Comments on: Feeling Lost In A World Of Search Zombies http://acrlog.org/2008/04/15/feeling-lost-in-a-world-of-search-zombies/ Blogging by and for academic and research librarians Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:43:31 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Research Process « Jonathans School Weblog http://acrlog.org/2008/04/15/feeling-lost-in-a-world-of-search-zombies/comment-page-1/#comment-79054 Research Process « Jonathans School Weblog Mon, 12 May 2008 18:05:20 +0000 http://acrlog.org/2008/04/15/feeling-lost-in-a-world-of-search-zombies/#comment-79054 [...] found a pretty interesting posting called Feeling Lost in a World of Search Zombies on the Association of College and Research Libraries’ blog. It references an article by [...] [...] found a pretty interesting posting called Feeling Lost in a World of Search Zombies on the Association of College and Research Libraries’ blog. It references an article by [...]

]]> By: ghost http://acrlog.org/2008/04/15/feeling-lost-in-a-world-of-search-zombies/comment-page-1/#comment-78160 ghost Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:27:05 +0000 http://acrlog.org/2008/04/15/feeling-lost-in-a-world-of-search-zombies/#comment-78160 ahh. the computers are thinking. so why should we think? i've found that searching for particular bits of information can be a process of brute force repetition, trail and error, and patient retrospection. not really a question of training or intelligence but discipline. its more zen than anything else. now as far as the zombies are concerned... ahh.
the computers are thinking.
so why should we think?

i’ve found that searching for particular bits of information
can be a process of brute force repetition, trail and error,
and patient retrospection. not really a question of training
or intelligence but discipline. its more zen than anything else.

now as far as the zombies are concerned…

]]> By: Marcy B http://acrlog.org/2008/04/15/feeling-lost-in-a-world-of-search-zombies/comment-page-1/#comment-77016 Marcy B Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:53:45 +0000 http://acrlog.org/2008/04/15/feeling-lost-in-a-world-of-search-zombies/#comment-77016 Heh, heh. What do you call a zombie who doesn't know s/he is a zombie? That's what I think is going on here. I teach a graduate-level information literacy course for new graduate students. Most of them can't put together a decent (read: logical and without extraneous junk) search strategy to save their you know whats. But engines are good enough that their mostly-natural-language-keyword searches are returning some *decent* results. So as a result, these folks think their search skills are excellent. I don't try to do brain surgery, but that's because I know I can't. But if I woke up tomorrow thinking for some reason that I was the world's most excellent brain surgeon... Heh, heh. What do you call a zombie who doesn’t know s/he is a zombie? That’s what I think is going on here. I teach a graduate-level information literacy course for new graduate students. Most of them can’t put together a decent (read: logical and without extraneous junk) search strategy to save their you know whats. But engines are good enough that their mostly-natural-language-keyword searches are returning some *decent* results. So as a result, these folks think their search skills are excellent.

I don’t try to do brain surgery, but that’s because I know I can’t. But if I woke up tomorrow thinking for some reason that I was the world’s most excellent brain surgeon…

]]> By: Barbara Fister http://acrlog.org/2008/04/15/feeling-lost-in-a-world-of-search-zombies/comment-page-1/#comment-76953 Barbara Fister Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:42:35 +0000 http://acrlog.org/2008/04/15/feeling-lost-in-a-world-of-search-zombies/#comment-76953 Maybe it's just too hard to buy a suit at Banana Republic for the citizenry to be considered literate, but I'm leery of people who sell usability by telling us x% of people can't search. I think the public is actually better at it than this guy claims. He does, after all, have a product to sell, and he's selling it to people who want to sell more product. This sounds like classic discourse of fear to me. Can people find information and evaluate it? Often. Maybe not with all the sophistication we do. But this is not data that I would personally rely on. But then, I think Johnny can read. Maybe it’s just too hard to buy a suit at Banana Republic for the citizenry to be considered literate, but I’m leery of people who sell usability by telling us x% of people can’t search. I think the public is actually better at it than this guy claims. He does, after all, have a product to sell, and he’s selling it to people who want to sell more product. This sounds like classic discourse of fear to me. Can people find information and evaluate it? Often. Maybe not with all the sophistication we do. But this is not data that I would personally rely on.

But then, I think Johnny can read.

]]> By: Layla http://acrlog.org/2008/04/15/feeling-lost-in-a-world-of-search-zombies/comment-page-1/#comment-76941 Layla Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:17:31 +0000 http://acrlog.org/2008/04/15/feeling-lost-in-a-world-of-search-zombies/#comment-76941 "a generation of search zombies who . . . mindlessly settle for whatever their first Google page yields" According to the article, that description is actually *optimistic.* Nielsen says that in his most recent usability study, only 76% of the users were able to complete a Google search -- that is, only 3 in 4 people were actually able to find and access the Google search box and successfully type in a search. “a generation of search zombies who . . . mindlessly settle for whatever their first Google page yields”

According to the article, that description is actually *optimistic.* Nielsen says that in his most recent usability study, only 76% of the users were able to complete a Google search — that is, only 3 in 4 people were actually able to find and access the Google search box and successfully type in a search.

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