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OPPORTUNITIES: HOW TO SEARCH

Every great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution. It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it.

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Targeted Searching

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Solving a particular problem requires an exploration task that may include observation in the field or interviewing experts and users. 

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But nowadays the Internet also allows us to access a large amount of information rapidly. Searching for and finding the right information on 
the Internet may help us to learn more about the context of that problem and inspire us with ideas and concepts that we can perhaps use to solve it. For example, knowing how the solution to that problem has already been tackled in different ways. 

Some advice for carr​ying out a targeted search

  • Thinking in advance of the key words or combinations of key words that best describe the problem or possible solutions. 

  • Using the advanced search capabilities of the main search engines (literal search, aggregated, with exceptions, etc.). 

  • Using key words in other languages as well, especially in English, to increase the number of possible search results. 

  • Using the images or videos search options can also be a quick way of finding relevant information about a problem. 

  • When communicating the search results to the others, it is important to do so concisely and answering the questions WHAT and HOW

In this task, each group will only choose 1 example to work on. You will have to identify its key concepts. After reading and talking as a group, you will comment your case with the other groups. and come up with your own conclusions.

Task 1: "3 Examples": As an example on target searching, the following three sheets present three different problems and different ways of solving them, which may be discovered by searching for information on the Internet.  This and other examples may be used for doing a quick exercise on how to obtain information on the Internet that could be useful for solving a problem. 

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As a team, read all of them and comment later as a class. Then, in teams try to come up with new solutions to the problems posed.

Remember that:

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  • You may understand that the first phase of solving any problem is finding out what is known and what is not known about it. â€‹

  • Before trying to solve a problem it is necessary to know what the existing solutions are.​

  • It is important you understand that any problem may have completely different and numerous solutions.

  • It is essential to know the context of the opportunity for it to be possible to succeed as an entrepreneur. 

  • It is also essential to be aware of all your personal abilities as a key element for solving a problem and finding a solution (results of the activity done on the first day).

  • It is also important to organise a team search for information online.

  • It is important to plan a fieldwork to obtain the information needed to be able to solve the problem posed.

  • It is important to be able to summarise the information so that it is useful for the project. 

Task 2: "What We Know": In this task, your team will have to complete the four sections of the knowledge map “What we know” and plan your fieldwork according to the identified lack of information. It should be possible to complete the section “Who has solved it” partially with information found on the Internet. 

 

The sections “What we know” and “What we don't know” will provide you with the questions to which you have to find answers during the fieldwork for this module. The section “What abilities do we have as a team” draws on the individual knowledge of each member of the team (reusing the template from the activity done in the first session “Your ability to be an entrepreneur”). 

 

The team must keep this template, as it will be used again at the start of the next session. 

 

Once an initial knowledge map has been drawn up, you can begin to search with the computer.   

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Now you have found all the potentially useful information, your team will have to plan and agree on a search strategy (virtual and in person) to be implemented during fieldwork. 

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Remember to upload the document to your drive.

Task 3: “What we have found”. You will have to obtain very concise examples to identify at least five cases related to a possible solution to your problem to make possible to understand it better and, therefore, design new solutions. 

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In order to do so, each team has to organize the search for information according to: 

  • the problem for which they have to find a solution 

  • and the information that they already have. 

 

You can find that information not only online but also by asking people affected by the problem or associated with it. 

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