My Oral Presentation of
May Y. Chau's
Finding Order in a Chaotic World: A Model for Organized Research Using the World Wide Web
Pages 37 - 53
Table of Contents
The World Wide Web has many levels of information, but it is not organized in a linear fashion. Therefore, it is difficut to find and organize information when doing any kind of research. In response to these difficulties, the author devised a search strategy called the SIRO (Systematic Information Retrieval/Organization) model. It was designed to enhance search results and to organize information. The author also states that although the original system was used for agricultural research, it is versatile and can be used to research in other fields as well. I certainly agree that research on the web has major limitations due to its large, disorganized structure. As I read the introduction, I had a feeling of hope that this was something that I could use in the future for various research assignments. Also, since this class is about internet literacy, being able to successfully research using the WWW is an integral part in obtaining this literacy.
The SIRO model is divided into five steps, listed and described below.
Step 1: Identifying Categories of Information Providers in a Specific Discipline
This step characterizes sources by their activities and jurisdiction. In order to determine this information, the searcher must do some preliminary research by utilizing services of reference librarians, reference tools such as encyclopedias, personal knowledge, and WWW subject trees. In the specific agricultural example in the article, it was determined that information could be found in government sites, higher education sites, professional societies, and agribusinesses. Naturally, depending on the subject being research, the types of sources will vary. I agree that figuring out where a person is going to look for information before actually searching for it is a good idea. It is always easier to find things if you know where to look.
Step 2: Diagram the Information Flow Between Categories of Information Providers
This step "creates an information path and uncovers additional access points for similar information." (p.42) By diagramming the way the different information providers communicate with one another and influence one another, it allows the researcher to bettwe understand the environment in which the information can be found. This idea certainly makes sense since this allows the scope of the search to be diminished in size. If a person knows that one organization gets some of its information from another source, they can avoid getting duplicate results. The down side to this, however, is that many people would not want to put in the extra effort that would be required to figure these things out. In addition to that, determining the relationships between the information providers will only work in fields that are already organized well. There are many fields, however, that are not as organized and using this method would very likely be a big waste of time and effort.
Step 3: Examine a Major Information Provider's Organization
Once you know how different organizations interact with one another, you should learn about their internal structure. The the researcher can know what branch of the organization is the most likely to publish the sought after information. Again, this sounds like a good idea as long as the field that is being researched is an organized one. This would take even more effort than the last step and I am not sure too many people would want to go through the trouble. However, the logic behind this particular step is good. If you want to find out about renewing your driver's license in the State of Hawaii, you're going to call the DMV branch of the Department of Transportation because that is how that particular organization is organized.
Step 4: Apply to a Topic Under the Selected Discipline
After completing steps one through three, the researcher is finally ready to actually do the search for the information. This step has a whole subset of steps in and of itself.
1)Ask Key Questions: figure out what exactly you're looking for.
2)Utilize Knowledge from Step 1 through Step 3: by looking back at the interrelationships and intrarelationships of the information sources, you can figure out where to look for the answers to your previously mentioned key questions.
3)What types of information are needed: this is where the searcher determines what information is on the WWW. Then they use this information "to determine a more specific research direction." (p.46)
4)Decision: this is where the searcher uses the information gleaned from the model and compares it to the results from a WWW search engine.
5)Result Analysis: This is where the searcher tabulates the results from the search and compares it to those selected by the SIRO model. "The SIRO model is best used as a reference to check if any information sources are missing from the search results performed by search engines." (p.49)
Step 4 of the SIRO model is the actual search itself, which should yield good results since it is prefaced by the previous three steps. As I mentioned before, it is always easier to find what you are looking for if you know where to look. It seems to me that this would be a very useful method of searching provided the topic that is being researched can be organized in such a way.
Step 5: Organizing the Results
The purpose of this step is to manage the information and give it more meaning to the searcher. By organizing results, it is possible to determine what areas need more research. The SIRO model suggests the use of a visual aid or thinking map so that irrelevant information can be left out. This will also allow the searcher to determine if there is any missing information. This is definitely a good idea, but it is very work and time intensive. I am not sure that I would be willing to use this step for every time I had to research something on the web. However, if I have a large project, I think this would be a very effective way to figure out if I have enough information. This organizational step would also be very helpful in actually writing the paper because it could serve as an preliminary outline from which to work.
