The problem with being overly precise -- it may limit your results!

I wanted to follow up on a comment by one of our readers from Wednesday's challenge.  

Kiltedcap writes:  

I got the same results as most did but did want to bring up one point. 

Using Worldcat via Google books does not in fact give you the full results of who holds a particular book. Many libraries (mostly corporate) will not show up in the public version of Worldcat and you will need to ask your local library to help get you the full list.

You also need to search Worldcat itself rather than use the Google books find in a library feature as it will often take you to one catalog record when there is in fact several records and one has more holdings than the other. This is due to different libraries cataloging it slightly differently or it may be that there is a reprint of the book.

Kiltedcap is absolutely right!  In fact, if you do follow along the solution path as I show it in yesterday's blogpost, you'll get to the Google Books page I showed: 

If you click on the "Find in a library" link, it will, in fact, connect you to WorldCat and try to find EXACTLY that version of the book.  That is, Google Books hands a hyper-specific query to WorldCat (in particular, the Ediciones Poligrafa, © 1987).  

That's fine as far as it goes, but there's only one version of that book in the WorldCat system--and it's in Puerto Rico!  

Instead, as Kiltedcap points out, it's often a good idea to THEN use WorldCat to search for the title of the book (and not the hyper-precise book title + author + edition, which is what Google Books is handing to WorldCat as the query).  

Once you do that, you'll find that there are 4 slightly varying bibliographic records for the book.  (In truth, it's all the same book.)  But you need to know that backing up and searching on just the title will sometimes yield much better--and in my case, much more local--results.  

Answer (7/11/12): Where can I get that book?

Wow!

I’m impressed by all of the people who found the book so quickly and (interestingly) MUCH more easily than I did.

I found this problem to be pretty hard.  I thought you would too.  Mea culpa.  And therein lies a tale…

Where’s the window?  As several of you pointed out, it’s not difficult to figure out that this stained glass window is in La Sagrada Familia, the church under construction in Barcelona, Spain.  At least one person found this step difficult because they dragged the image to the desktop rather than doing a Save-As of the full image.  Hint:  When doing an image search, use a good size, high quality image.

Now that you know it’s from La Sagrada, the next question is to find who designed the stained glass.  Several people automatically assumed that the stained glass was also designed by the church architect, Gaudí, but that’s not the case.

My next query was:

[ designer stained glass la sagrada ]

That step isn't hard:  I learned that in 1999 the painter Joan Vila-Grau (or Joan Vila i Grau) was commissioned to design and make the stained glass window on the western facade.  The church was so pleased with that piece that he was then asked to design ALL of the windows in the church, a task he began in mid-2001 and continues to this day.  

Now that I know the designer, I need to find the book he wrote.  So I did the obvious query:

[ Joan Vila-Grau ]

… and saw that there was the Spanish language Wikipedia entry about Grau.  (I learned, among other things, that "Joan" is a male name in Spain.)  

I thought that this would be somewhat more authoritative than the English version of the Wikipedia entry, so I read through the article and found this phrase:  “…siendo autor de Los vidrieros de la Barcelona modernista (1982)”  That is, “.. he is the author of “The Glassmakers of Modern Barcelona."  

Now, I knew enough to know that “modernista” is actually a reference to the Spanish Modernisme (or Modernista) design movement (a bit like Art Noveau or Jugendstihl movements), so the translation into “modern Barcelona” didn’t bother me much. 

So then I did the next obvious thing and searched for “de Los vidrieros de la Barcelona modernista”

Much to my surprise, if you do THAT search, there are many references in Spanish, but you can’t find a book by that title.  Sure, I searched Google Books—nothing.  I searched Amazon and various library catalogs—nothing.  I kept hammering away on this and failed failed failed. 

I finally wrote to a friend at the Library of Congress who immediately pointed out my problem:  “Your title is mixed languages, vidrieros is Spanish.... Try searching this title: ‘Els Vitrallers de la Barcelona Modernista’.”  I did that search, and voila, LOTS of copies can be found—even on Amazon. 

Knowing a little Spanish can be blinding.  I knew that Grau is Catalan, and that the Wikipedia entry was in Spanish, but I’d incorrectly assumed that NOBODY would translate a book title from the original.  My mistake.  And it cost me several hours while I futzed around with that mistaken identity. 

Finding a local copy:  As many of you know, WorldCat is a service provided by OCLC (Online Library Computer Center) which provides a wonderful meta-catalog for many of the world’s libraries.  That means you can use WorldCat to search over many thousands of library catalogs for a book (and other kinds of materials as well).  IN PARTICULAR you can put in your zip code and have it search libraries near your house for the book you seek. 

