how to spell it correctly.

lowsound

BTW, I just googled it and this thread showed up :/

[()smoke()]

Originally Posted by Phil Smith

The unintended consequences of looking stuff up.

How many phone numbers of your closet friends do you know i.e. you could call them without your cell phone, speed dial, etc?

perfect analogy here...i've often been asked my wife's cell number and have to look for it in my contacts list on my phone