Google tools are resources which can help students in journalism to find out more about their researches and back them with evidence. A journalism professor taught his students to use Google Earth Pro, Google Earth Engine Timelapse and Google Earth for Chrome.
He introduces them the basics of each tool, rules for using all the media taken from Google and more.
Google Earth Tools
The Google Earth Engine Timelapse
This is a very easy program to learn and gives the student information about data, location and change. It is a video which lets you see how Earth changed from 1984 to 2016. You can see the environment changes, city growth, and glaciers melting. They can also create a tour which will move from a location to another by using the Timelapse Tour Editor.
Google Earth for Chrome
This is the next tool which could be useful for anyone who wants to explore the Earth. You can find this tool on your Android as a mobile app. Google has introduced the “I’m Feeling Lucky” feature which will randomly take you to an interesting location. Once you get there, you can find out a lot of information on that place, organized in the right corner of the screen. You can use the option “Street View” and look closer. The images which contain faces of people or license plates are blurred to keep ethics and privacy intact.
Students from Journalism have been given assignments to check with the help of Google Earth if the locations they were given were correct or not.
Google Earth Pro
This is a downloadable tool for personal use, where you can check a lot of locations before and after some events such as new buildings, places which have been demolished and so on.
The students are given a walkthrough for the program and then are given assignments such as the migration of Irish immigrants, or a tour of concerts or football stadium and so on.
The Google tools are a good opportunity to think big and rely on other new sources, to widen the creativity, while also taking into consideration accuracy and the quality of information.