Umberto - Thanks for ringing in with your thoughts.

I agree that students need to learn to interview.

However, there is no going back to the days of using books in the library when you can get faster and broader coverage on the Internet.

Mike

To clarify what I meant by "libraries becoming obselete" its not the actual buildings themselves, but the stacks of books that could be cleared away to make room for more study areas, ports and terminals.

Sure its great to praise Google for making our lives oh so much easier, but somehow I feel like students today, who already have trouble locating Call numbers, or using truncated word searches on online databases, will simply forget or neglect traditional primary research methods like interviewing the source and hitting up the public or university library systems for the good ole' books themselves (remember scribbling furiously in margins as a child or latter in life, the late night photocopying sessions at X Hall?) Laptops connected wirelessly to laser printers make digital information seem even more appealing to just print out and submit to professors--but I guarantee you none of my Profs or GSIs in the Philosophy Department at UC Berkeley would find it funny if I turned in my paper with Google search certified printouts of maps, statistics, and what have you. I tried it once and she laughed in my face! (luckily I passed the class with that final assignment.)
What is really interesting is that Google already has many convinced that libraries will become obselete in the not too distant future by signing contracts with unversities to photocopy and store digitally something like all the world's books by 2050 or something like that. I mean sure it will be awesome to have ebooks on command about anything and everything that was ever published, but you are talking about a long term project that requires so much storage space. Read this year's IDC report on digital information growth and storage capacity, you will be surprised by some of those numbers. What if the whole system crashes (back ups and everything)? I mean wars and other natural calamities have shown us that no place is really safe no matter how much you invest in defense. Plus if the libraries have closed down by that point as every student "is plugged in" by 2100 and the books have been left to rot in warehouses in the middle of nowhere, how will we be sure that the authorities will even react to such a major crisis? Should they try something like calling up all the private books still left in existence (in a way, you would be forced to, right?)
Does Farenheit 451 ring a bell to any of you who I am sure had to read it sometime in your high school or college years? Call me a heretic, but I am just playing devil's advocate ;)

You know, I also realized that I use Google alert notification to track news in the industry.

Thanks for stopping in Whitney

I use Google (and Yahoo) to satisfy a lot of idle curiosity (e.g., what's the name of Maroon 5's new song, what other movies has Daniel Craig been in, is my favorite author giving a talk anywhere in my geographic area within the next two months, does that violinist I just heard on the classical station have any CDs).

I also use the search engines a lot when I read international news and want to know where a mentioned city/town is in relation to one that I do know and so forth. This got a lot of use after the recent global warming studies came out and leaders of some island nations expressed concern that their countries might be wiped out within 40 years because of rising ocean levels.

Finding maps online then extends to finding photos online. Once I know where something is, then I want to know what it looks like. It's a good way to find images for my Windows wallpaper and screen savers, too.

Lisa - Yes, isn't Google awesome!

By the way, I was able to determine that the Google dictionary does work.

Here is an example: Type in define:white papers in Google.

Mike

I use Google for EVERYTHING! Research, dictionary, translation, directions, you name it! What did we do before Google?

Eugene - That is a pretty cool feature! - Mike

One way Google has changed my life is by helping me translate. Translation is so much easier because you can use the exact words feature to see how common certain phrases are. There's also an abundance of resources available now on the Web. I can't imagine how people managed before -- especially when trying to translate new or difficult terms.

I also like to use it as a dictionary...

It looks like they may have removed that feature ...

:(

My favorite use of Google is to find out the name of a song. So many times you will hear a song on TV or radio, but not have a clue to the artist or the title.

I Google one line of lyrics from the song in quotation marks and there it is. Simple!

Hi Roland;

I could not agree with you more.

I was speaking today (training actually) and we talked about the importance of Google.

If only tools like it existed when I was in college, I would have been much smarter as I would have spent more time learning and less time looking.

Mike

You're right, I think Google has changed a great many lives - especially those people who make a living from information and words.

As a child in the 1980s, I was always a voracious reader, but would also use books to answer questions I had about life and the world - instead of just asking people. It was a reliable method, but there was not always a suitable book to hand.

Today, as a writer, I just Google it, and rarely fail to find something relevant. I find that the challenge now is more about assessing the quality and objectivity of the information and trying to tap into information as high up the food chain as possible.