Keyword Search Strategy

No one has come forward with the solution to the Search Challenge posted two days ago.

Admittedly, this is not an easy challenge; probably a Level 6 or 7. To make headway requires search strategies and persistence.

Without giving too much away, here's a strategy that will work:

1. Describe what you see. A close look reveals abbreviated terms such as libre, janit, admin, playg, pk, etc. Taken together, these point to a bigger concept. There's a keyword for that (school). There's also a better word for what the image represents (I'll leave that to you).
2. Other keywords may be derived from the image, e.g., shapes. Most of the elements appear to be some type of hexagons. There's a better keyword than that, but you may not be able to think of it immediately.
3. Test queries. Use the words that you have to look for better keywords. Finding better keywords is a key to this challenge.
4. Know where to look. This is also a key to the challenge. What search engine can you use to locate similar pictures?
5. Keep in mind what you are looking for. Don't expect an answer to be obvious. Look for words and images that share features with the picture. 
6. Use the information you find in new searches to get ever closer.
7. Be persistent. The only way to guarantee you won't find it is to give up. Study snippets and images beyond the first page of results.

Fullcircle Summer 2017

Most countries celebrate a special day of national significance. In the United States, that day is the fourth of July. Other countries have their own days citizens celebrate. But could there be a country other than the United States that celebrates American independence on the fourth of July?

What nation other than the U.S. observes America’s Fourth of July?

Unless you know the answer, this can be a perplexing search challenge. Why is that? How do you possibly wade through an ocean of information about American fourth of July looking for information about a different country? The solution is sound search strategy.

Strategic searching is guided by three big questions

1. What am I searching for?
2. What authority would know the answer?
3. How do I use keywords (and operators) to find the information?

Read the whole Feature Article: Summer 2017.  https://21cif.com/fullcircle/summer2017/feature.php

Freshness Challenge: Young Entrepreneurs

In my career at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy I get to work with young entrepreneurs. I also enjoy playing guitar. When I came across a video about Alex Niles, a South Florida Middle School student who won a NFTE regional prize for his custom made guitar business, I was intrigued. His work is pretty impressive and he has solid endorsements. This led to a search for Niles Custom Guitars.

Can you buy one of Alex's guitars today? If so, where or how?

Here's a link to more information about Alex (about two-thirds the way down the page).

Post your answers to this blog.

Search Challenge 002

A very popular search challenge is the Kermit Challenge.

I'd rate this a novice challenge and a good one to introduce elementary level students to search strategy, search engines, keywords, snippets and urls.

When it was first created, we posted a time to beat of 10 minutes. The only thing that would ever take this long is an inability to describe in words what is in the picture. If someone failed to use the character's name, that could slow down the search.

 Today I lowered the time to beat to 5 minutes. It takes less than a minute if you know what you are looking for.

Search Strategy 
Start by asking, "what am I looking for?" The directions call for finding a URL of a matching picture of Kermit, a URL where Kermit can be heard talking. If students don't know what a URL is, this is a good opportunity to point to one. No need to define it, just call it the address where a page on the Internet lives. Show a URL.

Keywords 
Also part of the search strategy is, "what words do I already know that I could use to find the matching picture?" The most important is given in the directions: Kermit. This is a proper noun and as such, has a very specific meaning. We want to use words that have specific meanings--if we can--when looking for information on the Internet. Other words need to come from the picture. "What do you see in the picture?" Describe it. "What is Kermit wearing?" "At what kind of an event would you wear clothes like that?"

Search Engines 
Search engines use Keywords to find matching information. The engine used here is Yahoo. Students should know that there is more than one search engine (Google). You can put any combination of words in a search engine, but it's best to use just a few. The order of the words doesn't really matter. Like most searches today, this one does not require any Boolean operators, but I'd leave that topic for older grades.

Snippets 
Search engines return matches to your keywords on a page as snippets, shortened sections of text that include the URL of the page where matching words were found, maybe the date the page was last updated, some text from the page so you can see how the words are used, a link to the page and some other information that can be topics for older grades (cached, similar). Snippets are REALLY important in finding information that matches the keywords. The search engine just finds the words, you have to determine if the way the words are used makes sense. The top result may not be the best one. Snippets may also (often) contain better words than the ones you started with. Maybe the words commencement or graduation show up. That's where people wear caps and gowns. Those words could be put in a new query such as KERMIT GRADUATION.

