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Ever Widening Circles

Jiahui Huang // Flickr

Culture

3 minute lesson

Have a Question? Ask the Human Google!

Ever Widening Circles

How did we answer questions before Google?

What did we do with our strange and more obscure questions? Sure there was our local library, maybe consulting our own dictionaries or encyclopedias, but sometimes those just weren’t enough. For the past forty years, the New York Public Library‘s “Human Google” has been answering those stumping pre-Google inquiries with “Ask NYPL”.

Oh, and guess what, you can still call them today!

Great Big Story, has more on this fascinating factoid curiosity…

Why It Matters

When was the last time you went somewhere other than Google (or the internet) for an answer to a question?

Maybe we are missing something in just being able to “Google it.” Perhaps there was something to the sense of exploration or discovery that came with having to leaf through a book or two for an answer to our question or ask another person.

The way we find the answers to our questions may be changing, but there is no denying that access to the internet has the power to connect us to new people, learn more about different cultures, and when we know how to use it, expand our worldviews in a positive and productive way.

Let's Talk About It
  1. What are some of the ways finding out information has changed with the internet?
  2. How can we determine if the information we find on the internet is true or based in facts?
  3. What are some of the ways, or websites, you use to find information? How do you fact check those sources?

Great Big Story

Great Big Story is a global media company devoted to cinematic storytelling. Headquartered in New York, with a bureau in London, our studios create and distribute micro-docs and short films, as well as series for digital, social, TV and theatrical release.

Thank You

Thank you to the EWCed writing staff! If you want to submit content to EWCed, please let us know.

Citations

“The New York Public Library Has a Human Google.” YouTube. Great Big Story, 17 Oct. 2016. Web. 05 Dec. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfqgDG1qrKg>.

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