My original response to seeing the three historical items listed was a groan. I knew I’d have to dig through the online archives I’ve frequented before for History projects: JSTOR, NY Times Periodicals, etc. But my almost immediate first step was a simple Google search to find any relevant information that might point me in the right direction. To my surprise, I found blog posts on similar websites by college students who completed the same scavenger hunt. These blog posts had all the relevant information already dug up and posted. Instead I turned my focus onto the various databases CCSU offers.
1. I found the public school teacher labor despute article through the New York Times Historical database offered through the CCSU library website. I searched “public school teacher labor dispute” and dug through the articles to find one related to my topic. I found one with the correct date restrictions on page four.
2. I felt like I “cheated” looking up this information. I google searched the exact phrase given to us in the scavenger hunt and discovered a .pdf file from the Department of Energy with a handy timeline of all important solar energy events throughout history. Now, I could have dug deeper into the various databases, but I feel that this search exemplifies last week’s discussion on whether or not Google is “making us stupid”. Had I been looking for an easy way out, I’d go with this answer Google provided me and call it quits. But taking that route wouldn’t translate to me “learning” something. In this case, Google would’ve been the path of least resistance, but at the cost of loss of knowledge.
Link: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/solar_timeline.pdf
3. I relied on Google to find this information. A quick Google search of “history of California ballot initiatives” results in a webpage with all relevant information right up top. The site is reliable too; it’s a website put out by the office of the Secretary of State of California (.gov). While Google was used in two (and frankly, could be used in all three) instances, it doesn’t discount online databases like JSTOR. It just so happens that the second and third scavenger hunt choices have immediate results to reliable sources. However, I believe Google should b e used with a grain of salt. With the plethora of information out there, it’s hard to determine whether or not a webpage is reliable. Google shouldn’t be the only source of information, but it certainly is a great starting point.
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