Google listened to me … maybe
Had to share this one with somebody … Google’s advanced search was enabled in January to let kids select only simply written websites. That is an idea that I had promoted 5-8 years ago.
Seven or eight years ago, a school teacher complained to me how difficult it was for students to find science material on the web that they could understand. The top items in web searches tended to be written for people with more scientific knowledge than your typical school students, particularly students in primary school.
I realised that web search results could be sorted readily in terms of how easy a web page is to read. One indicator is how long the sentences are. “See Dick run from the volcano. See Jane run toward the volcano.” would suit younger readers. “See Dick and Jane argue with their collaborators about whether the volcano is going through a major eruption or a minor eruption, given the tempo of earth tremors that their instrumentation has picked up.” would be suited to more sophisticated readers.
I sent my suggestion to developers of an Australian search engine, Mooter. They replied politely but seemed to have other priorities. I did not send the idea to Google because Google was sufficiently clever not to include an e-mail address anywhere on their website or related web sites.
‘Clearly’ my idea eventually made its way to Google via what must have been a disgruntled — and possibly unemployed — staff member from Mooter. The idea is now incorporated into Google’s advanced search.
Even now, though, they are hedging their bets by hiding it under ‘advanced search’. I had originally suggested just putting slider under the field where you enter your search terms. Drag the slider to the left for simpler results, and drag it to the right for more sophisticated results.
I will be interested in seeing the impact of this search capability on student learning. Let us see if it remains under ‘advanced search’ or if it gets promoted to the front page.
What are they really saying? 