Search engines rev up for holidays Associated Press Via Globe and Mail (Nov 27) - about using product comparison sites for shopping - works well for shoppers in the United States and not so well for people outside. See the WSG Newsletter on Comparison Shopping on the Web.
Meta Tags - What Are They and Which Search Engines Use Them? By Richard Zwicky. SearchGuild (Nov 28) Meta Tags are used in creating web pages to provide additional information about the page - author, description, keywords, perhaps copyright information. This article describes what they are and how to use them but doesn't identify which search engines use them. In general search engines don't use the metatag for retrieving or ranking results but may use it for the description.
I had lunch with my Google doppelganger by Robin Pascoe. Globe and Mail (Nov 27) "In this story, we don't see the dark side of globalization. It's a real, human, cross-cultural tale of finding commonalities and letting the rest take care of itself." - Robin Pascoe, reporter from North Vancouver, met her Google doppelganger, also a reporter, in Amsterdam.
It's being reported that Google's latest reindex has dropped many top sites in the rankings. Recent Google Update Giving Critics Ammunition (Nov 26). Cory Kleinschmidt at Traffick.com warns that such radical change is bound to annoy search engine marketers and webmasters.
Seth Finklestein thinks this might be a Google Bayesian Spam Filtering Problem (Nov 26). Google could be fighting spam with a Bayesian spam filter -- "a method for probabilistically estimating the likelihood that material is spam. " -- and experiencing unintended results.
Too much information By Nathan Cochrane. TheAge.com.au (November 11, 2003)
Report from Australia on the importance of information literacy and the difficulty under conditions of overload.
"Information literacy is viewed as a "prerequisite for participating effectively in the information society", according to the United Nations' Prague Declaration issued at the end of September. It is essential in reducing inequities, promoting tolerance and closing the digital divide, said the experts from 23 countries, including Australia, in a joint statement following talks in the Czech Republic. They suggested that information literacy should be given the same standing as the "Three-Rs"."
ShadowTV Delivers Searchable Video News to Web Consumers by Barbara Quint. Newsbreaks (Nov 24) -- ShadowTV, "the online monitoring service that offers full-text searchable access and delivery of television news", is now offering a consumer monitoring service.
"Real-time access through the new service is restricted to CNBC and NBC News programs, but users will also have access to a 2-week archive of all CNBC programs plus NBC’s “Today,” “NBC Nightly News,” and “Meet the Press.” Within 7 minutes of a live television broadcast, subscribers can search for words or phrases or read e-mail alerts. Once found, subscribers link to video streams hosted on ShadowTV’s equipment. The service will cost $12.95 a month for the NBC shows, $19.95 for CNBC, and $29.95 for both."
Looksmart has changed the interface for FindArticles.com. Findarticles is the joint project with Gale to provide full text of articles from some 700 publications. The new interface has tabs for searching the Looksmart directory, the Web - through Wisenut (web results and sponsored listings), and Articles. Publications are also organized by topic.
There have been some improvements to the article search at FindArticles. Display is much cleaner - no more Courier font. It automatically looks for ALL words. But it would be very nice if we could also limit the search by date or at least sort by date.
Also -- LookSmart Enhances Full-Text Article Search By Zachary Rodgers. SiliconValley.com (Nov 24)
Special report from Business Week on Online Shopping (Nov 24)
> E-Shoppers Are Now E-Spenders: Retailers are learning to give Web customers what they want, such as better integration of sites and stores and flexible return policies
> Why Amazon Still Packs a Punch: Skeptics on the Street have counted out the giant of online retailing many times, but the outfit always seems to come back swinging
> These Sites Are a Shopper's Dream: Comparison sites such as Shopping.com and BizRate are growing fast -- and making money bringing buyers and merchants together
> B2B, Take 2: After the dot-com bust, the few surviving exchanges have emerged with strong corporate ties, sharpened relevance, and powerful converts
> An Iffy Prognosis for Online Pharmacies: Greying baby boomers guarantee that the industry will take off. Trouble is, legal issues and questionable sites make it tough to pick winners
> A "Behind-the-Scenes" E-Commerce Power: GSI Commerce's Michael Rubin explains how his outfit does all the heavy lifting for clients' retail sites.
The Cook’s Thesaurus: Everything You Want to Know About Ingredients
by Roberta Roberti. LinkUp (Nov 15) -- Cook's Thesaurus (www.foodsubs.com) -- "an amazing collection of synonyms and pronunciations for just about every type of food you can think of. "
U.S. complaints about e-commerce rising REuters via USA Today (Nov 24)
"The survey by the Consumer Federation of America found an increase in the number of local consumer agencies that cited e-commerce or the Internet as a major complaint category in 2002, pushing it into one of the top 10 complaints."
Also -- ""The Internet is the best avenue for any crook you could ever want," Hannan said."
