We all know the power of Google. Google has transformed the way we conduct everyday tasks, the way students pull together resources, and the way we think about “research” in general.
But believe it or not, Google has its limits. You can type in key words, of course, and get a long list of related web pages. You can type in a question, and get a long list of related web pages that may or may not contain the specific answer to your question.
Well, I was reading on Nova Spivack’s blog about a brand new type of search engine that could make research much, much easier. True Knowledge, based in Cambridge, England, provides information by tapping into the ways that computers can understand it. So, instead of spitting out a long list of search results, True Knowledge is able to answer your question very clearly and site the source of that information.
If you go to the True Knowledge site, you can watch the demo video and see how this works. They offer this sample question: “Is Jennifer Lopez single?” If you type that in Google, you’ll get lots of sites that reference J-Lo, but you will have to dig through them all to find the answer to your question.
True Knowledge, on the other hand, gets right to it with this answer: “No. Jennifer Lopez was married to Marc Anthony on the 5th of June, 2004.” It also clarifies the question and provides alternate definitions of “single” for further search options.
Cool.
This is more evidence of the fact that things are changing rapidly and we continue to create innovative ways to gain, use and share information. School textbooks have their purpose, but we need to be aware of the ways in which information will be gathered, distributed and synthesized in the future.
The key point is this: when it comes to 21st century learning, it’s not the CONTENT that matters as much as the SKILLS one develops that lead to understanding and synthesis.
More on that in my book. 
