Web Search Alert
OLA Super Conference - January 31, 2004
Gwen Harris

Nothing Stands Still

Search Engine News:

• Search engine war between Yahoo and Google. MSN is holding fire until later in 2004.
• Yahoo will drop Google and use Inktomi soon.
• Small changes at Altavista or Alltheweb. Now use the same news database.
• Google becoming a portal - Blogger, Froogle, News, Images - more coming.
• Ask Jeeves has a toe hold.

Google Update:

• Added synonym operator ~ to pick up word variants and closely associated words.
• Automatically stems some words. For dietary will pick up diet, diets, dieting. Can stop stemming with +. May be adding semantic text processing.
• Added several shortcuts for converting amounts, tracking parcels, identifying area codes and much else. See www.google.ca/help/features.html
• Has been rejigging the ranking algorithms with mixed success.
• Aims to be universal. Has started to capture book excerpts and IEEE standards and abstracts. Is working with OCLC to connect to library holdings.
• Google News Alerts are very good (www.google.com/newsalerts)

Shortcuts

• One word triggers for quick lookups.
• Ask Jeeves - sp.ask.com/docs/about/tech_features.html
• Google - www.google.com/help/features.html
• Yahoo - /help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/tips/tips-01.html
• Alltheweb, Google and Ask Jeeves can do calculations and conversions.

Toolbars and Deskbars

• Toolbars are browser add-ons. Work with Windows Internet Explorer.
• Deskbar needs Windows but not browser.
• Search from anywhere. Often have extra tools like dictionary, weather, phone numbers.
• Can add search engines to Copernic Meta and Google Deskbar.
• Blocks pop-ups.
• Highlights search terms on page.
• Keeps history of searches.

Visual

• Grokker has throbing spheres. New. Software - 30 day trial. (www.grokker.com)
• Kartoo on the Web. New display, more function. (www.kartoo.com)

New Search Engines

• Amazon - Search Inside the Book. Will find pages where words occurred.
• HighBeam Research - eLibrary ($) + Web + Reference. Many features. (www.highbeam.com)
• BrainBoost (www.brainboost.com) question answering.
• Meceoo (www.meceoo.com) metasearch - set up own group.
• Mooter (www.mooter.com) clusters concepts.

Selected Articles

Web Stars: Best of the Web. PC World (Feb 2004) www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,113745,00.asp

Google
Some Hidden Google Tools by Mary Ellen Bates (Jan 2004) www.batesinfo.com/tip.html#January2004

OCLC Project Opens WorldCat Records to Google - Newsbreaks (Oct 27, 2003) www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb031027-2.shtml
Open WorldCat Pilot www.oclc.org/worldcat/pilot/

Google Beta Tests Book Search Service by Barbara Quint. Newsbreaks (Dec 22, 2003) www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb031222-2.shtml

Applied Semantics & Stemming: The future of Google Searching! http://www.searchguild.com/article39.html

Google's (and Inktomi's) Miserable Failure by Danny Sullivan (Jan 6, 2004) searchenginewatch.com/sereport/article.php/3296101

Shortcuts
Taking Shortcuts by Gwen Harris. Information Highways (Nov 2003) tinyurl.com/w8lr

Ask Jeeves Releases List of "Smart Answer" Shortcuts by Gary Price (July 23, 2003) tinyurl.com/ysv26

Visual Aids
Bringing order to chaos, AP in Globe and Mail (Jan 2, 2004) - Discusses how Vivisimo, Grokker ( downloadable program), and even Teoma help to bring order out of chaos by grouping results by topic. tinyurl.com/293k2

Toolbars
Designs on Desktop Search by Stephanie Olsen. CNet News (Jan 12, 2004) zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5138715.html

Toolbars: Trash or Treasures? Greg Notess, Online (Jan 2004)
www.infotoday.com/online/jan04/OnTheNet.shtml

Amazon
Amazon Full-Text Search; Advanced Search Features by Genie Tyburski. (Oct 28, 2003) www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/oct03/28oct03.html#amazon
Amazon's Information Page - Search Inside the Book - tinyurl.com/2xzgw

Trends
Top Internet Trends for 2004 By Rob Greenlee, WebTalk Radio (Jan 6 2004) http://www.webtalkradio.com/10604.shtml