KartOO: New Version and Targeted Personalisation of Results For Cartographic Interface Search Engine PRNewswire via News Alert (Nov 24)
Kartoo has personalization.
"The Kapitalyser: when activated, this system memorises the search words, the sites visited and the requests which were successful. This personalises the results for subsequent searches according to the profile of the user's interests. "
User can access the history, and remove or add to a favourites manager. Kartoo Watch will report on new sites or changing in existing for a particular search.
Visiting News Sites Becomes a Habit Consumers Can't Live Without Their Net
By Carl Sullivan. Editor and Publisher (Nov 24) -- People visit news sites on the Internet for fun and relaxation and partly because it's a habit. Frank N. Magid Research did a study of 26,000 users at 41 web sites. "Sixty-eight percent of national news site visitors said they visit frequently to get national news, 64% to get breaking news, 52% for international news, and 44% because "it's a habit." Twenty-three percent said they visited frequently "just for fun," 23% "just to relax," and 21% to follow up on something they read in a newspaper. "
New IE may burst pop-up bubble by Stephanie Olsen. CNet (Nov 24) Microsoft's next IE browser (XP) will have a pop-up blocker.
Of interest: "Mark Ryan, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research, estimates that as many as 20 per cent of Web surfers have installed anti-pop-up software, and that the number will be as high as 25 per cent by the end of the year."
"From July to September of this year, pop-up and pop-under advertisements made up 3 per cent of all on-line ads. But in the following three months, they made up 7.4 per cent, according to market research from Nielsen/NetRatings."
Has information on how pop-up blockers work (they pick up on commands to launch a new window), and why they may not work with the pop-ups created by adware programs. Net publishers are looking at new ways to serve ads. We can expect more of those rich-media ads that obliterate a page for a few seconds - and then we'll be looking for software that will block those.
Archive.org to Vivendi: we'll host MP3.com's files By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco (Nov 21) The Register -- CNet has bought the domain mp3.com but without the music. Vivendi intends to close the collection. Brewster Kahle has offered to add the files to Archive.org.
Internet References Are Frequently Lost, Says Study By University of Colorado Health Sciences Center Ascribe (Oct 30, 2003) -- Dr. Robert Dellavalle and colleagues at CU-Health Sciences Center's Department of Dermatology have found a high rate of dying links in scientific papers. "Internet references accounted for 2.6 percent of all references in a sample of more than 1000 articles published between 2000 and 2003 in three journals: The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association and Science. In articles up to only 27 months old, 13 percent of Internet references were inactive, making substantial amounts of information unavailable."
Brewster Kahle, of the Internet Archive in San Francisco, said to the Washington Post. "The average lifespan of a Web page today is 100 days. This is no way to run a culture."
On the Web, Research Work Proves Ephemeral Electronic Archivists Are Playing Catch-Up in Trying to Keep Documents From Landing in History's Dustbin By Rick Weiss (Nov 24, 2003)
Can Google Grow Up? by Fred Vogelstein. Fortune (Nov 24)
"Google is one of the best things to happen to the Net. So will its IPO, expected this spring, be a must-buy? A look inside reveals a talented company facing trouble."
Fortune did a 4 month study and found "Google has grown arrogant, making some of its executives as frustrating to deal with in negotiations as AOL's cowboy salesmen during the bubble. It has grown so fast that employees and business partners are often confused about who does what. A rise of stock- and option-stoked greed is creating rifts within the company. Employees carp that Google is morphing in strange and nerve-racking ways. And talk swirls over the question of who's really in charge: CEO Schmidt or co-founders Brin and Page? "
Weapons of Mass Destruction by Cindy Chick in Searcher (Nov 2003) - Excellent article on how to prevent and fight spam. Especially note Spam Prevention in a Nutshell.
Gary Price recommends three articles about web search to read. (Nov 16)
- Challenges in Web Search Engines by Monika Henzinger et al. (Sept 2002) Discusses problems web search engines have not the least of which is dealing with spam and determining quality of content.
- A taxonomy of web search by Andrei Broder -- navigational, informational, transactional.
- U.S. Versus European Web Searching Trends by Amanda Spink et al. Found differences in topics (understandable) and behaviour.
VOICE: A bluffer's guide to search (Nov 12) NetImperative.com -- Ask Jeeves VP of production and technology Chris Martin gives a primer on web search. He identified three challenges search engines must content with - the user's query, matching query to indexed pages, and weeding out spam.
Relevancy is determined -- "Through looking at the language and words used in a web page, its context, and discovering associations between them. Secondly, through checking incoming links to a page to assess its link popularity. Discovering domain expert pages through subject specific linkages. Checking where the site is also referenced elsewhere - and 'spidering beyond the page', going to other linked sites, then going back to the original site and checking the association. Finally, through seeing if another search engine is listing the site."
Investor search engine launched by Stephen Whitford. ITWeb (Nov 17) "A new search engine named has been launched by local company, TimbukOne, allowing users to search the Web sites of 11 000 publicly traded companies across the world."
