I typically search for different
things – studies, teaching, entertainment, sports, kids, weather… Almost
anything I need to have some information about. And information is power, you
know. I always use the net to prepare for classes or keep up with the modern
trends in Linguistics. I also search for currently available conferences and
programs. I have always used Google. I just started with this one and it never
changed.
Now I would like to share my
experiment with the Google search. Last semester I taught Linguocultural
Studies to one of my university classes so I decided to google one of our
topics – “Canadian natives” – so my search was ‘Canada aboriginals.’
The
engine gave me about 32 400 000 hits in just 0,32 sec. The sites were numerous
and very useful, from Wikipedia to commercial organizations. It also showed
links to CBC, Sun News, and other mass media editions. There were Government of
Canada (gc.ca domain) sites with nothing but reliable information, sites for
different age groups (e.g., Kids: Aboriginal Canada Portal), and different
interests and hobbies (e.g., Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association). Google
Images showed millions of pictures to illustrate the topic perfectly. Google
Maps gave me some destinations (I tried ‘Canada aboriginals metis’) (e.g., Club
Bon Accueil 5110 Manson Ave, Powell River, BC V8A 3P1) and more external links.
Google Video supplied me with millions of videos which are of different length
(from 1 min. to about 40 min. long) and thus can support any teaching aims. I
also tried Google News and found very interesting up-to-date articles on
Canadian aboriginals (‘Assembly of First Nations vents frustration at Harper,’
‘In Canada's 'war on drugs,' aboriginals are the biggest victims,’ ‘Kateri
Tekakwitha becomes Canada's first aboriginal saint’, and lots and lots of
others.) Google
Blogs gave me more titles that looked captivating and sometimes controversial
and provocative.
I think my search was rather successful and I am sure I could
have done a nice presentation on the topic if it had been my goal!
Hi Natalya,
ReplyDeleteReading your nice post and pondering on the names and events you mentioned has , somehow, reminded me of an insisting question I always had when I was in Canada. I noticed that streets, boulevards and many places are named after saints like Saint Marie, Saint Joseph, Saint Catherine who I think is the same Kateri Tekakwitha you referred to as Canada's first aboriginal saint. The question was : how comes that such a country that is well ranked in terms of education and social services as Canada still manifests that strong attachement to its history and heritage this way ?!
Well, the answer came later as follows:
He who has no past, will have no future .
Natalya, thank you for sharing your searching experience. It is very interesting to read detailed process. I think a lot of people use Google and they are very happy with it. I also google everything but this week we got an amazing list of NoodleTools and it'll take some time to get used to new search engines.
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