Going Google

Google: a billion dollar company named after the mathematical term “Googol”, or 1 followed by 100 zeroes.

The Birth of a Search Engine:

The year was 1995. The location, Stanford University. Two graduate students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, were arguing the difficulty of finding relevant information on the World Wide Web. They decided to rectify this problem by creating a search engine the fondly called “BackRub”. By analyzing “back links” pointing to a website. Using low end PC’s and maxing out their credit cards by buying a terabyte of memory, Larry and Sergey successfully turned Larry’s dorm room into a data center.

With dorm space decreasing and bills mounting, the time had come for some serious, cash infusion. Larry and Sergey ventured forth, searching for someone who would believe in their product. They found their financial benefactor in their friend, Andy Bechtolsheim, who happened to also be one of the founders of Sun Microsystems. Pressed for time and with a great deal of trust, Andy stated simply to these budding entrepreneurs, “Instead of us discussing all the details, why don’t I just write you a check?” The $100,000 check was made out Google Inc. The first hurdle the two friends had to cross, was set up a corporation called Google, as at this point, there was no legal entity known by that name. The check sat around in a desk drawer for a number of weeks before Larry and Sergey could actually cash it.

In 1998, Google moved out of the dorm and into a garage in Menlo Park, California. The new, larger space enabled the two to hire their first employee. From there, the company grew by leaps and bounds. By 1999, Google was a full-fledged Search Engine.

This is just the beginning…

How does Google work:

Google works on a search system called “PageRank”. PageRank views web pages and ranks them on the number of links a page receives, the type of sites that link to that page, and the number of times a term appears on a page.

This system is completely automated. They keep any paid links to the top or side of the results pages, never within the actual results.

Benefits of a Google Search:

Google’s index is comprised of billions of URLs.
Google analyzes the proximity of your search terms within the page.
Google shows and excerpt of the text from your query results with your search terms in boldface.
Google takes a snapshot of each page, which you can access through the “cached” link, in case the original page does not download.

Going Google

Task: Find the answers to the following reference questions using only Google.

1. Who succeeds the Vice President if he dies in office? What’s the official rule about this?

2. How many pounds equal a stone?

3. I am flying to South America with a three hour layover in Houston, what restaurants are located at the Houston airport?

4. What is Martha Stewart’s phone number?

5. I want to find out what my daughter is posting on the internet. Her sign-in is usually rimeswith0range (0 as in the number 0)

6. I heard about a book, it’s about a guy in Mexico. He says something about Flora and Fauna and scorpions. It’s really funny.

7. I am writing a paper on Scotland and need a picture of a guy playing bagpipes.

8. Where can I get a video showing a volcano erupting?

9. We are studying Armenia in my Social Studies class and I am supposed to find some current events but you don’t subscribe to any Armenian Newspapers.

10. What is the population of New York City?

11. Is there a karate studio in San Francisco that specializes in Kenpo?

12. I just bought a Mac after using a PC for years. Are there any good Mac web sites? I could really use tips for using my Mac.

13. What is Sirius stock selling at today? Any idea why the stock has been going down?

14. My Husband just got his pilot’s license. Do you know if there are any blogs out there about flying?

15. There’s a poem about eating a peach. Who wrote that and what the heck is he talking about? Eating a peach. Really?

16. I need admissions information for the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Library Science.

Solutions:

1. Advanced Search: Advanced search allows you to search by the following criteria,

Find results with all the words, exact phrase, at least one of the words, and without the words.

You can also limit the search within a particular page, by file format, and even by domain.

2. Calculator feature: You can use Google like a calculator and also to perform conversions such as “teaspoons per cups”, 10 US dollars in British Pounds, or 160 pounds * 4000 feet in calories.

3. Travel Information: You can find information about weather conditions, travel delays, or airport amenities by using this feature. Simply type in the flight number (united 134) or the airport name or code (IAH airport).

4. Phone Book: Type in the name and state of the person and you will enter Google’s Phone Book search feature.

5. Number Search: You can search Google by simply entering phone numbers, UPS tracking numbers, a cars VIN, or a login name.

6. Book Search: Google provides access to the full text of a number of books. Type in the search terms such as “books about Ecuador” or “book Flora and Fauna of Mexico” and click on the “Book Results” link at the top of the search results.

7. Images: Click on “Images” above Google’s standard search bar and enter the keywords of the object you are searching for.

8. Videos: Click on “Videos” above Google’s standard search bar and enter the keywords of the footage you are searching for.

9. News: Google provides links to news throughout the world. Click on the “News” link or type in http://news.google.com.

10. Q&A: You can find the answers to simple questions by simply typing in the keywords of the question “population of New York City”. Google will search the web and display the answer at the top of the results. They also cite and link to their source.

11. Local: If you enter the subject and town, Google Local searches the businesses in a specific region. http://maps.google.com/

12. Specialized Searches: Google allows you to search within specific topics, such as U.S. Government, various operating systems, Public Service, and University Search. To access these search options, go to www.google.com/options/specialsearches.html

13. Finance: Find market summaries, recent quotes, today’s financial headlines, and stock quotes at http://finance.google.com/finance

14. Blogsearch: http://blogsearch.google.com allows you to search the worlds’ blogs.

15. Scholar: Google Scholar allows you to access scholarly sites and articles. http://scholar.google.com.

16. Site Search: limit your search to a specific site by typing in some keywords, followed by “site:” and the URL for the web site, such as www.mmrls.org.