- searches investor specific web site
- public companies throughout the world
- can use fuzzy logic to find company names
- can control how results are displayed
- Includes 1,000 Canadian companies among them Zenon and QLT.The Scannery . Can consolidate results by company web site.
- Supports boolean search; for example - "water filtration" OR "water filters"
Reviewed in ResourceShelf Business Research--Specialized Search Tools (Nov 20)
Microsoft news site to customise content NewScientist (Nov 18) -- Raul Valdes-Perez, president of Vivisimo, commented on the customization that is to be part of the new news search engine from Microsoft. (uk.newsbot.msn.com). Specifically - "Now the way to improve the user experience is to work on the next layer of algorithms that determine the presentation of the "search and rank" results." Microsoft has not revealed how it will do the personalization - possibly something similar to Amazon's recommender system or through a system that looks for more-like-this. Vivisimo is also working on a news search and will be introducing news search that "spontaneously clusters links to news articles according to subject."
Gary Price has news about new search features at Rocketnews, the news search engine based in Canada. News Searching--Rocketnews (Nov 21) These include fielded search on title, place, news source, and also truncation.
House reaches compromise on bill to limit unwanted e-mails AP via Mercury News (Nov 21,2003)
"The bills would prohibit senders of unsolicited commercial e-mail from disguising their identity by using a false return address or misleading subject line. They also would prohibit senders from harvesting addresses off Web sites and require such e-mails to include a mechanism so recipients can indicate they do not want future mass mailings."
"Both bills authorize the Federal Trade Commission to establish a do-not-spam list, similar to the agency's popular do-not-call list of telephone numbers that marketers are supposed not to call." - but FTC and Direct Marketing Association don't think a do-not-spam list will work.
Individual.com, the customized news service with email delivery, has been resurrected. It offers a choice of up to 100 topics from a list of 200. (100 would be overload - it is best to keep to 10) The topics are populated with stories from 70 sources including PR Newswire, Business Wire, Knight Ridder. Topics cover business, finance, high-technology, telecommunications, Internet, computer, healthcare, energy, business, transportation, and the environment. Users can select the topics they wish to follow and view the stories daily at the web site or in email. Oddly, for a service of this type there is no RSS feed. Users can also select up to 100 companies to watch. The service is free - supported by advertising. Categorization of stories looks a bit uneven right now but that might smooth out.
Local Search Part 5: Citysearch Brings Local To Searchers & Merchants by Danny Sullivan. Searchenginewatch (Nov 20) - There seems to be a general realization that local search is much desired and that providing it will make money. There are three groups of players: Citysearch owned by InterActiveCorp - has guides to services and events in cities ; yellow pages; the search engines with paid listings - Google and Overture.
Sullivan finds that CitySearch is best at finding local services.
"Material is gathered through partnerships with companies that have specialized local information, and Citysearch uses its own web crawling and editorial systems to place its own additional data into the mix." Sources include the yellow page business listings from infoUSA. Half of the traffic to Citysearch comes through MSN City Guides and Yahoo Get Local.
Sullivan uses dentists in San Francisco as an example of a better search at CitySearch. Toronto.com is the CitySearch guide for Toronto. It does a good job of listing dentists for particular neighbourhoods.
Until the search engines sort out how they can deliver good local search results, try these city guides for local information. CitySearch has sites for major cities in the United States, Australia, Canada, Korea, Scandinavia, and Japan.
Technorati.com is adding 8,000 to 9,000 Weblogs a day to the 1.2 million they track today. (From CBS Marketwatch.com)
TIP OF THE MONTH from Mary Ellen Bates for November is Or In Other Words... - using glossaries and thesaurii on the Web to learn about the subject and pick up words before starting the search.
Fair warning to all - Google Deskbar is still in beta. Sitelines recommends checking Google Groups about the Deskbar (see below) for information on problems.
Google's Deskbar and Microsoft's Plans for Browser-free searching (Nov 20)
Meantime, in the newsgroup google . public . labs . google-deskbar there is mention of yet another desktop tool -- Customalert.com with even more search utilities from the taskbar. Customalert is marketing its product to corporations for use internally. and also to businesses wishing to push "alerts" through the deskbar.
Retailers Rise in Google Rankings as Rivals Cry Foul by Lisa Guernsey. New York Times (Nov 20) - A company called Gift Services is suspected of swarming top ranked search results for gift baskets at Google by using a myriad of interlinked domains. Danny Sullivan says that this problem is true in other industries too -- "particularly as companies encourage affiliates, or online brokers, to sell their products." One gift basket company gave up on getting a good ranking in the search results and became a sponsored link.
Some materials from the presentations at Internet Librarian 2003 are available online. See http://www.infotoday.com/il2003/presentations/ for complete list.
