SEO is often thought of as a purely commercial endeavor: companies and other for-profit websites use keywords strategically, make use of headings and meta tags, and build inbound links in order to increase search engine positions and generate more revenue. But in the world of academia, scholars are also recognizing a need to implement some […]
Blog | Information Literacy, Technology, Research
How to Evaluate Podcasts: Tips for Finding the Best Podcasts
Podcasts, defined as a type of digital media with an episodic series of files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication, are a great way to consume information. Since they are most commonly listened to on portable media players, you can keep up with the news or learn a new subject during your daily commute […]
iPad—What is it Good for? (And Can It Replace Your Laptop?)
The iPad and other tablet computers aren’t laptops and they aren’t smartphones, so many people are wondering why they’d ever need a new device that sits awkwardly in the middle. You can’t put it in your pocket but it doesn’t have the full capabilities of a “real” computer. But Apple sold over 15 million iPads […]
What Are Apple’s Textbook and Educational Publishing Goals for the iPad?
For many, print textbooks are a vital and unchanging part of education. Writers and editors craft the books under the direction of a publisher. Teachers (or states) pick from the top titles on the market to be used in their classrooms. College students buy from their university bookstore, lug large volumes around in backpacks, and […]
Concerns Over Google’s Social Features and the Loss of Objective Search
Google’s key feature has always been simplicity: a clean, uncluttered search interface that returns the most relevant webpages for any query. The search giant would weigh a variety of factors to measure a page’s authority, most importantly its inbound links, and rank the list of results accordingly. But recently, Google’s quest to increase personalization and […]
Is Siri a Threat to Google and Search Engines?
With Google’s current dominance over search, it’s natural to speculate about possible threats. Microsoft’s Bing, for one, is investing big time resources in hopes of gaining market share, and up-and-coming services such as DuckDuckGo are also intriguing. But the strongest competitor might not be a traditional search engine at all, but rather a fundamental new […]