Revisiting "as is" Keywords

Having revisited the fundamentals for turning a question into a query in the last post, the next question naturally is: of the concepts I should include in a query, which ones are good "as is?"

"As is" presumes there are some words to start with. This is where most students start: the teacher presents a question to be answered by turning it into a query and doing some online research. The vast majority (nearly all) of students will take the words they are given and enter them into a query. Very few try a different word than the ones given. Effective queries typically involve searching for the "right" keyword; "right" simply means the word used experts.

In the case of the Buffalo challenge (last post), buffalo is OK, but there is a better word: bison.

Words that are usually good "as is" are proper nouns and numbers. When turning a question into a query, it's usually a good idea to think about whether there is a proper noun that can be used in place of one of the concepts. Ineffective words tend to be verbs, adjectives and adverbs: parts of speech for which there are many options (remember the 1 in 5 rule). Pronouns and prepositions, by the way, tend to be "stop words:" ignored by the search engine.

Several Query Checklist items overlap: the number of concepts and how many to use, words that can be used "as is" versus those that are either too general or too specific. Most queries can be improved by using more specific words. Occasionally a keyword is too specific and produces few or irrelevant results. The technical terms, hyponymns and hypernymns, define words along a continuum from very specific to very general. Effective queries replace general terms with more specific ones.

Next time you query, think "is there a more specific word I could use?" If none come to mind, check the snippets.

Next time: words with multiple meanings.

Revisiting Word Order

When does the order of keywords matter?

The ninth item of the query checklist was always last because keyword order mattered the least. This remains largely the case.

Take a query I used today while doing some IMSA program planning: business ethics simulation. There are five other ways to order the terms. But does it make any difference?

Analyzing the top ten results in Google, Bing and Yahoo, here's how many different results were obtained when the order was switched (a total of 60 different results per engine is theoretically possible):

14 - Google
15 - Bing
15- Yahoo

A few other insights are worth mentioning:

Google returned the identical top result no matter the keyword order. The second and third slots were filled consistently by the same two pages with minimal alternation. In all, six returns were common across all possible keyword combinations. Queries that returned the most diverse results were: business ethics simulation, ethics simulation business and ethics business simulation. I'm not sure what to make of this observation, but I thought I'd mention it nonetheless. Any ideas?

Compared to Google, Bing was more varied in its ranking of results. No page was consistently the top result, although five pages appeared in the top ten on all trials. While Bing produced one more unique page than Google, several pages were from the same site. Of greater interest, Bing and Google returned a number of pages not replicated by the other (see below).

Yahoo, like Google, consistently returned the identical top page no matter what the query order. The second return was also identical across all queries, although this page was related to the first, so not entirely a unique return. Again, five of the same results were found with every query. Yahoo did not return Google's top return at all, but both Google and Bing included Yahoo's top result.

All three search engines combined produced a total of 31 unique returns. If I had stopped after entering the first query--business ethics simulation--the three search engines would have yielded 21 different pages. Fifteen additional queries netted only 10 additional, unique pages. Probably not worth the effort.

Pages unique to each search engine:

7 - Google
4 - Bing
9 - Yahoo

What to make of this? The biggest lesson, it seems to me, is that searching different databases is more worthwhile than playing with word order. Without looking past the first page of each, I netted twice as many highly ranked results than if I had only used Google. (Now whether the results are all that relevant is a matter of investigation). By contrast, I netted only 4-5 new pages by sticking with one search engine and varying the keyword order.

Based on the number of unique results, if you're not using Yahoo, you might consider adding it to your list of go-to search engines.

Some differences are obtained by changing the word order, but maybe not enough (in this case) to warrant going through all the permutations. In general, stick with the natural language order of the words. It seems natural to say business ethics simulation. The other forms seem a bit awkward or forced. Since search engines look for words in relationship to one another, and this is the order most people might use when writing about business ethics simulations, it's good enough. I'm sure there are cases you can think of when a particular order works better. If there are, post your reply.