Current Awareness
Supplementary Reading for Tracking and Delivering Current Information:
What Are the Options? (Word doc) Gary Price and Genie Tyburski
Web Searching
A Google Gambol: Advanced Tricks and Techniques by Greg Notess (PPT file) - reviews syntax with extra attention to using * as a wildcard word. Covers definitions. Notes limitations of Google. Also had a section on bookmarklets.
Web Searching in 2004 by Greg Notess - consolidation of ownership (Yahoo) and likely of services (Alltheweb and Altavista), removable of documents from Web or inaccessible by search egnines, expansion of product search.
Weblogs
The Blogging Explosion Libraries and Weblogs by Darlene Fichter -(PPT file) - survey of blogs, tools and uses.
Harvesting Blogs for Emergent Information by Greg Notess (PPS) - where to search.
Beyond Blogging by Elizabeth Lane Lawley (HTML) - variety of publication modes. Looks at aggregation, annotation, collaboration, and emergence.
Information Visualization
New Age Navigation by Gerry McKierman (PPT - 1.3 MB) about Innovative E-Journal Interfaces.
Google No. 1 search site in the world according to OneStat.com OneStat Press Release (Nov 18)
The 7 largest search engines on the web are:
1. Google 56.1%
2. Yahoo 21.5%
3. MSN Search 9.4%
4. AOL Search 3.7%
5. Terra Lycos 2.3
6. Altavista 1.9%
7. Askjeeves 1.6%
Here's a story about how a simple Internet search would have prevented Buckingham Palace staff from hiring Ryan Parry, an undercover journalist, two months before the visit by President Bush.
Internet Search Would Have Unmasked Undercover Reporter By Lisa Davies, PA News (Nov 19)
'Spyware' steps out of the shadows By John Borland CNET (November 19, 2003) Spyware is becoming much more sophisticated, dangerous, and hidden. It often comes attached to freeware programs - often browser add-ons - to serve ads, watch activity, and may be able to pick up confidential information (passwords, accounts etc). Article notes that "Most importantly, consumers should study software programs' terms of service before installing them, and use software such as Lavasoft's Ad-Aware if they think their computer might have spyware installed, it said."
AOL Buys Singingfish, Rolls Out More Search Changes by Danny Sullivan. SearchDay (Nov 19) AOL members will see an Audio/Video tab for AOL Search. Danny Sullivan provides a recap of what US AOL members will see in AOL Search.
Also previews an article he's writing on "invisible tabs". People, he says, don't use the tabs at search engines to get to new or images - perhaps they don't notice them. Ask Jeeves has figured out a way to do "invisible tabs". Ask Jeeves, he writes, "is furthest along in implementing what I'm now calling "invisible tabs," tabs that a search engine pushes for you behind the scenes, as appropriate."
AOL reels in search engine Singingfish By Byron Acohido, USA TODAY (Nov 18) - cute headline but the news can't be good. America Online announced that it intends to buy Singingfish.com, the Seattle-based company that is the premier search engine for multimedia with 45 million music and video files.
"By buying Singingfish, AOL becomes the leader in cutting-edge audio and video searches. It might next introduce a service that enables paid downloading of video files, such as movies or music videos." ... "AOL, a unit of media and entertainment giant Time Warner, says it will keep using the Singingfish brand name for audio and video searches, and continue to license Singingfish's services to Microsoft and RealNetworks."
Microsoft Tests Answer to Google News By Pamela Parker Internetnews.com (Nov 18)
Microsoft has developed a news search engine. "Newsbot aggregates headlines from over 4,000 sources on the Internet, apparently provided by partner Moreover Technologies. Headlines are clustered by topic and displayed based on algorithms Microsoft established, the company said in a FAQ about the beta service. Those algorithms consider the number of sources covering the story, when the story was published, and how many people have looked at a particular story. "
It's available at MSN UK (http://uk.newsbot.msn.com/), France, Spain and Italy.
Microsoft Passport users will be able to get personalized news based on stories they have read.
Also Microsoft testing news search service by Stephanie Olsen. CNet News (November 18 2003)
"MSN Newsbot combs newspapers around the globe and then clusters headlines by topic. It said it uses computer algorithms to determine when to feature stories. For example, it examines the number of sources covering the same story, when the story was published and how many people have viewed a particular story. The site does not host the content but instead links to the publications' pages. "
Google launches battle for search dominance By Mike Barton. f2network (November 18, 2003) The Google Deskbar and Microsoft's work on search function embedded in applications are signs that we are moving away from browser-based search. Jakob Nielsen is quoted in this article -- "Nielsen says the mini-viewer user interface makes it easier for users to browse and move on. "This again will make users treat websites even more ruthlessly than in the past: if the site is no good, or if it offers the slightest difficulty, it's on to the next search result.""
Nick Denton, who may be best known for starting Moreover Technologies, also does blogs - sexy, gossipy, topical blogs. One of these is the gossip site, Gawker. It seems he has a good sense of the media possibilities of weblogs.
