Browsing, searching and filtering information & digital content pertains the general digital competence of Information and Data Literacy, which includes being able to:

Articulate information needs
Search for data, information and content in the digital environments
Access data and navigate between them
Create and update personal search strategies

1. Understanding of difference between open-access and not-open-access format of some of the online content available on the Web 2. Awareness of the not-monetary costs that comes with free open access content (i.e., gathering and users’ data) 3. Understanding of the basic principles impacting and influencing the content recommended by search engines (i.e., location of the user and their digital ‘behaviours’, local regulations, past searches, devices, etc.)	1.Know how to select the search engine that most likely suits one’s needs 2. Know how to improve the search strategy based on available features – including when interacting with AI and advanced Smart Speakers 3. Know how to make use of hyperlinks and data presented in different format other than text 4. Know how to generate and refine search methodologies for each given specific purpose 5. Know how to handle and filter information	1. Avoid information overload 2. Leverage on tools designed to protect users’privacy (i.e., VPN services and related) 3. Conscious and calculated use of AI-based searches – and awareness of their limitations 4. Awareness of the accessibility & usability limitations of many online sources by people with special needs (i.e., visual impairments)

The whole process is designed to:

	1.   ARTICULATE – Set-up the scouting of resources and digital content
	2.   SEARCH – Streamline the browsing experience from redundant inputs
	3.   ACCESS – Land successfully on the resources that you are interested in
	4.   CREATE – Better orienteering yourself in the digital environment

The starting point to articulate a browsing, searching and filtering strategy is represented by the identification of a precise focus question: the thing that you want to answer to by implementing the browsing, searching and filtering strategy

•    Top 10 best documentaries on WW2

•    Vegan recipe for Christmas dinner

•    Plumbers near [your area]

•    Outdoor activities in [location of your choice]

•    Etc…
 

Any focus question should be tailored and formulated so as to be:

1.    Short
2.    Concise
3.    Comprehensive
4.    Detailed 
5.    Specified in quantity and quality features (examples, top X number of…, best prices for…)
 

Too many…is bad		Too few…is bad as well
The use of too many keywords might by counter-productive: search engines might not be able to find something that matches all of your filters, and the search results will be a list of references, which embrace and include all of your keywords at large.		The reasons why the use of too few keywords is counter-productive is self-explanatory. The use of keywords is aimed at filtering the search process for results that might be irrelevant. When too keywords are applied, the search results risk to be too generic and broad
Ideal number of keywords is 4		Formulated in a complete sentence
The balance between one too many and too few is four. This number of keywords will allow for enough SEARCH margins with no prejudice to the depth and scale of potential results		Keywords should be inputted in search engines so that they reflect the focus question of reference

! Note that by keywords we might mean also other references that are not necessarily ‘words’:
•    Dates
•    Format of the file that you need (PDF ≠ DOC.)   
 

By articulating your focus question, and after searching by keywords, you will have available for your reference a long list of SEARCH results that might potentially answer to your needs.

At this stage, there are few additional tricks helping you in broadening the set of potential results of interest:

•    Mixing different keywords matching the same focus question

•    Changing the search engine by starting from the same keywords (or similar)

•    Narrowing down the search through focal points
 

There are many ways in which you can articulate a focus question. Keywords can be potentially mixed and / or re-arranged so as to wide the set of results available. When browsing trough online content, try to see what happens by inputting different filters – there might be interesting results laying beyond your first search perimeter. You can either use: •    synonyms or similar (lawyer → attorney; teacher → educator; coach → mentor) •    other words broadening the meaning (Christmas → holiday)

Different search engines, might lead to different results. Search engine can represent the very first filter of your browsing experience.

•    Google Chrome
•    Firefox
•    Bing
•    Internet explorer (now Edge)
•    Safari

Each of this search engine comes with their own tips and recommendations to fine-tune and refine your search strategies (example: Refine Web Searches, Google)

Focal points are large websites with a vast library of content more or less specialized on a specific theme / topics.
Rather than doing generic research trough search engines, you might be interested in visiting from the get-go website and platform that provide for and gather content on which the focus question is based on:

Generic	Specialized	Others
•    Various sharing platforms as YouTube	•    Booking (hotel, rent apartment for holiday, etc)	•    Communities online and on social media
•    Knowledge sharing programme as TEDx	•    Skyscanner (flights’ booking, etc)
•    Etc…	•    Oxford dictionary
	•    Etc…
Search outputs are presented to you based on the consistency and coherence of that source to your focus question and related keywords… … however, please note that in the vast majority of cases, the first results popping-up might as advertised content (paid online communication by the promoting website).

Going back to the example of ‘Top 10 best documentaries on WW2’, it is possible that you will see popping up also recommendations on books, paid documentaries and anything else in-between not necessarily matching your search criteria.

Refined and “advanced” search strategies might make use of different techniques and tools:

MANUAL RESOURCES:
	•    Each search engine comes with typically with its own tips and recommendations to finetune and refine search strategies (example: Refine Web Searches, Google)
AI-BASED browsing tools (chat bots):
	•    AI-based browsing tools are becoming the new normal, and they are already embedded within search engines. Being able to interact with AI-based browsing tools will allow you to make much more efficient your browsing, searching and filtering process

The advent of ChatGPT opened the doors to a large cohort of services and tools that make use of AI to provide for users real-time information and resources. 

The way you should interact with these resources is no different from “traditional” search engines:

1.    Come up with a focus question
2.    Highlight keywords
3.    Provide suggestions on the kind of results that you wish to receive back

A sample of AI-based chatbots and search engines: AI-chatbots are programs and software programmed to simulate human conversations. The objective is to make users feel like the interaction is with another person, rather than a ‘machine’.  Chatbots are designed to improve on a daily-basis, each interaction they have feeds them new data that the AI utilize to improve the quality of the answer they provide for.

•    YouChat
•    Neeva 
•    Jasper Chat
•    Character AI
•    Google Bard
•    Caktus
•    Colossal Chat
•    PepperType 
•    MagikPen
•    Bing AI
•    ChatSonic

cons of chat bots… according to chat bots

Example made with Bing

Example made with Bing, based on the search question: ‘best chatbots to learn a new language’

Example made with Bing, based on the search question: ‘How do I recognize fake news?’