For a few years now, I have been consciously trying to use “ixquick”, which is now called “startpage” for browsing the web. In brief, this browser (like a few others) uses the search results cache from Google without giving personal user information or their IP addresses to Google servers, because whether we like it or not, we are the product for sale when engaging open browsers like Google, Bing, Yahoo and others.
The results from Activity #1 were as predicted – biased, safely aligning with my local cultural geography with the all too standard perceived societal norms for each category. The ethnicity most heavily represented in each category was without question, caucasian. Secondly, I observed genders portrayed in most professional realms such as doctors and professors leaned towards men, but surprisingly held a respectful share within the nursing category. However, all that changed when I adopted a “site specific” parameter within the search bar. I followed Alan November’s article from Activity #2 suggesting I try inserting site terms from other regions such as Africa, the Middle East and South America. Only then did Google’s search algorithm results shift towards the most prevalent images from that individual region.
Activity #2 asked us to search out three different results while considering the recommendations of Roger Warner as means to improve the intentionality and precision of our searches. In order to find an article on Leadership published from a Canadian university, past experience led me to Google Scholar. When combining “like” terms such as Leadership+University+Canada+PDF, I found the below fairly quickly.
Secondly, in Google’s main search bar, I used “pdf:” in addition to key words prompting a result of a PDF even with my name as an added bonus.
Lastly, I again used some of Warner’s suggestions and tools to find a podcast representing local interests in my city. Essentially, I used “podcast:” as the beginning search term followed by “+Surrey” etc to achieve a result called “The Surrey Experience”.
Ultimately, this exercise was a great reminder of how we can better utilize our time when traversing the digital environment and further our understanding in terms of practicality and efficiency when using these tools.
Matt