Searching for Information That isn't Garbage...

As of late, my primary search method has been creative googling. I admit that it can get pretty hard to sort through some of the bogus information from the good, but I feel that I've become quite adept at finding exactly what I'm looking for.

A lot of times, all it takes is a search for the exact question I'm asking such as, "how can I rewire my garage door opener to get around the safety sensor?". This search lead me to the realization that I shouldn't, under any circumstances, do this. I'm now searching for a new sensor pack, another task google with which google has helped me.

Since my school doesn't have access to a lot of online databases, I usually default to google in all my searches on the academic level as well. When I taught high school, I found Lexis Nexis and the Expanded Academic Index to be invaluable in the information they could bring me. I directed my students to both of these databases as they researched literary criticism and theory for their final papers. We had a lot of success with this searching for multiple terms such as "1984, World War II, Facism, and Individualism". I guess if you know what you are looking to find, just a few key terms is enough. Sometimes, we would start with something simpler like a book title. Reading our findings from this search would boost our thoughts to include other topics, thereby, narrowing our search to something resembling the above list of search terms.

In the event that we had to, and do now, have to default to google, we end up spending a lot of time evaluating the credibility of the source. If a name is available, we search just the name to find out some information about them. We do the same for organizations, colleges and universities, and sometimes screen names. This usually gives us enough information to know whether or not we can believe what the article is saying.

Another thing we look at is the date updated and the domain name of the webmaster's email address. This can often point us to new information like an organization being funded by an oil company, for example.

We often times run into an argument that never ends because everybody has a bias. What we end up doing is agreeing or disagreeing that a particular source is about the best we are going to find, but still pick apart the biases we find so that we can come up with some idea of the truth of the matter at hand.

I'm debating subscribing to RSS feeds from NBC, CNN, Fox, and BBC for my news to compare the different slants on stories. I got this idea during the RNC when, after a lovely prime time medical drama, Fox news reported that protesters exploded pipe bombs in Saint Paul. Upon checking Kare11.com, I saw a video that clearly showed the same explosions to be flash grenades from police. Interesting, don't you think? The experience showed me that many sources are important to getting a balanced look at events as they occur. Everybody has an agenda.