The TWAIN blog

One of my summer staff development programs this year is to show teachers different resources for finding information without relying on Google simple search. I plan to show them the Advanced Search tools in Google to help them find specific information and in the format they wish to find. I am not knocking Google at all. I love Google. But I want to show some alternatives to finding information. I thought I would share some resources with you all and have you share some with me as well.

Delicious – When people ask me to find them websites, I usually start here by using Delicious Search. What I like about Delicious is that the results aren’t just websites. They are people’s Favorite websites. They have been used and people often write notes about them.

Clusty – I like Clusty because it is a “visual” search tool. It clusters information into groups that make more sense to visual learners. These clusters actually help me because they show other keywords to help me narrow my search.

An addition to Clusy is to make Clusty clouds. These are great because it takes all the keywords associated with the search topic (all the tags associated with the topic) and creates a visual cluster you can embed on a website. So a teacher could make a visual search page on one website that is the Cluster of links on topics.

Another cool visual search tool is Search Cube which posts results in a 3-D cube. You can move the cube around and click on the visual thumbnails of the sites.

Bing – Microsoft has released a new search engine that replaces Windows Live. It works similar to Clusty by organizing information into groups. I haven’t spent much time on it but I must say that it is visually appealing.

Google Squared – This can be found in the Google Labs. The information is presented in a spreadsheet format instead of in its usual list. It pulls information from the sites it finds and puts it into data squares. So instead of searching and receiving a list of links to peruse for the information, the results post neatly into a spreadsheet. It is very similar to the next search tool which I have blogged about before:

Wolfram Alpha – Instead of listing links to sites to find information, the information itself is presented on the search engine. There is less clicking for the user. Less confusion. Information is readily available based on what is searched.

Cuil is another website that pulls information directly onto the page. Again, this idea of instant information removes the need to click through links. All the information is pulled onto the search window.

Looking for someone? Use these search tools: Pipl, Spokeo, LinkedIn, PeekYou, Wink, Spock, and ZoomInfo. Spokeo is a pay service that allows you to monitor people in your social network.

Did you know in SlideShare you can search through presentations and download them to your computer? If you need a presentation on Ancient Greece and don’t have time to make one, simply search SlideShare to find one.

Looking for some audio? Skreemr, Find Sounds, and Midomi which actually lets you sing or hum to find the music. I like the Shazam app on iTunes that lets you find music by listening to it playing.

Video search engines include: TimeTube, Blinkx, Foooooo, and Pixsy.

I know these aren’t all the search sources out there. There are MANY more. If you have some ideas to share for use in education, please post them in comments!

I’ve been involved with web design for a few years. When I was teaching Webmastering, I taught using the guidelines of the “three-click-rule”; where information could be found in three clicks or less. The reason for this rule was based on people leaving sites if they could not find information in three clicks or less. They get bored and move on.

Currently, web design falls into the “two-click rule”. This is quite a change for designers because we lost a click. We lost placement of navigational tools. Information is literally flooding the main page of websites. Text has taken over. Main pages are full of links to information that used to be in a menu bar that allowed for multiple clicks or “drilling down”.

These days, we are a cell phone/two-click society. We use tools like RSS, FeedReaders, Google Voice, etc. to access instant information. Miniature tools like cell phones make it hard to navigate sites because of the tiny screens. To click on a particular link takes extra time. I want information at my fingertips but I want it to be found without having to zoom in on a button to click on. That takes time!

Today, I read about Wolfram-Alpha; the new search engine that structurally changes how information from a search is presented. Current and popular search engines like Google and Yahoo, require you to enter search queries where a list of links are provided to connect you to pages of information on your query. This requires the extra steps of clicking. Wolfram-Alpha presents the answers to the query without the links.

In effect, they have removed a click.

There is the Twine post about Search 3.0 and how the new search tools will be more personalized for the individual searching instead of the generic search tools used by everybody. Information readily available for my needs in less than 2 clicks in this Search 3.0 paradigm.

I see these things develop and I question the design of district websites. More and more, our district site is moving toward instant communication. You can subscribe to calendar events delivered to email, your personal calendar, or via text messaging. We are looking into an alert system to allow customizable subscriptions to specific groups: band, choir, athletics, reading, emergency, etc.; which in turn will send via text or email. One-click subscription for no-click messages delivered as soon as they are sent.

People are already receiving information via text messaging, RSS, email updates, etc. The questions now become: Are people reading the content on our websites? Are they taking the time to download and read PDFs? Why are we driving traffic to our website if it is storing old information?

In KISD, we have software on our server that tracks not only the places people go on our sites but also how much time they spend on pages. I am constantly evaluating this information to make strategic steps to improve district communication.

But with the coming age of 1-click/no-click/instant information, the district web site design is flawed. So are business designs. So are most web designs out there.

As portals, cloud-storage, and collaborative workspaces become more prevalent, the idea of a “teacher web site” becomes worthless. What are we storing online? Why are we driving traffic to documents that are old and updated (if we are lucky) once a year??

All this to say that I wonder if Web 3.0 district web design becomes much simpler. Similar to the picture posted here, a search window with the district logo could be the new KISD website. Instant information sent to the subscribers but stored invisibly on the back-end. The search provides access to the queries. Instead of listing links, we adopt the Wolfram-Alpha or the next generation of search that posts the answers on the same page.

Search that is personalized and provides answers in 1 click.

Is this the path for web design for schools and districts soon?

So Google has released an unimpressive new browser. The critics aren’t fawning over it. They say that what Microsoft promises in IE version 8 will be the best browser of the current user. Interesting.

Talk about letting the hill block your view.

Is anyone talking about Google and what they are doing?

Is anyone thinking ahead?

What’s next for Google? What’s next for us?

I read that Google is developing a phone. They purchased YouTube years ago. They have their own browser which integrates with their own office applications online. What’s next?

Someone suggests they are building an operating system. I disagree.

Why? Why would a company like Google need an operating system when their OS is really the Internet. An Operating System has to work on a hard drive. Google doesn’t need a hard drive. They want you on their search engine. That’s where they make their money.

So let’s connect the dots. Google has their own browser which connects to their own media hosted on YouTube and their own office applications. They are producing their own phone/media connection device.

What’s next for Google? Not the question.

What’s next for us?

Why invest in the PC anymore? What do I need a hard drive to hold?

By the way, anyone read PC World’s interview with Bill Gates on his last days at Microsoft? Bill suggested that Microsoft is moving toward the cloud by doing something similar to Apple’s Mobile Me. He is thinking that Microsoft will create a universal place to store a user’s applications and files online for access from mobile devices and computers connecting to the Internet. Oh and the new version of Windows will incorporate tactile response systems.

Inventive? Innovative? Nope. Same old Microsoft.