CMIS Evaluation Technology Focus

This is a repeat of today’s post on the CMIS Eval blog (for the benefit of those readers who do not subscribe to that blog)

WolframAlpha was announced in March 2009 by British physicist Stephen Wolfram, and was released to the public on May 15, 2009. Unlike Google, which searches for web resources to match a query, WolframAlpha generates answers to factual queries by computing the answer from available data.

Watch Part 2 of of the video.

Related CMIS blog posts include:

• Maybe AND/OR/NOT isn’t so hard
• Seek and you shall find…a list of Search engines (other than Google!)

Take a look at the CMIS webpages on Search Tools

This interesting article in The New York Times focuses on the many positive and negative outcomes that are being seen as a new generation of students spend more of their time reading online. It is the first in a series that will look at how technology such as the Internet is changing the way we read.

If you’d like to follow up by continuing to use the Internet to read some of the research, try The New York Times Web Extra:  Further Reading on Reading. And as a thought to ponder: “What do we as teachers need be doing to teach our students how to read online resources?”

There is no denying that a well constructed boolean search is the way to improve your search results.

Teaching students to use boolean search strategies has now been made easier. Boolify helps students understand their web search by visually demonstrating the logic of their search. As students add or remove the jigsaw piece qualifiers ‘and’, ‘or’ and ‘not’ the changes in their search results appear at the bottom of the search screen. This dynamic display gives continuous feedback on the effectiveness of their chosen search strategy.

A short and simple expanation of boolean search logic is available on the Boolify Help page. The Boolify page notes that ‘Search results are presented through Google’s “Safe Search STRICT” technology. However, no filtering technology is 100% secure, as this blog posting astutely points out.’

The CMIS website has more information about Search Tools and Student Safety Online.

In an earlier blog post we looked at Search Engines other than Google.

March 2-8 is a great opportunity for school librarians dealing with teenagers to take advantage of new technologies available in schools to ensure that their users are competent, capable and ethical consumers (and producers) of information.
This week is TEEN TECH WEEK.

Sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association of the American Library Association this special week targets teens to ensure they are competent and ethical users of technologies, especially those that are offered through libraries such as DVDs, databases, audiobooks, and videogames. Teen Tech Week gives school librarians the chance to discuss ethical issues regarding the use of digital resources with their students and to demonstrate that librarians are experts who can help them develop the skills they need to use electronic resources effectively and efficiently.

The YASLA site offers Teen Week suggested activities, and a great list of resources to keep you abreast of current technologies and how you can use them in a public or school library program.

Download YALSA’s 25 Ways to Celebrate Teen Tech Week flyer (PDF) and post it in your library!

25 ways to celebrate Teen Tech Week

1. Download an eBook or audiobook onto your mp3 player.

2. Visit your library’s webpage.

3. Blog about a library book or program.

4. Try out a book focused site like LibraryThing or Shelfari.

5. Create a soundtrack for your favorite book.

6. Ask your librarian to recommend a nonfiction book on an area of technology that interests you.

7. Add something to an article on Wikipedia.

8. Set up a podcast for a group or club you belong to. (Click the link to check out YALSA’s podcasts!)

9. Many young adult authors welcome email from their readers, and some even have their own MySpace profiles Why not send them a message in honor of Teen Tech Week?

10. Check out some video games, DVDs or music CDs from your library.

11. Create an avatar on Yahoo! Avatars.

12. Start a Teen Tech Club at your school or public library.

13. Read and contribute to a blog about technology.

14. Practice your HTML skills on your MySpace (and ask your parents to help!)

15. Watch some anime or startup an anime club at your library.

16. Create a video about your library or a favorite book.

17. Download a newspaper article from the day you were born from an electronic database.

18. Volunteer to help clean the computers and media at your library.

19. Volunteer to tutor library customers who are new to using computers.

20. Learn how to DJ music or record music with a computer.

21. Search in a biography database for an article about your favorite musical artist.

22. Learn how to use some new software.

23. Take a class on graphic design or digital photography.

24. Create a database of something you want to organize.

25. Start a del.icio.us, Twitter or Flickr account.

The CMIS ICT in the Curriculum web page links to information to help teachers using ICT in their classrooms.

The CMIS Resource bank includes reviews of 85 resources for Curriculum through ICT and 103 reviewed resources for Curriculum through ICT websites..

Choosing the right tool for the job makes life easier. You may like to explore these search engines to help you find what you want on the WWW. To get the best from these sites it is worth taking the time to complete the virtual tours or read the help screens.

Welcome to a new way to search!

	Search Crystal - advanced search tool – suited to teachers and secondary students. Requires free registration. Users are advised to view the tutorial to get the most from this very nifty engine. from the website …’ SearchCrystal lets you search and compare multiple engines in one place. It is a search visualization tool that enables you to compare, remix and share results from the best web, image, video, blog, tagging, news engines, Flickr images or RSS feeds
	KartOO – a search engine particularly suited to visual learners, middle primary to secondary. Allows users to view interconnectedness of concepts and information. from the website… KartOO is a metasearch engine with visual display interfaces. When you click on OK, KartOO launches the query to a set of search engines, gathers the results, compiles them and represents them in a series of interactive maps.
Image unavailable for use	Kids Click – The day-to-day operations of KidsClick are currently maintained by the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University. The site includes links to Search Lessons, Image and Sound seaches. Librarians – make sure you check out the through a Librarian’s Eyes link at the bottom of the page.
	Quintura for Kids – a visual directory and simple search most suited to primary students.from the website … Quintura for Kids is designed specifically for children and utilizes the Quintura cloud, an interactive tag cloud for easy navigation and search for kids-related information on the Web. The intuitive nature of the cloud allows kids to refine their search by mousing over or clicking on keywords and phrases that appear in the cloud. The interface also allows for predefined searches by clicking several graphical icons on the site.
	WebBrain – allows directory and simple searches. The interactive visual display encourages users to recognise the interconnectedness of information. Largely text based so more suited to upper primary and secondary students.from the website … WebBrain lets you search the Web visually, so you can explore a dynamic picture of related information, instead of searching through long lists of text. WebBrain lets you easily browse the Web and discover what’s out there. WebBrain uses TheBrain technology, which enables effective use of knowledge on the Web, the corporate intranet, and even your personal computer.
	Intute – use the customisable generic search or subject specific search. Make sure you check out the Virtual Training Suite for help in getting the most out of your searches. The Internet Detective tutorial helps identify the good, the bad and the ugly of Internet research.from the website … Intute is a free online service providing you with access to the very best Web resources for education and research. The service is created by a network of UK universities and partners. Subject specialists select and evaluate the websites in our database and write high quality descriptions of the resources. The database contains 120603 records.
	Bubl – BUBL uses the Dewey Decimal Classification system as the primary organisational structure for its catalogue of Internet resources. Users may also search the database using the Simple and Advanced Search options, the Alphabetical Directory or the Subject Terms directory. Most suited to teachers and secondary students.
	DMOZ – The Open Directory Project is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors. Most suited to teachers and secondary students.

Take a look at the CMIS webpages on Search Tools