1. The Internet's
Changing Landscape:
Bubbles and Farms
Click here to watch the recording
Elaine Settergren, Online Librarian
esettergren@globeuniversity.edu

2. The Internet

3. Search Google like a Pro
• http://www.slideshare.net/esettergren/search-google-like-a-pro

4. Polling Break
• What do you find most frustrating about
searching the web?
A. finding too many low quality sources
B. not finding exactly what I’m looking for
even though I’m pretty sure it exists
C. broken links and sites with gibberish or
too many annoying ads

5. Filter Bubbles
• Personalization at Google
• TED talk
“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem
with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that
they are incomplete. They make one story become the
only story.” (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie )

6. Pop your bubble!
• Change your settings in Google and
Facebook
• Use multiple search engines, change or
clean your browser
• Search the library
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshuarothhaas/5018782162/

7. Polling Break
• What do you find most satisfying about
searching the web?
A. it’s so fast
B. there’s so much specialized information
C. I can search it from my phone

8. Content Farms
• low quality & repetitive

9. Avoid Low Quality Articles
• Read carefully
• Compare it to other sites / sources
• Look elsewhere for background info =
you’ll have the terminology you need for a
better search
o Wikipedia or another encyclopedia
o The Library

10. Polling Break
• Have you ever used “farmed” information
for something important?
A. yes and I would do it again
B. yes, but the results weren’t satisfying
C. yes, but I’m not planning to in the future
D. not that I know of

11. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• SEO = words, titles, links, linked words,
reputation
• Black Hat = cheating & trickery
• i.e. JC Penney
“When you read the enormous list of sites with
Penney links, the landscape of the Internet
acquires a whole new topography. It starts to
seem like a city with a few familiar, well-kept
buildings, surrounded by millions of hovels kept
upright for no purpose other than the ads that
are painted on their walls.” NYtimes

12. #1 May not be the best 1
• Read carefully
• Compare to other sites / sources
• Search the library

13. Polling Break
• What’s your #1 strategy for making sure
the information you’re planning to use is
sound?
A. comparing it to other sources
B. using the library to find sources
C. reading it and looking up citations from
the bibliography

14. SOPA & PIPA
• What is it?
o Bills that didn’t pass… about piracy
• You are the Web?

15. Who is the web?

16. Thank you!
Happy Researching!
Elaine Settergren
esettergren@globeuniversity.edu
866-934-8566

17. References
Adichie, C. (2009, July). The danger of a single story. TED Talks.
http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html
Google. (n.d.) Turn off search history personalization.
http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=54048
Google. (n.d.). You are the web. https://www.google.com/takeaction/you-are-the-web/
Heffernan, V. (2011, June 26). Google’s war on nonsense. The New York Times. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/googles-
war-on-nonsense/
Higginbotham, S. (2012, Jan. 18). SOPA and PIPA for newbies. Gigaom. http://gigaom.com/2012/01/18/sopa-and-pipa-for-
newbies/
Pariser, E. (2011, March). Beware online ‘filter bubbles.’ TED Talks.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html
Segal, D. (2011, Feb. 12). The dirty little secrets of search. The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html
Sullivan, D. (2010, May 26). Drill (down), baby drill: Facebook’s new ‘simple’ privacy settings still pretty complex. Search
Engine Land. http://searchengineland.com/facebooks-new-simple-privacy-settings-still-pretty-complex-42998
Sullivan, D. (2009, Dec. 4). Google now personalizes everyone’s search results. Search Engine Land.
http://searchengineland.com/google-now-personalizes-everyones-search-results-31195