There's one case when order is highly important: when operators are used. The operator modifies the keywords around it, so if placed in the wrong order, the results may be wildly unpredictable. For example: business OR ethics OR simulation (a student favorite when they stumble upon the OR operator).

Next time: revisiting the optimal number of keywords.

Search Challenge in the Toilet?

The title may be too graphic, but here's a search challenge that belongs in the bathroom. I could format this into a flash version of a search challenge, but first I thought I'd see if anyone can solve it or encourage me to develop it further.

It's really not as bad as it sounds.

What's the name of the company that makes a toilet that performs a personal health exam each time it is used?

I think the wording of the challenge could still be improved. Suggestions welcome.

Elusive Toy

Today my sister-in-law emailed a request to help locate the follow item:

Do you know of an item that is an “I Spy” tube? It is about 12-18” long, clear plastic, filled with beads and odd things to spy—like a penny, seashell, etc. I have searched online and on the I spy manufacturer site, with no success. I know it exists b/c I’ve seen one. I want to get one to have at work. Thought you may have seen one???

After about half a dozen queries I found what she was looking for. This made an interesting search challenge. There are quite a few keywords that retrieve things you're not looking for. Finding better keywords in the results helped me pin it down.

Post the urls of items you think match the description.

(It's not a kaleidoscope. If you know what it is before you start to search you should easily beat the time.)

World's Fastest Animal

"What is the top speed of earth's fastest animal?"

Seems simple enough. But just letting students search for an answer shortcuts an opportunity for learning. In my workshops for elementary teachers and librarians, I hand out half sheets of paper on which is written a different word from the challenge. I have the participants stand and ask them, "which of these words do we need for a query?" Prior to this we've looked at the Question to Query checklist.

With adults, the stop words automatically sit down without any question (what, is, the, of).

The individuals holding earth's and top realize they aren't necessary: where else would one look for an animal except earth (earth's is redundant) and top is redundant because fastest is one of the words.

The last one to sit is often speed. Fastest usually makes the point that speed is unnecessary as long as she's there.

That leaves fastest and animal. These two form the optimal query for the challenge. I should point out that one of these is an adjective--not usually a good "as is" word (nouns and numbers are better).

The exercise appeals to language arts teachers because it reinforces understanding parts of speech and the making of meaning--in this case understanding about redundancy. With younger audiences, it's possible to lead them to these discoveries by the use of questioning. In either case, the activity intersects two valuable lessons: one about language and the other about searching.

Over the course of the last month, the answer to the search challenge has become more interesting. Most people discover that the best answer depends on whether the animal flies, runs or swims. (As I wrote in the previous blog, this points out the inadequacy of the question and the knack some students have for assuming incorrectly they know what the question is about--and why many will say the answer is a cheetah.)

If you think the Peregrine Falcon is the speediest animal, you now need to defend your choice. A faster animal shows up in the results. Again, this points out the inadequacy of the search challenge question, but it forces you to decide what makes something the fastest.

Curious? Try the challenge.

Butterfly House Search Challenge

It's time for a new Search Challenge. Before I list this as "Just Added" on the Information Fluency Website, I invite you to try it out and give me some feedback. For example, are there other pages that provide an accurate answer? Did you solve it in way less time than suggested?

The idea for this Challenge, like many of them, came from an exploratory search for something with kid-appeal, and then browsing my way to an interesting page. As with most Search Challenges, this one can be solved by using keywords alone with minimal browsing. However, this particular challenge would also be good by starting with a landing page (the home page of the site) and browsing one's way to a solution.

The essentials of keyword searching, found in the 10 item Query Checklist, are pretty simple: Don't search with more than three words. Each word is important. If one or more of the words has multiple meanings, careful browsing may be required.

While finding more specific words for the query might help this search, I think the real challenge with this one lies in keeping the query uncomplicated (not too specific), scanning the results for relevance and then homing in by browsing.

The Butterfly House Challenge

I'd like your feedback!