Web Search Guide

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

Line

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

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

New Search Engines

On the Web

This handout
plc.fis.utoronto.ca/courses/gharris/ ola2004/handout.htm

Web Version of Presentation
plc.fis.utoronto.ca/course/gharris/
ola2004/ola2004.htm
(Best viewed with Internet Explorer 5.0 +).

WebSearchGuide
(www.websearchguide.ca): The Web Search Guide is about web searching, web strategies and tools from a Canadian perspective. Site has newsletters on search-related topics, tutorials on web searching, a weblog of Internet news. Join the mailing list for announcements.

Web-Based Courses about Searching the Web
Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto
plc.fis.utoronto.ca/
courses_webbased.asp

e-Content Institute - Information Highways Magazine
www.econtentinstitute.org
See Web Search Alert column. January/February 2004 issue covers news alerting tools.


Gwen Harris
Gwen Harris Information Services
goharris@websearchguide.ca


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

Toolbars