As you probably also know, Google Books has a link from the book page to WorldCat via “Find in a library”

And once you’re at WorldCat, your problem is basically solved. See: 

http://www.worldcat.org/title/els-vitrallers-de-la-barcelona-modernista/oclc/29908442

According to worldcat.org, there is a copy at the UC Berkeley library and a few other locations nearby. 

Search lessons: 

First off, my big problem was that I ratholed on a bad version of the title.  I should have realized after 30 minutes or so that there was a problem with the original title.  It’s not that the Spanish Wikipedia entry is wrong, it’s just been translated from Catalan to Spanish (“Los Vidrieros” to “‘Els Vitrallers”) which changes enough words to make all my searches fail.  Perhaps every reader of the Spanish Wikipedia realizes this; but I, as a non-native semi-literate Spanish reader, didn’t.  Don’t rathole.  When you’re failing repeatedly, try a different strategy.  As all of the comments showed, there are several other strategies that work really well. 

Secondly, sometimes you just need to know what tools (and capabilities) are available.  You need to know about WorldCat and it’s “find in a library” function.  Some readers were successful by looking up libraries in the Mountain View zip code and checking their catalogs manually—that’s a good strategy (albeit slower).   In the same way you just have-to-know about seach-by-image, you have to know that databases like WorldCat exist. 

Part of being literate is... I know you'll be surprised by this... knowing a bunch of stuff.  If you're going to repair bikes, you need to know what the various wrenches do and the mechanics of how shifters and cables actually operate.  You can't go looking up "how does a 7 mm box-end-wrench work" every time you want to use it.  To be efficient, you just need to know.  

Same thing: To be information literate, there's some stuff you have to just know.  

And now you know a few more things.  

Keep reading! 

Search on! 

Wednesday search challenge (7/11/12): Where can I get that book?

True Story:  I've been traveling a bit, and I find myself constantly taking pictures of stained glass everywhere I go.  (Disclaimer:  I used to make stained glass pieces, mostly when I was an undergraduate and had time for this kind of hobby work, so I've always had a real interest in this area.)  

In my recent travels, I took a picture of this window, and was just standing there in the nave admiring it.  While standing I started chatting with someone there who mentioned that the designer of the window had written an important book on stained glass design.  Sounds interesting--I'd like to read that book. 

But he couldn't remember the designer's name OR the name of the book he'd written.  

This was a perfect search challenge falling into my lap!  So I returned to my computer and started searching for the book. 

CAUTION: This is a hard problem.  It took me quite a while to figure it out.  

So, with that cautionary note, here's the problem for this week: 

Where can I read a nearby copy of the book written by the designer of this window?  

For the sake of argument, assume I'm in Mountain View, CA, and I want the copy to be as near to Mountain View as possible.  

Can you figure out what the name of that book is and where I can read a copy that's somewhere near me? 

As usual, please let us know how you found the answer, what search resources you used, and how long it took you to come up with the answer!

Search on! 

Answer: Who is the mystery man?

Yesterday's July 4^th challenge had three parts:

(Easy)  What is the name of our mystery man?

Recall that he was a hero in the US, Lithuania, Poland, and Belarus.  A quick search for: 


   [ hero USA Lithuania Poland Belarus ] 

Kościuszko image: Wikipedia

pretty quickly leads to Tadeusz Kościuszko, the man who seems to statues to him everywhere I go.  Oddly, I'd only heard of him tangentially in my reading of US history, which is sad, as he seems to have been quite a character on multiple history stages.  

 (Moderate)  What is the monument to the man who tried to sell off the fort that was fortified by our mystery man?

If you search for [Tadeusz Kościuszko fortifications] or [ Tadeusz Kościuszko fort] you'll also fairly easily find results that indicate it was West Point.  Reading the Wikipedia entry on West Point article tells the story of his the construction of the defenses of the garrison (the name was later changed to Fort Clinton). 

Arnold image: Wikipedia

Searching on this page for "sell" reveals it was Benedict Arnold who tried to sell West Point to the British as part of his treason against the US.  (Reading the excellent Wikipedia article tells a richer story about Arnold than I ever learned in school.  Another interesting character who went on to a long career post-treason as a loyal British subject.)  

A search for [ Benedict Arnold monument ] reveals a number of plaques and markers, but the only real monument to the man is the "Boot Monument" that commemorates Major General Benedict Arnold's service at the Battles of Saratoga in the Continental Army, but contrives not to name him.  It lauds the actions, but not the man.  

 (Harder)  What are the lyrics to the first verse of the song our mystery man wrote?  (Not just a hero, but a musician as well!) 

The Tadeusz Kościuszko Wikipedia article included an entry for about the polonaise he composed. A quick search for "Polonez Kościuszki" reveals the lyrics in Polish, although the lyrics are written by Rajnold Suchodolski. 

