Before Google Reflection
When I entered Rose Library, I realized that this journey of research will be different from the majority of my previous searching experience. In the beginning, even choosing a material become a huge obstacle. Even though I had a theme of previous celebrity photos, I had no idea which specific archive I should research on. After selecting a 1970s version of Emory Wheel, which I assume that I may feel more familiar with, something unexpected yet wonderful started to happen. Different from using Google, searching archives is hard to filter information that is most relevant to what I’m looking for. However, more abundant materials and even fun facts appeared which reminded me of what we had learned in class. For example, what I finally decided to choose, an advertisement for the concert of Janis Joplin, is closely related to Amy Winehouse. I also saw several photos, college girls wearing bikinis in the sorority beauty pageant, which are really exposed and open even for today. I believed these are useful material for researches about intimacy issue and identity and self-expression of educated female in 1970s.
During the time in Rose Library, another question comes into my mind. Can people leave Google when doing a research today. Even in the reading room, laptop and cell phone are allowed and I indeed used Google to search for what I viewed in the archive. There is no denying that the strong database and computer algorithms of Google searching engine provide people with more effective and convenient way of looking for direct result. If I had something in mind, the sorted information that Google give me saves far more time than looking for every single book about the question in a library. Apart from that, a particular ability of digital searching engine is searching pictures and even videos. It’s hard to obtain any results in a library if the only thing I know is what an oil painting looks like. After taking this class, I found out that another advantage for digital searching engine roots in a characteristic of digital network, equality. Different from that fact that only scholars can publish books, I’m able to collect any opinions from the public, such as comments under a news or individual posts. Therefore, research results that I can get from Google seems covers perspectives from more people.
From my perspective, looking for materials in library is wandering in a mysterious garden; while using Google engine is a direct path to the destination. It’s impossible, and of course no need, for us to give up Google due to its effectiveness of organizing information with the power of computer. However, we should always remember to dive in the archives and discover some windfalls when we have plenty of time to explore an issue.
