Google for a grade: UW class to study popular search engine

Google -- the popular Internet search engine -- has permeated our lives so much that it has become a cultural icon. It's more than a simple search box that gives Internet users access to 3.3 billion Web pages. This popular search engine has become a household name, coining such phrases as "I googled it" and leading to the publication of "Google for dummies". The University of Washington is now going a step further and offering a class at graduate level.

(Seattle Times, February 2, 2004)

Source: LISNews Feb.11, 2004

The class, taught by UW Information School professor Joe Janes, isn't a simple class on Web searching that one might find at a library or a community college. This is a graduate-level course (albeit only one credit) that explores Google as a cultural phenomenon, Google the business, the technology behind Google -- and "Google the Ravager of Worlds."

But the professor -- an expert in digital reference and the use of Internet technologies in librarianship -- also fears that the quality of research is declining. Instead of going to the library and asking a librarian for help, people rely too much on Google and other Internet search engines that are incomplete, he said.

"It's very easy to go into Google and get an answer, but it's fairly easy to get a bad answer or mythological answer," Janes said. "Google represents an illusion of ease of search. It's easy to use, it's quick and it's free, but it's not the whole picture. Google as a tool is only as good as it's used."

Posted by Tom on February 11, 2004