At the end of the article, a summary of the SIRO model is given. It mentions that the users of this model "need to be convinced that time spent of planning is a worthy investment." (p. 51) The author also states that this model can be used for many different types of research because of its adaptability. As I mentioned earlier, however, it is important to understand that this method of research can only be used with disciplines which are already well established and well organized. Otherwise, these labor intensive steps would be a waste of time.
By reading this article, I learned many strategies for effective researching on the WWW, particularly by using planning. This information will come in handy for school and for work, due to the increasing demands for electronic information. I think that anyone who has to effectively find information on the internel should be interested in at least certain aspects of this method since it facilitates good information retrieval. Since people use similar strategies to look for things in a library or to solve every day problems, it makes sense that such strategies would work on the WWW. However, if you are just looking for personal interest stuff, pointing and clicking somewhat randomly may be more effective so as not to narrow your scope.
Ryan Ho: Do you find that once you understand how to use the computer system's searching software, that searching for things becomes easier than if you were doing it manually (w/out computers)?
I'm honestly not sure. I feel that I know very well how to use various search engines on the web such as Yahoo, Excite, and whatever else there is out there. However, when I get a huge amount of hits that have absolutely nothing to do with what I'm looking for, I feel like I may as well be looking for things manually in a library without even using their computers. When I look for things manually, I don't have to worry about my computer freezing up, or waiting a million years for graphics, backgrounds, and other useless junk on the page to load up.
Dr. James: How do you plan to change your approach to searching if you were to follow the approach and advice given in this article?
The organizational advice given by the article is the most likely candidate for actually becoming part of my web searching repertoire. I tend to do things rather randomly and I end up with a lot of stuff that is all mixed up and garbled. Because of this, I get frustrated when I try to write papers or anything like that based on the information that I have. However, I think that if I were to take the time to organize the information that I did find, I would be less stressed out and have an easier time writing papers.
Oliana McCuddin: Are you happier now when you find/look for information on the Web?
Absolutely. Since I am now better equipped to look for things more efficiently, I know what to do if I get frustrated. I can narrow down my search and figure out where to go to find things instead of just randomly pointing and clicking. I actually enjoy myself while clicking now because I actually have a purpose.
I was absolutely terrified. No matter how much I tried, I noticed that during my presentation, I primarily looked down and not at other people. Before anyone asked any questions, I kept praying silently to myself that the question would be something that I would be able to answer. I was afraid that it would be a question that I would have to say, "I don't know," to. However, the longer it went on, the more relaxed I became, because I realized that I was prepared and that I knew what I was talking about. I noticed that many of my classmates were attentive and trying to understand me, even though I was talking kind of fast since I was nervous. Dr. James was also attentive and asked good questions. Of course, he's the professor. I can't imagine a professor not asking good questions. Professors don't get to be professors by being stupid.
I think there is only one other oral report from my class up right now and that's Ryan Ho's. I'm not sure how I compare to his, though, because I don't believe that I am qualified to determine that. I have a biased opinion about my report because it's mine and it's the first time I've ever put anything up on the web so I'm feeling very proud of myself at the moment. As far as content goes, I think that we both covered our topics well. His article had a lot more information, so his report is longer, but I think we both got our points across effectively. As far as the way it is presented, I think his looks better than mine simply because I just started learning how to do all this. I learned about tables and colors, so that's what I played with. When I learn more about other things like images and borders, I'll play around with those. I look forward to it.
My biggest suggestion: DON'T START THIS TOO LATE AT NIGHT!!! Or else you'll be up until 3:45am working on it like me. I still have 4 days before it's due, but once I got started I just couldn't stop. I was very frustrated with the whole HTML thing, at first, but I didn't give up and I think that paid off. I feel like I've learned something. So, don't give up if you get frustrated and start early!