Comments on: Is Google Making (Researchers) Stupid? http://www.ia-blog.com/2008/06/29/143/ A blog by Robert Berkman, Editor, The Information Advisor Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:44:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Sydney BMW http://www.ia-blog.com/2008/06/29/143/#comment-702 Sydney BMW Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:26:00 +0000 http://www.ia-blog.com/2008/06/29/143/#comment-702 I saw a friend's daughter type her school assignment topic into Google, click on the first listing (Wikipedia) and start copying! I have also seen that Google makes research for business faster and deeper and in some cases, more accurate. It's another research tool and like any tool, it can be used well or used poorly. perhaps by its relative convenience, it has an inherent invitation to laziness, but the choice remains with the user. I saw a friend’s daughter type her school assignment topic into Google, click on the first listing (Wikipedia) and start copying!

I have also seen that Google makes research for business faster and deeper and in some cases, more accurate. It’s another research tool and like any tool, it can be used well or used poorly. perhaps by its relative convenience, it has an inherent invitation to laziness, but the choice remains with the user.

]]> By: Mike King http://www.ia-blog.com/2008/06/29/143/#comment-701 Mike King Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:47:53 +0000 http://www.ia-blog.com/2008/06/29/143/#comment-701 I think Google is often over valued with regard to business information. Many researchers do not understand how to do an advanced search on Google. Vertical search is something that Google could put in place - I certainly think that would help me. For example, it could index its results with any number of industry sectors, and then researchers could focus their search entirely on, say, Google Automotive Search. I am not sure why this hasnt happened. However, more importantly, there is a world of difference between Public Domain information and Commercially Available Information. For example, you cannot get a set of UK accounts on Google. You can get detailed market share data for all markets on Google. For this, you need to pay extra for the work that other analysts have done. This is where the valuable resources are - such as http://www.companiesandmarkets.com - an aggregator of market information, which is not available on Google results!! I think Google is often over valued with regard to business information. Many researchers do not understand how to do an advanced search on Google. Vertical search is something that Google could put in place - I certainly think that would help me. For example, it could index its results with any number of industry sectors, and then researchers could focus their search entirely on, say, Google Automotive Search. I am not sure why this hasnt happened. However, more importantly, there is a world of difference between Public Domain information and Commercially Available Information. For example, you cannot get a set of UK accounts on Google. You can get detailed market share data for all markets on Google. For this, you need to pay extra for the work that other analysts have done. This is where the valuable resources are - such as http://www.companiesandmarkets.com - an aggregator of market information, which is not available on Google results!!

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