• About
    • About the FIA
    • Priorities
    • Our Team
    • Brainstorming Board
    • Partners and Affiliates
    • Contact Us
  • News + Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Videos
    • Newsletters
    • @FIAumd
    • In the Media
  • Spark Grants
    • Spark Grants Overview
    • Spark Grants FAQ
    • 2012-2015 Seed Grants
    • 2012-2015 Seed Grant Winners
  • Special Topics
    • SearchReSearch
    • Curated Topics
FIA

SearchReSearch

Search Challenge (5/4/16): Which animals are associated with what professions?

Dan Russell • May 4, 2016
 SearchReSearch
Republished with permission from SearchReSearch
Search Challenge (5/4/16): Which animals are associated with what professions? Dan Russell
It's time for a bit of fun...

... and, in truth, a Challenge that's both easy... and pretty hard.

Here's the key idea for this week.

As you know, some animals seems to be closely linked to certain professions. For example, the dalmatian dog is often thought of in connection with firefighters (at least in the US). If you see a dalmatian dog (the white dog with black spots below), you think of a firefighter.


There's an interesting reason why that's so, but I'll leave that to you to find out.

But thinking about this larger question--HOW would you find something that's difficult to express as a search?

The key of this week's Challenge is to see if we can find a general strategy to discover which animals are linked to particular jobs.

Here's how I'm going to put this week's Challenge:

Can you find an animal that's closely linked to a particular profession? What's the animal? What's the profession? And what's the connection?

I can think of a couple of professions and animal connections (and maybe you can too). I suspect the more difficult problem here is to come up with a search query that will work to identify such things. Bear in mind we're looking for a common relationship between an animal and the profession.

And no, we don't want things like cow / farmer, or snake / snake milker--those are animals that are basically farm animals. What we're looking for is something like the dog / firefighter relationship--an animal that is a symbol of the profession.

This is easy, in the sense that you probably know a couple of these already... you just have to say what they are.

But it's hard in that I don't know how to express a query that will find such relationships.

Can you?

Be sure to say HOW you found your animal / profession pair. And if you can, let us know why that animal is linked to that profession.

Search on!

Share

Comments

This post was republished. Comments can be viewed and shared via the original site.
20 comments

About the Author

Dan RussellDan Russell

I study the way people search and research. I guess that makes me an anthropologist of search. While I work at Google, my blog and G+ posts reflects my own thoughts and not those of my employer. I am FIA's Future-ist in Residence. More »

Recent News

  • Deepfakes and the Future of Facts
    Deepfakes and the Future of FactsSeptember 27, 2019
  • Book cover for Joy of Search by Daniel M. Russell
    The Joy of Search: A Google Insider’s Guide to Going Beyond the BasicsSeptember 26, 2019
  • The Future of Facts in a ‘Post-Truth’ World
    The Future of Facts in a ‘Post-Truth’ WorldMay 15, 2018
  • The Future of Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive Storytelling
    The Future of Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive StorytellingJune 6, 2017

More »

Upcoming Events

There are no upcoming events scheduled. Please check back later.
Event Archive »
Video Archive »

Join Email List

SearchReSearch

  • SearchResearch Challenge (3/22/23):  What do you call the sediment that blocks a river from flowing to the sea?
    SearchResearch Challenge (3/22/23): What do you call the sediment that blocks a river from flowing to the sea?March 22, 2023
  • Answer: What do these everyday symbols mean?
    Answer: What do these everyday symbols mean?March 15, 2023
  • SearchResearch Challenge (3/8/23): What do these everyday symbols mean?
    SearchResearch Challenge (3/8/23): What do these everyday symbols mean?March 8, 2023
  • PSA:  Read Clive Thompson’s article about how he does research
    PSA: Read Clive Thompson’s article about how he does researchMarch 3, 2023

More »

University of Maryland logo
Robert W. Deutsch Foundation logo
Google logo
Barrie School
Library of Congress logo
State of Maryland logo
National Archives logo
National Geographic Society logo
National Park Service logo
Newseum logo
Sesame Workshop logo
Smithsonian logo
WAMU
© 2023 The Future of Information Alliance, University of Maryland | Privacy Policy | Web Accessibility