Building a Web Media Empire on a Daily Dose of Fresh Links by Andress Ross Sorkin. New York Times (Nov 17)
Of interest ... "The way Mr. Denton determines the theme of his blogs has less to do with his own personal interests than with the demands of the market, as determined by Google. He relies on Google's AdSense program, which pays Web sites to publish text ads matched to the pages' content, for the bulk of his revenue. As a result, he picks blog subjects based on the rate Google pays for clicks on ads in specific topic areas. Among the topics of blogs he plans to start this year are computer gaming, travel and politics. '
"But Mr. Denton is thinking about how to expand the blog market, perhaps by creating product-focused blogs for major marketers. His next big project is a site called Kinja, which is supposed to be the blog of all blogs, compiling the best of Web log writing from thousands of different blogs."
Article predicts that soon everyone and their grandmother will have a blog.
E-Mail Management Demands Attention By Charlie Brett. ZDNet (November 6, 2003) -- "E-mail hygiene, storage, and policy management, which have been largely ignored, have recently (2002) become business imperatives. Many organizations, particularly in regulated industries, can expect their total costs for e-mail storage and hygiene needs to double or even quadruple through 2006. Spam and virus management in particular are problems for all organizations because they clog networks, e-mailboxes, and e-mail stores. ... In addition, failure to apply effective management controls for outbound e-mail programs can expose organizations to legal and regulatory issues concerning consumer privacy requirements and preferences, and potentially cause customer dissatisfaction or switching."
The Missing Keyword Of Search Engine Marketing: Multimedia by Kate Kaye. MediaPost (Nov 17) Delivery and use of multimedia has been climbing. 21% of Amercan Internet users over the age of 12 accessed multimedia in July 2003. Singingfish is the foremost search engine for multimedia. It has indexed over 9 million streams. It now has a paid inclusion program -- "Advertisers can set live dates and kill dates for specific audio and video streams and are also provided with a landing page that can be tied to particular content. "
For searching Flash files, however, Alltheweb is considered the best.
Gates: Microsoft aiming at spam, viruses By Michelle Kessler, USA TODAY (Nov 17) Bill Gates spoke at the Comdex convention outlining Microsoft project for the next year. One is a strong search function (but he said Microsoft does not wish to buy Google). Also - anti-spam software as part of e-mail, and security for businesses.
Local Search Part 4: Major Search Engines On Yellow Pages By Dick Larkin,
(November 13, 2003 ) SearchDay
"Yellow Pages publishers are concerned that web search is going to make inroads into the $25 billion Yellow Pages market. The improvements in local search threaten publishers' IYP offerings and they foretell a credible threat to the printed directory business."
"The panel agreed that the local search market is enormous and getting larger. Somewhere between 20-35% of all web search is seeking geographically relevant results, and every panelist said they expect that percentage of local queries to increase with user sophistication, better search technology and deeper local content. "
New ideas for teaching Internet Information Skills to students - from the RDN Virtual Training Suite JISC X4L Project Resource Discovery Network (Nov 5, 2003)
"The RDN Virtual Training Suite offers 61 free Web - tutorials designed to help students to become more effective Internet users. A subject-focus enables students to learn Internet skills in a context that has relevance for them.
With support from the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), the service has just released new resources designed to support lecturers, librarians and learning technologists interested in using these tutorials with their students ... "
These are good tutorials, but naturally use mainly UK materials.
Ask Jeeves chief says new exec team ready for future in ContraCostaTimes.com (Nov 9)
Interview with Steve Berkowitz, President and CEO of Ask Jeeves. Inquiry turned to the future of search.
"This is not a business that is one size fits all. Your search experience needs to be customized. Not so much to you, but the content you're looking at. In some cases, if you know a lot about the subject, you don't want a lot of frills. But if you're not sure about the subject, you're going to want tools and other things that will help you get to your answer faster, and that's what we focus on."
"The next generation of search is going to be about getting underneath the needs of the user. One of the interesting things we're testing in research is if someone types in the word "AF," do you mean Air Force or do you mean Abercrombie & Fitch? We're developing technology that will get underneath that and realize that most people mean Abercrombie. Or if I know you're searching about upstate New York, and then you type in the word "apple," you're really not looking for Apple, the computer company. I can tell by the five searches you did previously that you're really looking for an apple orchard, so maybe I can skew your results towards that. It's getting into understanding the behavior of both the session you're in, as well as what the masses are saying are better results. It's about integrating all these different things back into the user experience, so what you get back is a much more perceived, personalized result."
Foresees continued good relations between Ask.com and Google, and increasing profits.
Interview available in real audio too.
Article was mentioned in Resourceshelf.
