One of the things that I learned in this class is how to use the school’s database systems to conduct research. Prior to taking this class, I always though the most efficient way to acquire information was to “Google” any given topic and this would yield a number of searches that I can choose from. Now I know that, by using certain databases provided by the school, and by using key words in my searches, I can find the most appropriate sources that best satisfy my searches. This brings me to my next big take-away from this class, which is how to properly conduct research.

I never realized that there was a “right way” to conducting research before taking this class. I can recall many situations in which I would just type a full question in the Google/Bing/yahoo search box, and just base my searches off from that. Now that I know the proper way to conduct research, it is embarrassing to think that this was my research method for a while. This class has taught me how to use key words in my search in order to yield the best results possible. I am confident that my newly acquired knowledge of how to conduct research will not only serve me well throughout the remainder of my time as an undergraduate student, but it will also serve me well in my respective profession.

My last, big take-away from this course was the whole concept of the “filter bubble” suggested by Eli Pariser in his book. My recent comprehension of the information diet has led me to question my perspective of the world as I currently see it. I now know that I must be very cautious with what I chose to search via the internet. I also learned that it is very important to have an open mind and search things that that I wouldn’t normally search, because that would result in me popping my own personal filter bubble.

One thing that I wish we could have alluded to further within the duration of this course was how to secure our privacy better and reduce the exposure of all pertinent information to the web. I feel that it would have been very useful to learn how to many protect ourselves from the algorithms that internet companies implement in efforts to acquire our information. This especially would be useful for individuals whom aren’t internet savvy, such as myself.