III. Search engines
- More comprehensive than directories
- Use "robots" or "spiders" rather than humans to collect Websites
- Relevance ranking using complex algorithms
- Results can seem overwhelming and in random order
- Most useful in finding specific sites or information (e.g., organization websites)
- Contrary to popular opinion, don't index everything or keep up to date
- Best approach is to learn one or two very well; learn by reading "help" screens
- Examples: Search for Boosey & Hawkes
- Alta Vista http://www.altavista.digital.com/
- Simple search: use '+' and '-' to require presence/absence of terms entered
- Phrase searching (Use "")
- Advanced Search supports Boolean connectors AND, OR, NOT, NEAR
- Limit searches (keyword) by domain, title, URL, & other parts of Web pages
- Relevance ranking criteria can be specified
- Excite http://www.excite.com/
- More than 50 million Web pages, 140,000 pre-selected Web site listings, and thousands of Usenet postings
- Use Power Search (forms for complex searches)
- Phrase searching, require or exclude terms
- Alternative: Search under Entertainment/Music
- HotBot http://www.HotBot.com/
- The Web database contains 54 million full-text documents, the Usenet database contains an archive of more than 4 million recent Usenet articles.
- Use Modify to narrow searches; can search for exact phrases, synonyms, domain names, dates, and locations, restrict by type of page (front page, depth, etc.)
- Magellan http://www.mckinley.com/
- Supports '+/-", Boolean operators AND, OR, AND NOT
- Search under Entertainment/Music
- Can search for Reviewed Sites only
Search Engine Comparison Sites
Exercise: use one of the above search engines to find an organization or topic (e.g., ASCAP, American Orff Schulwerk Association)
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