Forgotten Forefather: Paul Otlet by Alex Wright (Nov 10) Boxes and Arrows - The concepts behind the Web and hypertext are not new. It's not just Vannevar Bush and the Memex machine in the 1940's, but 10 years earlier, Paul Otlet with a design for a scholar's workstation. Article provides a brief history of cataloguing and classification and the problems therein.
Brainboost, the natural language question-answering machine can answer the questions - where do cockroaches live and how fast did the concorde fly, but not - where did all the flowers go. The News search can find a little bit on Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.
ResearchBuzz had comments too - BrainBoost Natural Language Engine (Nov 12)
Sitelines comments on the effects of the use of link analysis by most search engines in ranking search results -- Rich-Get-Richer with Link Analysis (Nov 12)
Whois database 'contributes to fraud and ID theft' (November 07 2003) by Munir Kotadia. Silicon.com
"Whois, an online database that contains personal information about internet domain name holders, is a major contributor to identity theft and defies advice from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), according to a group of civil liberties organisations. "
Whois data shows ownership information about a domain. This is useful to anyone vetting a site for bias and authority. But it also gives stalkers and spammers access to personal information. Many organizations are asking for anonymous registration - including including the American Library Association, the UK's Foundation for Information Policy Research, the Consumer Federation of America, the Australian Privacy Foundation and the Fédération Informatique et Libertés in France.
Expect changes.
Grassroots action in the UK is helped by the BBC site - iCan. Wired news called it a Web Antidote for Political Apathy (May 5) Guardian Unlimited says A portal for the people? (Nov 10). The intent is to connect people with local issues. Users can set up discussions and mini-sites about issues that concern them. Can the web be used for democratic good?
"Ultimately, the idea is that iCan could become part of the BBC's news gathering operation, getting closer to the things that local people are interested in." Let's hope CBC follows this closely.
KeepMedia offers low-priced access to articles from 150 publications. View publications by topic to see if KeepMedia has the titles you need. Cost is $49.50 US / year. Watch for new titles.
Ask Jeeves beefs up product search by Juan Carlos Perez. IDG News (Nov 11)
"The new Smart Search for Products technology intuitively detects when a user is searching for product information and delivers shopping information, such as Web pages containing reviews, lists of features, stores and price comparisons, according to the company. The user can refine the search results by using a drop-down menu to select links leading only to product reviews or to product features, for example. The search engine also provides options for fine-tuning the results through clarification tools, which give suggestions to the user to, for example, narrow the search. "
Who Runs the .GOV and .EDU Domains? By George Plosker. SearchDay (Nov 12) .Gov is restricted to U.S. government and .Edu to U.S. educational institutions. "... the sponsoring organization for .edu is EDUCAUSE and the sponsoring organization for .gov is the U.S. General Services Administration.".
Charles Arthur: 'Microsoft thinks search engines are the key to internet use: it's building Google-style functionality into its next operating system' Independent News (Nov 12) More about Microsoft's intentions. Of interest:
- Microsoft is spending $46bn on developing new search technology
- Paid inclusion is an important factor in the competition that will ensue. It makes money and is very important to Yahoo. But this article notes -- "However, it may be that paid inclusion is on the wane. Last month, MSN ended its contract with LookSmart - a move that will actually cost it money (because of the cash that LookSmart used to pay whenever a surfer clicked through). But it's decided to do it because Microsoft has realised that paid inclusion just isn't popular - and people can see through it."
- expected date for a Microsoft search engine - 2005.
Serge Thibodeau explains The Google API's and their uses at ISEDB.com (Nov 11). It's directed to programmers who need to access Google's web search database to build queries.
University of Toronto experts answers those questions that we've always wondered about at Ask Us@UofT . - Why do onions make us cry? Are there ghosts at U of T? How did the Monday to Friday 9 to 5 week evolve? (though now we might asked, how was it destroyed?)
Internet Explorer to stomp pop-ups by Stephanie Olsen. CNet News (Nov 10)
"Microsoft plans to add pop-up blocking features to Internet Explorer next year as part of its Service Pack 2 update for Windows XP, a move that would go far toward stamping out the Web advertisements. "
Legal battle may block multimedia on Web By A.S. Berman, Gannett News Service. USA Today (Nov 10) Eolas case against Microsoft for patent infringement for technology that automatically launches multimedia players from the browser threatens to disrupt easy access to multimedia content. Eolas won the case and Microsoft is working on changing Internet Explorer. At the moment, there seems to be no good fix.
Nexcerpt Announces Product Enhancements Information Today Newsbreaks (Nov 10) - Nexcerpt has enhanced its media-monitoring product with better text analysis and more sources.
The State of Online Search - Implications for the Yellow Pages Industry by Russell Fradin (Sept 15, 2003) - PDF file - a very interesting presentation at the 2003 Association of Directory Marketing Annual Conference by ComScore Networks, a company that studies consumer behaviour. Has figures on Internet use. Main point was that "massive online search activity is occurring, much of it Yellow Pages oriented". 88% of searches are done at Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL. Leading Yellow Pages services nationally are SuperPages (32%) , Yahoo Yellow (21%), Switchboard (13%) and SBC SmartPages (9%).
