JUST GOOGLE IT!
August 18th, 2008“Just Google it” – just about anyone reading this knows what I mean. Maybe a couple of years ago, Grandma may have smacked you on the face for saying this (at least that was my grandmother’s initial reaction to any new saying). But no, today, grandma has probably already beaten you to the punch and has Google as her home page on her laptop. So what’s to blog about a search engine? How about the Google Book search engine and its repercussions towards our younger generation becoming engineers?
If you haven’t ever used it, here’s a brief description from Google:
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“ Many of the books in Google Book Search come from authors and publishers who participate in our Partner Program. For these books, our partners decide how much of the book is browsable — anywhere from a few sample pages to the whole book….” One of the nice twists about the search engine is the ability to specify “Full View Only” as one of the search criteria. Who needs to view 1800 books on a subject when there are 200 full view choices on-line?
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Now Google isn’t alone in the online book world, but they have the biggest name recognition so let’s start there. What does an online book search engine have to do with an engineering education? Well, let’s do a search and see…. how about a book used at the # 1 ranked engineering school in the country, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (or MIT for short). The secrets and information shared by those individuals must be top secret or classified…. No way an average ordinary person could access the information contained inside the hallow halls of MIT!
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Of course, we all know today that isn’t true, nor even a remote issue. Any of us can access more information about MIT and their educational system than any one person can absorb, all available at our fingertips online. And that’s true for all of our universities and colleges throughout our vast country.
And the best part about it – no one can stop you based upon your race, religion, economic status, sex, or whatever. That’s the point of this blog – the world’s libraries are available to each of you at your fingertips, and no one can stop you (or wants to stop you) from accessing all of the knowledge that lies within. And that’s really the biggest part of an education – exposing you to knowledge and information developed by your predecessors. Engineering would be an extremely difficult career choice if we all had to start from scratch! But we don’t, and the access is unlimited.
So back to my book search, how about a subject I deal with every day, Civil Engineering. Do students at MIT learn restricted information about the civil engineering only available to a special few? I would think so, God knows they are paying for it…… I mean fair is fair.
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But again I’m being sarcastic, after 60 seconds of a Google Book Search (I’m exhausted), I’ve found something interesting to me, Airport System Development. Airport projects are what I work on every day as a civil engineer. The same authors that wrote my tranportation engineering book I used at Virginia Tech wrote this book. You can view it here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=hihBG2mzB1MC&pg=PT4&dq=airport+engineering&lr=&as_brr=1&sig=ACfU3U1tkmVWvGzO7zR0CXnhVonvc3hBkQ
What do you know, I can read just about the entire book and I never left home. Not only can I read the book, but I can find out what books MIT uses as their textbooks. Then try to locate them online, or similar texts. Didn’t have to spend a penny, and I have access to so much information.
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But life has always been this way hasn’t it?
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Well, if you think so, then I love your young naivety, but I’ve got news for you, not only were many people restricted from entrance to our greatest educational facilities, but they were restricted access to our most humble and basic libraries. Why, well it’s complicated and delves into a lifelong lesson in world history, a little too much for a blog. But there are plenty of books available online in which you can read all about it for free. And I promise, no one will ask you about your skin color, religion, sex, how much money you have or any other information, because society finally seems to be grasping the meaning conveyed in our Declaration of Independence – that we are all equal.
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I hope you’ve had a chance to watch some of the Olympic games in China – and noticed some of the news stories about the Chinese government trying to figure out what to allow and what to restrict in terms of internet access, published news stories, etc. It wasn’t long ago that our own government tried to figure out ways to restrict people’s access to information – true freedom is an education. Governments can strip you of your freedom, but they can never take away your education. That was a lesson my father taught to me at a young age, and I understand it more now than ever before. He wasn’t referring to a formal education, he was talking about my own personal education – because a smart professor doesn’t guarantee that you will get any smarter for listening to them – you have to educate yourself. You can certainly learn form others, but when it comes down to what you know and understand, only you know the real answer. Did you learn something or not? Are you more educated than you were before?
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The greatest possible engineering education in the history of mankind is available to anyone, online, at his or her fingertips. More amazing information and knowledge than any one-person can absorb in a lifetime. That’s amazing. There has never been a time like this in the history of human civilization. No restrictions – the only person stopping you is you! So if I was back in high school, would I work any harder to get into MIT knowing what I know now? Probably not, I would still be preoccupied by that one girl in my history class…… but, I might browse through that book on Airport System Development - might was well get ahead of the game if you can!!
Mark McGuire
Campbell & Paris Engineers