Patrz, Kościuszko, na nas z nieba, 

Jak w krwi wrogów będziem brodzić, 

Twego miecza nam potrzeba, 

By ojczyznę oswobodzić.

Lyrics in English (via Google Translate): 

See, Kosciuszko, on us from heaven, 

As in the blood of enemies will wade, 

We need your sword, 

To liberate the homeland.

So it IS possible to be a patriot in multiple countries, be a musician, and an engineer.  Kościuszko is a man well worth remembering during our long weekend of national historical reflection and patriotism.  


And the search lesson?  Keep following the trail, where ever it leads.  

Searching on!  

Wednesday Search Challenge (7/4/11): Who is the mystery man?

Having travelled fairly widely, I’ve been impressed by a name and face that keep recurring—there seem to be statues to this guy everywhere I visit! 

This man of mystery is vastly underrated  and under-remembered in our national memory.  But the remarkable thing is that he’s the only person I know who is a national hero in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, AND the United States!  He has an impressive career and made many key contributions to engineering in the United States, including improving a key fort’s defenses. 

Today’s July 4^th challenge has three parts:

(Easy)  What is the name of our mystery man?
 (Moderate)  What is the monument to the man who tried to sell off the fort that was fortified by our mystery man?
 (Harder)  What are the lyrics to the first verse of the song our mystery man wrote?  (Not just a hero, but a musician as well!) 

As usual, please let us know HOW you found the answer and HOW LONG it took you to come up with it!  

Search on!  

(And get ready for next week's challenge which pretty hard...)  

________

Special announcement:  Reminder....  I'm teaching a special online "Power Searching with Google" class beginning on July 10th.  The class will be 6 classes long and featuring short videos, lots of examples and more search activities.  If you like this blog's Search Challenge feature, you'll probably enjoy the class.  

Find out more on the Official Google Blog Post about the Power Searching With Google Class

If you'd like, register at Power Searching With Google Registration.  Hope to see you online! 

Using context terms to focus your search

One of the best tricks I know about internet searching is the use of context terms.  That's a term I invented, it doesn't have any particular function in the search engine, but takes advantage of the co-occurrence of words on a given topic.  


Let me give you an example...   


Often I find myself wanting to look up some particular Google tool or service.  As you know, Google has a LOT of different functions (see Wikipedia's list of Google products)--Google has everything from document editing and spreadsheets up through language translation services, operating systems, and 3D models.


So, how do I find a given Google service?  Hint:  I do NOT have a giant bookmark list, nor do I try to remember all of those URLs.  


Answer:  I use the term "Google" as a context term to find the Google product.  


Example:  I remember that Google has a between-language translation service.  Is it translate.Google.com or google.com/translate or... what?  


I do a search for: 


[ language translate Google ] 


where I add the term "Google" solely as a discrimination term.  It will return the list of translation services offered by Google as the #1 result.  (Note that this isn't Google preferring its own services over others; it's that adding the context term "Google" heavily tilts the results towards Google results... yes, you could have used a site:Google.com -- but using the context term is simpler.)  

Similarly, searches for: 

[ 3d objects Google ] 

gives you a set of links to Google's 3D Warehouse (a name that's not 100% obvious).  

Other uses for context terms:  I've illustrated this with Google services, but you can get to almost any other company's services in the same way.  One that I do fairly often is:  [ scholar Microsoft ] to get to their Academic Search system.  (It's Bing's version of Google Scholar, and offers a few nice features such as co-authorship analysis that I sometimes like to use.) 


I use context terms quite a bit when searching for a particular kind of thing that is proving elusive in my search.  A simple example that springs to mind--adding the term "album" when looking for collections of pictures.  


For instance:  [ diving PNG album ] (where PNG means "Papua New Guinea") finds a bunch of albums from people who've taken the time to pull together their pics from a trip to PNG. (Why both looking for albums?  Because you'll usually get a set of pictures from one trip; that's often a more representative sample of someone's experience on a dive trip than the best 100 pictures from a variety of different photographers.)  


Other useful context terms I've used recently include: 

DIY - for "do it yourself" projects  

tutorial - when looking up a quick tutorial on a topic  

high school - to find materials at a high-school level of detail  

sampler - to look for collections of examples 

Now I'm curious.... what "context terms" do you use in your searches and why? 


Search on! 

Google units conversion trick

If you've ever had to teach someone how to convert units from one form to another, you probably already know that Google lets you do queries like: 


   [ 33 C in F ] 


... and discover that 33C is pretty warm.  


And if you're a regular reader, you know that Google handles most units--English system weights and lengths, temperatures, metric volumes / lengths / etc etc.  


But a nice trick for teachers to know is how to make something personally relevant to your student.  


Suppose your student is 5'3" -- you can convert that to metric with: 


   [ 5.25 feet in meters ] 


and find it's 1.6 meters.  