Older books available on Web By Fred Reed Washington Times (Nov 6) Project Gutenberg might have that older book when the local book store doesn't. Reed recommends that you read these e-books with a REB1100 electronic-book reader from RCA.
RDN Press Release - SOSIG Law Gateway wins international award rdn.ac.uk (Nov 2003) - The SOSIG Law Gateway won the best Website prize for 2003 awarded by the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL). (Mentioned in the ResourceShelf)
Never mind the talk about Microsoft wanting to buy Google or develop its own search engine. Microsoft is going full barrel into managing search through MS Office 2003 judging from announcements at the ResourceShelf -- "Microsoft links Excel to Edgar Online company data" and "eLibrary Integrated Into MS Office 2003". See ResourceShelf Business Research (NOv 4)
Google can be searched from within any Windows application through the new Google Deskbar. Requires Windows 98/ME/2000/XP and Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher. Gary Price describes and comments in Web Search Google (Nov 6)
Other articles:
Google tests desktop search by Stephanie Olsen. CNet (Nov 6)
- use the deskbar to search on the Web while in a Word document or e-mail application. Results will be displayed in a small window in the lower right of the screen.
- puts Google head-to-head with Microsoft. "Google could be headed for a duel with the software giant as Microsoft builds new search technology that bridges the needs of its home and business customers and binds its various applications through Longhorn, its next version of Windows."
Research Buzz Google Offers Google Deskbar (Nov 7)
Gary Price exhorts librarians to not succumb to the Googlefication of search in What Google Teaches Us that Has Nothing to Do with Searching Searcher (Nov/Dec 2003) Instead they must learn to do "web collection", stay up to date with good tools and their features, and market their services and specialized fee-based products. He closes with "eight starting points" as a call to action.
Eliyon Networking offers free access to its database of past employees for hundreds of companies and millions of names. The database has been created from the Web -- "Every day, Eliyon scans millions of corporate websites, news articles, SEC filings and other online sources for information about people and the companies for which they work. The information is then combined automatically into an easily searchable database." Eliyon offers a premium service for finding name and information about current employees at companies.
Judging from my scanning of past employees for the Toronto Dominion Bank and the Royal Bank of Canada, most names are from the years 2001 to 2003, with the occassional one before that. Search by company name is easy but one must be mindful of changes - Toronto Dominion Bank v TD Canada Trust.
Thanks to RC for the lead.
Yahoo! Highlights Search on Home Page By Pamela Parker Silicon Valley (Nov 4) -- Yahoo put four tabs on the main page to help people choose Web, Images, Yellow Pages, and Products. People call this the "Google Look". This style is hardly limited to Google - see Altavista, Alltheweb, Dogpile and many others. Of interest -- Yahoo is expected to add "topic-specific search for its vertical channels, such as Yahoo! Travel, Get Local, Sports and Finance".
Surprised Google & Microsoft Talked Takeover? You Shouldn't Be! By Danny Sullivan, SearchDay (November 5, 2003 ) - Sullivan provides insightful ruminations on the rumours about Microsoft offer to buy Google and Google's plans to raise money through an IPO.
Of interest --
- Google may be forced to become a publicly owned company because of the number of employees - and Google's current investors may want to cash in.
- perhaps MSN and Google will work together. Yahoo is a more serious competitor to MSN than Google.
- Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL are likely to stay fairly even in quality and service. None wants to lose users.
It's in the algorithms A glimpse into the future of mapping the Web By Paula MacKinnon. Information Highways (Nov/Dec 2003) - Search engine technologists continue to seek methods for improving relevance of results. Google is exploring personalization. MITACS (Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems) in Halifax, NS is investigating the focused crawler that takes it clues from the user's Web browsing behaviour. The IBM Webfountain, Nutch, and Netnose are three others entering the fray.
Ads Aren't All the Browser Tool Is Blocking by Lisa Guernsey. New York Times (Nov6, 2003) - Google's toolbar came under criticism for blocking legitimate popups - "like calendar updates, deadline notices and explanations of new navigation features". Popup blockers (the article neglects to name the many other toolbars and freeware programs that can be used) are forcing web designers to stop using the popup window as a tool. What will ads and porn on the Web ruin next?
This article suggests that the Web won't reach 11 billion pages until 2006 and that it is growing at roughly 34% a year. Will Google index all of it or be particular about quality?
Google to Index the Entire Internet in 2006 (Nov03, 2003 ) chriSEO - no supporting data given.
