69 Searching is Art part 1 (Information Research)
Description
This article is from the Information Research FAQ, by David Novak david@spireproject.com with numerous contributions by others.
69 Searching is Art part 1 (Information Research)
Pharaoh: There is mutiny afoot. I must kill these insolent heretics.
Shakh: Good Idea. So who is involved?
Pharaoh: I don't know. You must find this out.
Shakh: Find out what?
Pharaoh: Who my enemies are, of course.
Shakh: Enemies?
Pharaoh: People who want me dead.
Shakh: But not those who want a better ruler...
Pharaoh: No not them.
Shakh: What about the ones that want a better ruler, and would not mind
you dead.
Pharaoh: That sounds like everyone.
Shakh: And those that want you dead but would never do anything about
it.
Pharaoh: Well, so long as they don't help anyone else.
Shakh: Then you just want the ones who will try to kill you.
Pharaoh: Yes,
Shakh: Good. Now we know exactly what we are searching for. We are
seeking those who will try to kill you. I shall straight away
investigate.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Napoleon was an expert tactician, except at Waterloo. The recreation of
past battles is not a favorite pastime of mine but is an exciting topic
all the same. The battle terrain was set. The troops have known
abilities and limitations. The movement and direction of the army units
is your responsibility. Do you have the strategy involved?
Early in his career in an important fight against the Prussians,
Napoleon employed a dramatic tactic where he initially held an
important hill in the center of the battlefield, then surrendered the
hill to the Prussians. The Prussians, confident at this stage, marched
the majority of their army around the hill to right, between the hill
and a lake, to push the fight on to Napoleon. Napoleon, however, retook
the hill with a costly attack up the hill by some of his best units.
Success left him in control of the high ground, much of the Prussian
army below, moving between the hill and the lake. Unable to dislodge
Napoleon from the hill a second time, and unable to withdraw the army
from their exposed position, Napoleon pushed on to defeat the Prussians
most decisively.
The armies were almost evenly matched prior to this conflict and
success seemed unlikely. An average general would have fought in a
bland way, retreating or perhaps fighting to a stalemate. Napoleon
inflicted a decisive defeat. Such generalship goes beyond technical
skill to encompass a vision, a strategy, an art.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
If I have not been careful, I will have presented searching as shopping
in a supermarket. The goods are in a large store but there is a decent
enough structure to find it. Third aisle for baby food. Go there and
look around.
Of course, we have discussed two further types of search improvements.
There is the skills around properly asking questions. You want a
question which accurately describes what you are looking for but you
also want the question to be framed in a way which the resources can
answer.
There is also the awareness of where information SHOULD be. If you know
what kinds of information exist and you ruminate long enough on the
likely motivations of publishing, we can make some fairly detailed
judgements on the whereabouts of the answers you are looking for.
There is further skill in dealing with the technical difficulty of
information overload. You have limited time and limited resources.
Finding information is often a hit or miss affair, so there is an art
to selecting the right words to search, the right Boolean prefixes to
attach to search terms, the right search tactics to employ to get the
most out of each situation.
For much of this, you need only experience. If you know in advance a
skilled searcher can handle the task of sifting reams of data for
useful information, then you can focus on how its done, practice, and
learn. The search technology itself is simple.
The trouble lies in retrieving from databases with far too much
information for simple word selection. It also flares when you are
dealing with databases charging up from $2 a minute and an additional
cost per item retrieved. You decide very quickly to get good at
searching once you receive a bill for $200 of irrelevant information.
The simplest solution to this difficulty is to practice. You will find
all research libraries provide access to slightly older articles
through CD-ROM databases. Search these to hone your skills.
I saw a small book on search techniques from an early course in my
state library - but it is very basic. Most librarians build experience
in using search systems either internally, or through a series of
courses given by travelling database officers like the periodic
training by Dialog-Insearch. These are expensive, but include some free
time searching the expensive databases (no, they don't let you take
information back with you).
Now, there must be something else I can share with you on this topic.
First, learn something about how the databases are built in the first
place. It helps if you know what an inverted text database looks like.
Second, something personal about technique... I always find the uglier
the search query, the better the result. Honestly. A search combining
numerous elements improves your chances of getting it right.
Third, I always try to change my search techniques to match the medium.
I am likely to be more careful of broad searches of expensive database,
where as free databases often lead me to gather 50 articles, then
weeding them out by hand. (most CD-ROMs allow you to select only the
ones you want). Always bring a 3.5'' floppy with you when visiting a
library on the of-chance you want to download and look at results
another time.
Fourth, I almost always find the initial challenge is in locating those
specific terms that appear in 80% of the documents that interest you.
When searching the internet for information about government use of the
web, the specific terms required were government and publishing (not
even government publish was close) All other search terms gave far to
much garbage. Yes, of course, being an expert in a particular field is
an edge in already knowing these special terms.
There are two escape hatches here. If you can find one or two articles
that interest you, often you can browse these articles for those
special words. Sometimes even, the descriptors of an interesting
article will give you a specific subject heading. I've heard this
technique called the "Pearl Development Technique" but I just think of
it as a good idea. The second escape hatch is the use of free databases
to prepare you for going online. If you have ready access to a CD-ROM
database, search this first - get the right search words on the free
databases, then go online.
Oh, of course, there is also the issue of just asking someone involved
for the proper words. I like to ask my clients if they know what words
are likely to be used. It's not a mark of an amateur to be asked, by
the way.
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