Great.  That's straightforward enough.  


NOW... suppose you're teaching the concept of a "league" (as in the title of Jules Verne's epic "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea").  


One way to make this personally relevant is to convert 1 league into "student lengths."  


   [ 1 league / 1.6 meters ] 

You can also show the basic algebra to illustrate why 3,472.5 is the number of "student lengths" in 1 league.  But it's nice to know that you can use this little trick to convert from any unit into appropriate other units... including personally relevant ones.  


For instance, I can never remember how long a rod is.  But if I convert it thusly, dividing 1 rod by my height (in meters): 


   [ 1 rod / 1.87 meters ] 

I'll forever remember that 1 rod is 2.68 "Dans" high! 

"Wishin' for a definition" rap

My friend Matt Kane does these marvelous Search Education raps from time to time.  (He's the force behind the Santa Rap last holiday season.)  Here's his latest effort on the utility of the  [ define ]  search feature.  

Enjoy! 

"Power searching with Google" online class

A still from one of the class videos

Regular readers of this blog already know many of the methods I'll be teaching in our upcoming "Power Searching with Google" class.  I've seen your comments: You already know the shortcuts--e.g., using the search box as a calculator or finding local movie showtimes by typing [movies] and your zip code. 


BUT there's more. 


And I'm willing to bet that there's someone you know who doesn't know all this stuff.   

Enter: Power Searching with Google, a free, online, community-based course showcasing these techniques and how you can use them to solve everyday problems. 


Our course is aimed at teaching you to find what you need faster, no matter how you currently use search.  Do you know how to search for and read pages written in languages you’ve never even studied? Identify the location of a picture your friend took during his vacation a few months ago? How about finally identifying that green-covered book about gardening that you’ve been trying to track down for years? 


We'll cover all this and more in six 50-minute classes. 

Lessons will be released daily starting on July 10, 2012, and you can take them according to your own schedule during a two-week window, alongside a worldwide community. We'll have literally thousands of students taking the class at once.  So here's your chance to be part of a much larger learning community.  


The lessons include interactive activities to practice new skills, and many opportunities to connect with others using Google tools such as Google Groups, Moderator and Google+, including Hangouts on Air, where world-renowned search experts will answer your questions on how search works. Googlers will also be on hand during the course period to help and answer your questions in case you get stuck. 

Power Searching with Google blends the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) learning format pioneered by Stanford and MIT with our social and communication tools to create what we hope is a true community learning experience. 

Register here on the course homepage. 


By the end of this course, you'll know several new techniques that will make you a Google Power Searcher and help you find out information about whatever you can imagine—from how to prepare for a new family pet to where moss grows on Stonehenge or how to grow katniss in your garden. Sign up now!  (Or at least forward this post to a friend who really should take such a class!) 


Hope to see you online.  

Answer: Do you have X-ray vision?

What kind of trees?  Answer: Orange trees

Extra credit answer:  They were first planted on 28 January 1534.  

How to solve:  I took the easy way out and did the most obvious thing.  I just zoomed in on the sign over the door.  (Yeah, I know a lot of you did Search-by-Image, which also works.  I’m just taking the simplest route here.) 

Some very clever folks recognized the flags as those of Spain and Catalonia, which would confirm the identity and location of this image.  It’s clearly the “Palau de Generalitat,” a simple search leads quickly to the Wikipedia page.  (It means: "Palace of the Generality," that is, the government of Catalonia.)  

After reading the page, I just searched the page for the word "trees," and voila!

This leads to a match in the photo gallery section of the page with one image labeled "Courtyard of the orange trees (Pati dels Tarongers)."

Another search for [ Pati dels Tarongers ]

Leads to the "Viquipèdia" (that is, the Catalan Wikipedia) page for "Pati dels Tarongers."

Unfortunately for us, the results are in Catalan.  Luckily, it’s a quick step to look for 

[ Google Translate ] and then drop in the URL to get the English translation of the "Viquipèdia" page for "Pati del Tarongers."  

The History section of the translated page tells the story: "The first planting in the garden of Palau was 24 orange(s), the 28 January of 1534, during the three years of Dionysius of Carcassonne."


A few readers noted that there are TWO courtyards in the Palau--and that's correct.  See the following aerial image: 

As you can guess, I took the picture from the lower right of this image (in the plaza) aiming towards the dome.  (Look carefully and you can see the shadows of the flags.)  


The first courtyard is an atrium, a simple, square opening at the entrance.  The larger, irregularly shaped courtyard are where the orange trees are kept.  If zoom in to 100%, you can actually see their shadows as well. 


Talk about X-ray vision! 

Search lesson:  Start simple, then keep following the trail.  Even if it takes you to another language, there's always Google Translate to help out!  

Next week... a much harder puzzle!  Stay tuned.