Newsknife rates news sites. It has been watching Google News and comparing it to human-editor sites. Google News has done reasonably well in picking the top stories, although CNN and Yahoo are better. Newsknife concludes -- "First, Google News is not a traditional news site. Visit it for its strengths, in particular its ability to bring together a vast array of news sources covering any single story. Second, whatever your favorite news site it pays to shop around. Even the best sites don’t pick all the major stories all the time. "
Don’t panic yet, human news editors. Google News settles in. (Nov 2003)
Most countries' websites ignored AP in Globe and Mail (Nov 5) -- "The United States led the rankings of e-government "readiness," or the amount of information, services and products offered over the Internet combined with the infrastructure — such as telephones, computers and Internet connections — needed to access them. Sweden ranked second, followed by Australia, Denmark, Great Britain, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Germany and Finland."
Yahoo! takes a leaf out of Google's book by Stephanie Olsen Silicon.com (Nov 4)
"Yahoo! added tabs for searches related to Images, Yellow Pages and Products. These appear alongside a web search tab, which is how the portal now labels its standard search field. The design change mirrors the file-folder look of competitors including Google and helps get web surfers started on targeted searches immediately, instead of forcing them to delve into the site"
Weapon of Mass Distruction By Cindy Chick in Searcher (Nov 2003) - another article, another checklist. Refers to several other articles.
Local Search Part 3: Google Gets Local With AdWords By Danny Sullivan. SearchDay (Oct 28) - Google has a new product for advertisers that will target ads to local areas in the U.S. Sullivan doesn't see it being added soon to the Regional Search in Google Labs because of low traffic.
Ask Jeeves Launches Smart Search(SM) for Products Press Release (Nov 3)
"Ask Jeeves automatically delivers the searcher to a Smart Search results page when it identifies that a query is shopping-related. Ask Jeeves then leverages its natural language capabilities to recognize where the user is in the shopping cycle - finding, researching or buying - and adjusts the search according to the users intent. For example, if you type "camera" in the ask.com home page, clarification tools will help you narrow your query by prompting you to sort by types of camera or camera accessories. If you know you want to search for "digital cameras", Smart Search for Products lets you browse brands, features, reviews and information on where to buy digital cameras. Lastly, if you know you want a specific camera, Ask Jeeves Smart Search for Products will guide you directly to information on that particular product. "
Researching Medical Literature on the Internet -- 2003 Update By Gloria Miccioli. LLRX.com (Nov 3) - comprehensive review of medical resources - written by a law librarian.
Pandia Search has a five-part article on web searching by Daniel Bazac - Search the Web More Efficiently. Has tips on types of tools, ways to narrow and widen, things to consider in evaluating sites, attributes of good searchers - and much else. Good, basic advice all in one primer.
BizRate.com Raises Industry Bar with Launch of Next Generation Shopping Search Engine Business Wire (Nov 3) -- "BizRate.com, the web's leading comparison shopping site, today announced the launch of its next generation search engine, setting the new standard for shopping search in time for the 2003 holiday online shopping season. " It has 38,000 stores, 20 million products, and collects 1 million reviews each month. There is also a visual search that will match products based on a digital image.
PlanetSearch is a new meta-search engine that seems to depend on CurryGuide. It has a very plain interface with a button labelled UnGoogle. It appears to use Alltheweb, HOtbot, MSN, Lycos, and Yahoo and to have a translate function. Can hide source, hide summary, or ungroup results. But on the whole, it's nothing special. There are better meta-search engines.
Internet littered with dead Web sites Associated Press via Globe and Mail -- Weblogs are probably worse than web sites -- "One study of 3,634 blogs found that two-thirds had not been updated for at least two months and a quarter not since Day One."
How to Rank High in Searches Search engine optimization professionals can help your site show up on the first page by Reid Goldsborough. LinkUP (Nov 2003) Basic tips for people who want their web sites to be found, and for searchers who wonder how results get ranked.
http://www.infotoday.com/online/nov03/OnTheNet.shtmlBy Greg R. Notess. Online (Nov/Dec 2003) - describes the advanced web search commands at Google, Altavista, and Alltheweb with the warning that with Overture/Yahoo's rework the ones at Altavista and Alltheweb may be changing soon.
"The features and capabilities of the search engines go through regular churn. By learning what is available and which offer special capabilities, we can be prepared to use these unusual advanced features to retrieve the information we need. And then we just hope that the features remain available for next time. "
"Search Inside the Book": Full-Text on Amazon by Barbara Quint. Information Today NewsBreaks (Nov 3) - Includes a list of publishers involved - and reasons why some have stayed out. Authors Guild has not been happy and in response to their protests, Amazon has disabled printing of excerpts from the full-text. Sales of searchable books are doing well - better than those without full-text searching.
Also see article in SearchDay -- Amazon Debuts New Book Search Tool by Gary Price (Oct 27) - Mentions other sources of books including NetLibrary, elibrary, and Online Books Page.
To Place Ads, Google Searches For Best Bidders by Leslie Walker. Washington Post (Oct 31) -- Google as a "giant, around-the-clock Internet auction" - about Google's AdSense program
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