I began teaching from my own Scheme of Work on Friday 21 Nov. I was asked by a student, during a class discussion and slide show on Impressionism, about further work by Van Gogh. I had no extra slides on Van Gogh prepared so I 'Googled' him. In fact as Pembrokeshire College computers do not use Google I actually I 'Bing'd' him.
I always use Google at home and was happy surprised to find Bing superior to Google. Superior in that the images were all relevant and there is an option to play images as a slide show, whilst keeping an eye on the images due to come up in the order of slides at the bottom.
Bing is owned by Microsoft and is a major competitor with Google and was launched in 2009. In Bing's bid to become the main competitor of Google it announced in 2011 it would power Yahoo's organic results.
I had no idea that Bing had quietly been evolving but as Bing's Corporate Vice President, Mike Nichols says: "We continued testing our results [...] Bing was regularly beating Google in web search results quality. [...] It's time to break the Google habit – you deserve more from your search engine."(Nichols, 2012)
Well, needless to say I do deserve more from my search engine, so I rushed to "Bing it on"
This screenshot above shows the results of my bing vs Google test. Not entirely conclusive but there you go! I may yet break the Google habit, time will tell.
References
Nichols,
Mike (2012) ‘Take the Bing It On Challenge!’. Available at: http://blogs.bing.com/search/2012/09/06/take-the-bing-it-on-challenge/ [Accessed: 12th November 2014]
Bibliography
Altoft, P, (2014) ‘Yahoo Organic results powered by Bing from
3rd August in UK’. Available at: http://www.branded3.com/blogs/yahoo-organic-results-powered-by-bing-from-3rd-august-in-uk/ [Accessed: 12th November 2014]
Bing, (2014) ‘Bing it on’, Available at: http://www.bingiton.com [Accessed: 12th Novmber 2014]
Ward-Bailey, J. (2014) ‘Search engine wars: Microsoft invite Google to “Bing it on”’. Available at: http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2012/0907/Search-engine-wars-Microsoft-invites-Google-to-Bing-It-On. [Accessed: 12th November 2014]
Bing (2014) Available at: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Post%20Impressionism%20Van%20Gogh [Accessed: 12th November 2014]
Bing, (2014) ‘Bing it on’, Available at: http://www.bingiton.com [Accessed: 12th Novmber 2014]
Ward-Bailey, J. (2014) ‘Search engine wars: Microsoft invite Google to “Bing it on”’. Available at: http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2012/0907/Search-engine-wars-Microsoft-invites-Google-to-Bing-It-On. [Accessed: 12th November 2014]
Bing (2014) Available at: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Post%20Impressionism%20Van%20Gogh [Accessed: 12th November 2014]
Hi Ben, these are looking Swanky! I am 'Binging It On' and 'Banging On About Bing' too! ;-) .. I have found it to be far superior to Google when searching for educational resources, specialised info and varying schools of thought on a specific subject. Google is far more geared up to commercialism, advertising and profiteering ..which I don't mind if I'm looking for a new pair of wellies or some perfume; but Bing is definitely better for academic study and education..it's great when you discover something better isn't it :-) I need as much help as I can get that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteWell done on your blogs - they're great!
Andie.
Thanks for the support Andie, ye I was new to bing and will continue to discover through it in class with my learners.
ReplyDeleteBen
I enjoyed this post Ben, it made me smile inside. I can feel your genuine pleasure and (smug glee) at having discovered something (potentially) better...how exciting! I felt the same way when I discovered Bing. I found some really cool and quirky stuff, it's really good for 'arty' stuff - but then Google is Google, and well - steak or lobster..? :-) ..Mmmm?...lobster!
ReplyDeleteAndie.
ooops..I've just realised that I have already commented on liking this post..der. Oh well, I guess that shows that I like this post. Andie
ReplyDelete