next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects
Hi everyone,
Thought these references might be of interest to check out ?
Cheers,
Leo
------
King, David, "Specialized Search Engines: Alternatives to the Big
Guys" Online 24 (3) (May 2000)
(http://www.onlineinc.com/onlinemag/OL2000/king5.html) - The May
edition of Online Magazine, which regularly features Greg R. Notess'
excellent monthly column(s) on what's happening under the hood of
various search engines, offers a slew of articles on different aspects
of web searching. As a group they are sure to make riveting reading
for the wireless palm-wielding, train-commuting information
technologist, along with the rest of us. As a representative sampling,
I will single out David King's article on specialized search engines
which focus on a particular subject, file format, region, and so on.
Despite the touted filtering success of killer sorting algorithms on
the millions of pages being indexed by the Big Guys' robots and
crawlers, some searchers are increasingly availing themselves of
engines that are more tailored to their own needs, and that appear to
some extent at least to have benefited from human vetting and
annotation. As King puts it, why founder in the vast reaches of Super
Wal-Mart searching for that special item, when you can find it quickly
and painlessly in the specialty shop on the corner, and perhaps even
get some trusted product information from a knowledgeable clerk in the
bargain? King next outlines some of the features of nearly a score of
specialized engines in the fields of Health Care, Law, Science, and
Multimedia. In the library of Babel that the web is fast becoming, if
you wish to find a specialized search engine to suit your needs you
will have to leap into the mis-en-abyme, so to speak, of proliferating
search engines to locate search engines ... ad infinitum. A few are
listed in the article, e.g. Search Engine Guide at
http://searchengineguide.com; Search Engine Watch:
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/links/; and Invisible Web:
http://invisibleweb.com/.
-------
Shneiderman, Ben. "Universal Usability" Communications of the ACM
(http://www.acm.org/cacm/) 43(5) (May 2000):84-91. - There's been a
lot written about achieving universal access, so computer technology
becomes as ubiquitous as TV, but "there it is, use it" doesn't work as
the final step in the process when a significant percentage of the
public can't take advantage of it. Shneiderman advocates a research
agenda for making universal usability the goal, and focuses on three
challenges for attaining it: adapting to technology variety, accepting
the fact of user diversity, and bridging gaps in user knowledge. With
a realistic attitude about the technology enthusiast's fear that
accomodating low-skilled users will result in a lowest common
denominator system, he cites cases which demonstrate success in
multi-level implementations, and the unexpected universal benefits of
innovations which originally targeted only those who needed a little
extra help. Though the primary audience for this article is software
designers, those of us who are information providers for a broad
spectrum of people will find this article thought-provoking and
encouraging.
_________________________________________________________________
Current Cites 11(5) (May 2000) ISSN: 1060-2356
Copyright 2000 by the Library, University of California, Berkeley.
All rights reserved.
Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by computerized bulletin
board/conference systems, individual scholars, and libraries.
Libraries are authorized to add the journal to their collections at no
cost. This message must appear on copied material. All commercial use
requires permission from the editor. All product names are trademarks
or registered trade marks of their respective holders. Mention of a
product in this publication does not necessarily imply endorsement of
the product. To subscribe to the Current Cites distribution list, send
the message "sub cites [your name]" to
listserv@library.berkeley.edu, replacing "[your name]" with your
name. To unsubscribe, send the message "unsub cites" to the same
address. Editor: Teri Andrews Rinne, trinne@library.berkeley.edu.
_________________________________________
Leo J. Deveau
Executive Director
Chebucto Community Net,
Halifax, N.S.
Canada
____________________________________
"Technical ability without moral purpose
will not lead to anywhere. Moral purpose
without technical ability is incapable of getting
anything done." -Greg MacLeod.
_____________________________________
next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects