Site Visit to iExperience

Made a trip to explore iExperience as a part of e-learning and surprisingly, it was actually quite interesting and interactive. It was an enjoyable experience.

       

One of the exhibit that had caught my eyes would be the one that is shown above as it showcase the evolution of technology from the early days to modern time.

In relation to the ethical issue that is listed in the lectures, it would be privacy issues. This is about keeping your data private and making sure people don’t get access to your data. If people get access to your private data, they could for example find out about your whereabouts in which people would be able to pinpoint your location through your data.

This was seen through the exhibit titled “Smart Data” at the iExperience center. This exhibit displayed how sensors and data can be used smartly to create smart homes (e.g. lights coming on when a person comes home, etc.) It also showed that data could be protected using various means such as voice recognition.

Pictures taken from the exhibit,  “Smart Data”.

The smart data generated from smart homes could be dangerous if the data gets into the wrong hands. This is because people would be able to use the smart data from the home to identify weaknesses in the home and when people are at home and when they are on holiday, thereby increasing the chance of crime.

Comparison between Google and EBSCOHost

Based on the queries that were run on both Google and EBSCOHost the following tables illustrate the key differences. The first table highlights the results returned based on the queries.

 

Type of queries	No of queries run	Google	EBSCOHost
Power Search only	3	Returns a large number of results even after applying filters	Able to return a smaller number of results
Power Search with Stem	3	Returns a large number of results even after applying filters	Able to return a smaller number of results
Power Search with Phrasing	3	The choice of keywords used in the phrasing impacts the results returned	Not able to conclude anything no results found
Power Search with Phrasing and Stem	3	Returns a smaller number of results	Not able to conclude anything no results found

 

The second table discusses the features available between Google and EBSCOHost and their effectiveness.

Features	Google	EBSCOHost
Boolean operators	Helpful to refine the search	Very helpful to refine the search
Filters	Filters are helpful to narrow the results	Filters are helpful to narrow the results
Document types	Helpful to refine the search	Very useful to refine the search
Response time	Very fast on all queries	Very fast on all queries

In conclusion, EBSCOHost is slightly better in its effectiveness because it returns a smaller pool of results when compared to Google. However, for the range of queries Google is more effective as it can produce results with a combination of stem and phrasing while EBSCOHost doesn’t work very well when the queries are complex.

[EBSCOHost] Searching by Keyword Query using Power Search with Pharsing and Stem

In this blogpost we would apply Power Search with Phrasing and Stem for the EBSCOHost and we will be using the same two variations as done for Google’s Power Search with Phrasing and Stem.

Figure 1 – Initial search results from EBSCOHost

For the two variations, there were no search results returned. Therefore, this showed that complex power search queries combining both phrasing and stem may not be suitable for searching using the Invisible Web, such as ESBCOHost.

[Google] Searching by Keyword Query using Power Search with Phrasing and Stem

For this research blogpost, we would be focusing on Power Search with Phrasing and Stem for Google. We will be testing out with three different variations.

The table below shows the list of variations for the key queries that includes phrasing and stem.

Different Type of Variation	Key Queries with Phrasing and Stem
Variation #1	Personal AND (“Privacy OR Confidentiality”) AND (Sector* OR Industry*) AND (Digital Age OR New Media Age)
Variation #2	Personal AND (“Privacy OR Confidentiality”) AND (Sector OR Industry) AND (Digital Age* OR New Media Age*)

Table 1 – Types of Variations for Power Search with Phrasing and Stem

For Variation #1, the following figures show the search results for Google.

Figure 1 – Initial search results from Google Scholar

For Variation #2, the following figures show the search results for Google.

Figure 2 – Initial search results from Google Scholar

Therefore the combination of phrasing and stem for Google is able to bring initial results that are more narrow, meaning around 100,000 results as compared to millions of results.

[EBSCOHost] Searching by Keyword Query using Power Search with Phrasing

In this blogpost we would apply Power Search with Phrasing for the EBSCOHost and we will be using the same three variations as done for Google’s Power Search with Phrasing.

Figure 1 – Initial search results from EBSCOHost

For all three variations, there were no search results returned. Interestingly this showed that complex power search queries that combine phrases may not be suitable for the EBSCO Host.

[Google] Searching by Keyword Query using Power Search with Phrasing

For this research blogpost, we would be focusing on Power Search with Phrasing found for Google. We will be testing out with three different variations.

The table below shows the list of variations for the key queries that includes phrasing.

Different Type of Variation	Key Queries with Phrasing
Variation #1	Personal AND (“Privacy OR Confidentiality”) AND (Sector OR Industry) AND (Digital Age OR New Media Age)
Variation #2	Personal AND (Privacy OR Confidentiality) AND (“Sector OR Industry”) AND (Digital Age OR New Media Age)
Variation #3	Personal AND (Privacy OR Confidentiality) AND (Sector OR Industry) AND (“Digital Age OR New Media Age”)

Table 1 – Types of Variations for Power Search with Phrasing

For Variation #1, the following figures show the search results for Google.

Figure 1 – Initial search results from Google

For Variation #2, the following figures show the search results for Google.

Figure 2 – Initial search results from Google

For Variation #3, the following figures show the search results for Google.

Figure 3 – Initial search results from Google

Therefore the above shows that the results returned vary from very small to into the millions. Therefore this implies the keywords used in the phrasing makes a difference when doing a power search.

[EBSCOHost] Searching by Keyword Query using Power Search with Stem

In this blogpost we would apply Power Search with Stem for the EBSCOHost and we will be using the same three variations as done for Google’s Power Search with Stem.

For Variation #1, the following figures show the search results for EBSCOHost.

Figure 1 – Initial search results from EBSCOHost

Figure 2 – Filters used for EBSCOHost

Those that are ticked are the ones that are used in the research.

 Figure 3 – Search results after filters are applied for EBSCOHost

For this variation, it shows that EBSCOHost was able to retrieve 25 results from its database.

For Variation #2, the following figures show the search results for EBSCOHost.

Figure 4 – Initial search results from EBSCOHost

Figure 5 – Search results after filters are applied for EBSCOHost

To create a more refined search result, I had selected the sources to be only in pdf format as well as scholarly journals. The results had drastically dropped from a total of 24 results to just one result. This shows that the filters are useful as they can give you the exact one that you will need.

For Variation #3, the following figures show the search results for EBSCOHost.

Figure 6 – Initial search results from EBSCOHost

There was no need to use filters as the first few search results are already quite relevant to the topic.

[Google] Searching by Keyword Query using Power Search with Stem

For this research blogspot, we would be focusing on Power Search with Stem found for both Google and EBSCOHost. We will be testing out with three different variations.

The table below shows the list of variations for the key queries that includes stem.

Different Type of Variation	Key Queries using Stem
Variation #1	Personal AND (Privacy* OR Confidentiality*) AND (Sector OR Industry) AND (Digital Age OR New Media Age)
Variation #2	Personal AND (Privacy OR Confidentiality) AND (Sector* OR Industry*) AND (Digital Age OR New Media Age)
Variation #3	Personal AND (Privacy OR Confidentiality) AND (Sector OR Industry) AND (Digital Age* OR New Media Age*)

Table 1 – Types of Variations for Power Search with Stem

For Variation #1, the following figures show the search results for Google.

Figure 1 – Initial search results from Google

For Variation #2, the following figures show the search results for Google.

Figure 2 – Initial search results from Google

Figure 3 – Search results from Google Scholar

Initially when the search query was entered, there are no results appearing in Google. However, when it redirects to the Google Scholar, all of the case studies appears in the results.

For Variation #3, the following figures show the search results for Google.

 Figure 4 – Initial search results from Google

To deduce the number of search results as it was not very accurate, I chose to search for books related to the key query.

Figure 5 – Search results from the filter selection of books

As shown from Figure 4 and 5, the total results have been narrowed down from 38,200,000 to 482,000 results.

[Google & EBSCOHost] Searching by Keyword Query using Power Search

For this research blog post, we would be focusing on Power Search for both Google and EBSCOHost.  The keyword used would be:  Personal AND (Privacy OR Confidentiality) AND (Sectors OR Industry) AND (Digital Age OR New Media Age).

The following figures show the search results returned by Google.

Figure 1 – Initial search results from Google

To create a more detailed search results, we will be using filters to narrow down the search.

Figure 2 – Filters used for case study (Using pdf format)

Figure 3 – Search results after filters are applied

As shown from Figure 1 and 3, the total results has been narrowed down from 59, 800, 000 to 482, 000 results.

The following figures show the search results returned by EBSCOHost.

Figure 4 – Initial search results from EBSCOHost

Figure 5 – Filters used for EBSCOHost (Using Source Type)

To focus on the education sector, we select on the academic journal.

Figure 6 – Search results after filters are applied for EBSCOHost

Introduction to Personal Privacy in the Digital Age

For this research, I have chosen the topic of how privacy affects the different sectors in the digital age. My research would focus on the topic in general and in detail across a few sectors, such as health, financial, etc. The research materials I would be looking for include resources, such as online articles and case studies.

In terms of the search facilities that I intend to use, include Google’s search engine and the Invisible web, which be EBSCOHost.

To create relevant keywords, I used mainly Boolean operators (AND/OR) , power search, stem and phrasing. The keyword list I selected for this topic is as follows:

Key Query as a Power Search

• Personal AND (Privacy OR Confidentiality) AND (Sectors OR Industry) AND (Digital Age OR New Media Age)

Key Query as a Power Search with Stem

• Personal AND (Privacy OR Confidentiality) AND (Sector* OR Industry*) AND (Digital Age OR New Media Age)

Key Query as a Power Search with Phrasing

• Personal AND (Privacy OR Confidentiality) AND (“Sector OR Industry”) AND (Digital Age OR New Media Age)

Key Query as a Power Search with Phrasing and Stem

• Personal AND (“Privacy OR Confidentiality”) AND (Sector* OR Industry*) AND (Digital Age OR New Media Age)

These keywords will be the determining factor for Google and EBSCOHost as they would be able to evaluate their effectiveness.

The following figure shows default database that used for EBSCOHost

Any other database will be specified in the different keywords research posts.