Beauty, Function, and Google

Google has provided us not only with free research riches but also with a helpful direct challenge to our research methods, for which we should be grateful. Is Google good for history? Of course it is.

-          Dan Cohen

When I started thinking about writing this week’s blog post, I didn’t want to focus too much on Google because a lot of what Google has to offer goes without saying. Most of us use Google on a daily basis, it’s almost as ground breaking as the internet itself, and it is an invaluable research tool. Duh. However, after reading a number of excellent articles outlining the pros and cons of Google – as well as a lot of new information on how to get better at using Google as a tool – I can’t help but spend some time on it anyway. Google is by no means perfect, as Geoffrey Nunberg likes to point out (here) and Daniel Cohen (here), but it works well for historians for several important reasons. 

 Google Operating System. googlesystem.blogspot.com

The clean layout of Google Search is both attractive and functional.

 

Daniel Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig deftly identify what makes a good website in “Designingfor the History Web.” They write that websites should marry beauty with utility.  In other words, a site must be both useful and make sense visually. Accomplishing these two goals allows visitors to navigate the site, and encourages them to return. They also believe that good design means that a site looks good, without distracting from content. In this respect, Google is a beautiful website (for the most part). The search engine page is especially concise, simple and easy to use. By not using too much color, contrasting text against its background, and formatting the layout to be straight-forward and clean looking, Google has accomplished what many sites should strive for.  

Learning to use Google is easy for anyone, but learning to use Google as productively as possible takes a little more investigation. Claire Cain Miller’s article “A Class to Teach You How to Use Google” informs us that Google actually offers a free course to anyone who wants to learn how to hone their “Googling” skills. Investigative reporter John Tedesco’s article “How to Solve Impossible Problems: Daniel Russell’s Awesome GoogleSearch Techniques” picks the brain of a Google insider, revealing the hidden powers of the Google search. In short, there are many resources available to scholars seeking to improve their search techniques.

One of the largest undertakings of Google in the past decade has certainly been its venture to digitize millions of books. This is a beautiful thing for anyone who has ever had their research undermined by a limited public or academic library. However, Google Books is not at all as usable as Google Search. Two of the big obstacles presented to researchers who try to use Google Books is that there are gross errors in publication dates and categorization, according to Nunberg. And this is to say nothing of the fact that, according to Cohen, scholars cannot download these books to store for easy access – even public domain texts that have no copyrights caging them in.

So, Google is great, but it isn’t the Alpha and Omega of internet research tools for historians. There is always room for improvement, and it is important for digital historians to realize the strengths and weaknesses of websites they use for research. Learning from these examples, and remembering Cohen and Rosenzweig’s points about web design can help digital historians both seek-out and create functional and attractive websites.

How Good Are Your Critical Thinking Skills? http://www.copyblogger.com/critical-thinking/

Historians must always question and think critically in order to learn.

Speaking of attractive sites, I would like to point out how much I like Josh Catone’s online article “How to Use Google Search More Effectively [INFOGRAPHIC].” While not a website, per se, this article does everything a viewer could ask for. It is a graphic that is created by the content so that the content has visual impact, but still keeps the content easy to understand. Certainly anyone who needs a quick overview of Google research techniques could learn from this article. I think one of the best ways to get a feel for what a well designed site or page is, is to think critically about all the websites that you visit. Eventually, when you are called upon to create something of your own you will know what works, what doesn’t and how to make your content more powerful by design.