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Info Literacy Investigation Newspaper Task

Page history last edited by bradyx 12 years, 1 month ago

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Information Seeking Activities – Newspaper Headline Task

 

Introduction

 

The whole information seeking activity was introduced and participants were encouraged to name all of the resources available to them in a study centre. This introduction made them aware they had access to books, journals, newspapers, computers and the study centre team for guidance if they needed it.

 

In the same way that the ‘lottery’ task aimed to test the reliance on copy and paste and Google for immediate answers, this task offers the same type of investigation. Newspaper headlines are certainly accessible through Google. However there are other ways to more accurately find a specific newspaper or headline. In this instance if you were to type this exact question into Google the top answer in the results does in fact take you to a guardian headline. However, the date is not Sept 25th 2003, but September 23rd 2003. We wanted to see if the depth of checking questions and sources of information would pick up on this difference in date or weather they would immediately accept the first answer in Google. Google also offers around four different articles for the date of Sept 25th 2003 and we wanted to see if participants would check or know which one was the front page headline rather than just an article from that day. We additionally wanted to find out if there was a stronger reliance on Google rather than turning to more formal newspaper archives or the guardian website which offer a more focused and reliable means to find front page headlines on a specific date.

 

This question was carefully written to find a newspaper headline that appeared at the top of Google search engine results. We were keen to construct a question that would challenge information critique skills. The question in this task requires Google to search for a newspaper headline on a specific date. However if the exact question is copied and pasted into Google it does return a newspaper headline, however this is the wrong date and also offers no indication whether it was on the front page or not. We wanted to see if participants would assess whether this was the answer and explore further to gain the correct date.

 

Results

 

The activity offered some interesting results.

 

The Question:

 

Task: What was the front page headline in the Guardian Newspaper on Sept 25th 2003?

 

This exact question copied into Google brings back a headline that is dated ‘Sept 25th 2003’ (Fig 1.1).

 

Fig: 1.1- ‘Bonkers Bruno’

 

bonkersbruno_pic

 

 

We wanted to see the extent to which this would be checked or accepted as a first answer or whether participants would use a different search term or other sources beyond Google to find a newspaper headline.

 

Fig: 1.2

 

Newspaper_exact_incorrectSM

Newspaper_CROSSCHECK

 

The amount of copy and paste used was worrying and certainly offered a correlating pattern with the incorrect answer. Interestingly those who used others sources such as directly searching the Guardian site or newspaper archives offered an inverted pattern to that of incorrect answers (Fig 1.3) suggesting that they had not accepted the ‘Bruno’ story as a correct immediate answer.

 

Fig: 1.3

 

Newspaper_othersources_used

 

Those who used a variety of sources to gain the answer tallied with those who did not copy and paste the question (Fig 1.4) offering a distinctly different pattern to those who got the question wrong.

The figures for the usage of newspaper archives are extremely low. The lowest figure is that of Google not being used which is less that 15% indicating an extremely high reliance on Goggle to find the answer. Google is certainly an excellent tool to find answers but the level of reliance is evident with a 50% incorrect answer figure.

 

Fig: 1.4

 

Newspaper_searchmethods_contrast

 

Those who copied and pasted followed an almost identical pattern to that of getting the incorrect answer. Those who interpreted or abbreviated the question for specific search terms and resources also correlated with cross checking their answers against different sources. This offers a clear distinction between shallow and in depth searching habits. The shallow habits of copy and paste correlated with incorrect answers. With the exception of A-Level and HND participants the figures for incorrect answers are up to 50% in some cases and range through many levels of education. This acceptance of incorrect information is very worrying and indicates a strong or misguided reliance of Google. With the exception of A-Level students at 40% there was also an alarmingly low amount of cross checking answers and this ranged from 0% - 18%.

 

 

Conclusion

 

This study along with the ‘Lottery’ task has indicated an extremely worrying trend in shallow information seeking habits and poor skills when it comes to accessing whether content is correct. There is a high reliance that Google will give the right answer. There is certainly a distinct difference in information seeking patterns. Those who copy and paste appear to be less likely inclined to check their answers and happier accepting the first answer that Google results offer. Those who read the question to interpret it had process it first in their minds and they additionally indicated a preference to engage in cross checking a range of sources to find the right answer.

 

The majority copy and paste usage was with the lower levels such as schools, L1, L2 and L3, with the professional participants in the same profile. Those at the younger level certainly need support to be able to effectively seek information and cross-check sources. If this is not addressed this shallow depth of finding and evaluating information could have a profound effect on their education.

 

With the low level usage of newspaper archives or searching the guardian website could indicate a lack of awareness that these types of searches exist, but also could indicate a heavy reliance that Google is the one stop shop for everything.  

 

This study heavily echoes the findings from the Lottery task in the patterns of those who use copy and paste had a strong reliance on Google and those with the patterns who processed and abbreviated the questions, seeking different sources to find a correct answer.

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