Internet Search: When More is Less?

The search engines agencies employ to dig deep into their databases to pluck out relevant documents and data has been uniformly considered a grand advance in being able to collect information faster and easier, which in turn makes workers better and smarter.

But research recently conducted by James Evans, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Chicago and a fellow at the Computation Institute, indicates that that may not necessarily be the case. Evans studied a database of 34 million science articles and found that as more articles came online, the less likely they were to be cited in research and those that were tended to be more recent. The study appeared in the July 18 issue of Science.

In an Aug. 12 blog entry he wrote on the Britannica Blog, Evans noted, "In short, searching online is more efficient, and hyperlinks quickly put researchers in touch with prevailing opinion, but they may also accelerate consensus and narrow the range of findings and ideas grappled with by scholars.”

What's more telling is what he added:

Ironically, my research suggests that one of the chief values of print library research is its poor indexing. Poor indexingâ€"indexing by titles and authors, primarily within journalsâ€"likely had the unintended consequence of actually helping the integration of science and scholarship. By drawing researchers into a wider array of articles, print browsing and perusal may have facilitated broader comparisons and scholarship.

Evans’ blog was in response to the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” which appeared in The Atlantic. In the article, author Nick Carr argues that the Internet has rewired our brains so that it diminishes our ability to be reflective and to be more interpretive.

It doesn’t take much to see the implications for government analysts of any type â€" intelligence and law enforcement agents, environmentalists, economists, health researchers and, of course, scientists -- who use Internet search engines as well as proprietary ones linked into government databases, such as Justice Department case files. Highly relevant and specific search results narrow findings and can possibly prohibit the eurekas that come from a broader search, which can link what is seemingly unrelated material that provides real insight. Or does the Internet's benefits outweigh those costs?

Hat Tip: Nick Carr's RoughType blog entry "Easy Does It"