URL 
A little more about URLS could be introduced, such as the parts of a URL and what they tell us. In this case, the answer has the name of the organization that owns the information and the names of several folders where that information is stored: first, a news folder. Inside the news folder is another folder called 'commence' and in that folder is another one labeled '1996.' Finally in that folder is the page that matches the challenge. This page is an .htm page which stands for the kind of file it is, a pretty common information file on the Internet.

Planting the seeds that information can be organized (structured) in folders is a good computational mindset to introduce. A discussion about how to organize information (one big pile, separate piles without names, all laid out in a row, etc.) might help students think about the fastest ways to find something and what works best on computers.

 Try the Challenge. Don't miss the opportunity for learning. What other lessons can you squeeze out of this experience?

2018 Update: The Kermit Challenge became quite a bit more difficult with Long Island University absorbed Southampton College and took down the latter's Website. The answer page has been updated accordingly.

Search Challenge 001

The first online Search Challenge I created was, and is, the Broadway Challenge.  This has gone through a number of iterations in the past several years, as information has become easier to find with keyword queries.

The first Challenge was something like: How many times has Funny Girl been performed on Broadway? The information could not be found by merely googling Funny Girl Broadway performances. Extra effort required finding a database of Broadway shows and checking the statistics about Funny Girl.  Eventually, this number could be found just with a Google search.

The next iteration required finding a page that listed the number of shows that opened on Broadway by year, starting in 1984. In time, a number of new sites appeared that satisfied this challenge, so it was hard to keep updating the correct answers.

Today I updated the challenge again. This time, the task is:

What is the earliest Broadway show for which both the opening and closing dates are published?

The earliest Broadway show can be found with a pretty simple search, but its opening AND closing dates are unknown. By the way, I had no idea that shows appeared on Broadway as early as 1732. Did you?

I wanted a challenge that required more than just a query. Keyword searching has progressed to the point that you can fairly easily find what you are looking for (whether it's accurate is another question). So the new challenge involves search strategy.


Strategic searching means that some thought goes in to where the information may be located and how to extract that information efficiently. I'll put more detailed information about that in the comments section.

If you're ready to try the challenge, here it is: http://21cif.com/tutorials/challenge/SC001/SC_01.swf

A Librarian Challenge

As I was preparing for a presentation at the Information Fluency Conference in Orlando, I came across a puzzling search challenge that would be a good exercise for librarians.

I had located a helpful resource on ERIC for an article in TechTrends (SpringerLink). IMSA (where I work) does not have TechTrends in its database, so I googled the article with information from ERIC and found the pdf I was looking for on the SpringerLink site.

So far, so good.

The article, Performance Assessment Design Principles Gleaned from Constructivist Learning Theory (Part 1), has a Part Two also published in TechTrends.  According to ERIC, the issue I need is Volume 53, Number 3.

I want Part 2.

But a search of the SpringerLink site doesn't return the article. I can find TechTrends Volume 53, Number 3, but the article is not listed with the search results.

Hmmm.

What would you do next?

I eventually found the article online at SpringerLink. The way I tracked it down might surprise you--I probably tried three or four strategies before I stumbled on it. ** Persistence pays off!  ** If you find it, post the URL of the online article in the comments and recap how you found it.

Sesame Street Challenge

As you probably know, Sesame Street is 40 years old. Here's a challenge to test your ability to find reference information about the show.

On what show did Ernie trick Bert into saying, "I ate the sandbox?" Provide the number of the show.

Before you start, think about a search strategy. There's lots to think about here:

• What keywords are provided?
• What keywords are good as is?
• How important is that phrase?
  
• What words are not needed?
• What words may be needed that aren't given? (this is always the hardest part of the strategy and may rely on seeing results first).
• Who might know the answer (where would an expert put the information)?
• How do I get close enough to "home in" on the information?
• How can I check the credibility of the answer?

Thinking about how to search is often lost in the activity of searching. Everyone makes choices about terms, operators and where to look. What choices are you making?