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Go to go to the Pandia Post home page for more information about our free newsletter.
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T H E P A N D I A P O S T
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No. 2, March 2000
The Pandia Post is the newsletter of the Pandia Search Central, your online guide to Internet searching.
Please note that long URLs may break into two lines in some mail readers. If this is the case copy the address and paste it into your browser. Go to
http://www.pandia.com/post/002.html for a web-version with clickable links. For information about subscribing/unsubscribing, see the end of this message.----------------------------------------------------
/////EDITORIAL
Dear fellow searcher,
From December 1999 to March 2000 Pandia's number of visitors increased by more than 400 per cent. Earlier this month our search directory was actually overloaded and we had to update our systems. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. The problem has now been fixed.
Here are some of our new and improved features:
* We have added a new metasearch engine, making it possible for you to search several of the best search engines and directories in one go.
Go to
* We have added presentations of the best search engines and directories to our resource section:
The best search engines:
* We have added Macintosh resources, news and a Macintosh search engine to Macpandia:
Macpandia:
* We have adjusted the search form for standard news searching. The engine no longer searches news headlines only. It also looks for your key words in the text of the news articles. (The advanced search form, of course, has always had this feature).
Pandia News:
If you have any ideas on how we can improve Pandia, please let us know!
The Editor
Pandia Powersearch:
http://www.pandia.com/powersearch/----------------------------------------------------
/////SEARCH TIPS
Search engines are out, search directories are in. At least that is what they say, the search experts. And yes, the Yahoo directory continues to be the most popular search site in the world. This cannot be explained by Yahoo's trade mark and fame only, because other search directories are also becoming more popular (including our own Pandia Plus Directory).
There is a large difference between a search engine and a search directory. When you search a search directory, you search an index handpicked by a living and breathing human being like you and me. When you use a search engine, on the other hand, you search a database inventory gathered by software based robots that travel the net, indexing the text of the webpages they find.
The indexes of directories like Yahoo and Pandia Plus do not contain the content of the webpages they link to. Instead they give you the title of the website and a short description. Furthermore, Yahoo and Pandia Plus only contain some 1 to 2 million sites. That is nothing compared to giant search engines like Fast and Alta Vista, which have between 200 and 300 million pages!
(The reason the distinction between engines and directories is blurring is that a lot of search directories also feed you data from a search engine. That should not concern us here.)
We believe the popularity of the much smaller directories can be explained in two words: "relevance" and "accuracy".
Here is an experiment for you: Let us say you did not know about Pandia, but wanted to find a site like it. What key word or phrase would you enter in the search field of your favourite search engine? The choice of words actually varies a lot from person to person. Some write "internet searching", some "searching the internet". Some want "to search the web", others "the net". The search engine, however, does not realise that "internet searching" and "search the web" mean the same thing. The words are different, so it fetches different pages.
Search engines are counting the number of times a phrase is mentioned on a webpage. If the phrase is mentioned in the title field of the page, early in the text or in hidden meta text fields it may also be given a higher ranking. Hence if the Web author is fond of the expression "internet searching" the page will be given a different ranking than if he or she prefer the term "searching the internet". (This is why Web masters waste so much time fine tuning their vocabulary - "optimizing" their pages for search engines). Hence the first pages of the result lists can be completely different, even if you are looking for the same topic. And let's face it: few of us get beyond the first three screenfuls of results. Consequently the chances are that you are missing some of the best and most relevant sites.
In a search directory, on the other hand, you can click your way down to the relevant category. As the sites are selected by human beings that think more or less like you and me, you can expect to find sites that are not only relevant, but that are of a good quality. These sites, again, will probably have links to other sites in the same field.
Please note, however, that if you use the Web directories' search field instead, you may miss some of the most important sites. The site descriptions are sometimes only a line long, and the chances are that the text does not include the key words you are using. Hence: use the search field to pinpoint a good category, not to select sites.
This does not mean that you should stop using search engines. They continue to be the best choice when you are looking for something very specific and need to formulate complex queries. But if you want to learn more about a general topic, start your search at search directories like Yahoo, Snap, Looksmart or Pandia Plus.
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/////PANDIA SEARCH WORLD
WARP SPEED INTO THE SKWORMHOLE!
Pandia recently launched its new metasearch engine, making it possible for its visitors to search several search engines in one go. But what if someone came up with a metasearch directory, where you could click your way a directory structure and get listings from several of the best search directories?
Well, we are not there yet. Still, Skworm has done something equally interesting. It is a search directory, all right, but each category opens up a "skwormhole" where you can tick off relevant search engines and do a metasearch using these. For instance, if you select the Macintosh category Skworm will let you search sites like Apple, Mactopia, MacCentral and Macfixit. You can personalise Skworm by deciding what search engines Skworm shall search.
There are some 250 search engines divided into 58 "skwormholes".
It is certainly an intriguing concept. The advantage of using Skworm is that it gives you a practical gateway to searchable sites devoted to specific topics. The downside to it is that it demands a lot of screen space. Skworm actually opens up the result pages from the various sites in separate frames. It would probably be better if the frame could present the search results only. However, we can see why they have not done this. Programming a script that can rip out the search results from 250 sites would be very demanding, indeed!
And no, we do not know what a "skworm" is.
Go to Skworm
http://www.skworm.com/----------------------------------------------------
/////SITESEEING
GOOGLE
There is one search engine that has tried to solve the problem mentioned in the editorial. Google is actually very good at putting the best and most relevant sites at the top of the result list. It achieves this by rating sites according to how many other sites there are that link to it. Links from popular or important sites counts more than links from smaller, unknown sites. Google figures that if many high quality sites link to a particular site, that site must contain some high quality information. They are so confident about this that they have included a "I feel lucky" button that brings you directly to the first result on the hit list. It actually works most of the time.
Google has now also added its own Web directory. Like Pandia Plus it is based on the Netscape-owned Open Directory Database. Unlike Pandia and most Open Directory sites, however, Google includes hits from its own search engine in the search results. Horizontal bars, which are displayed next to each webpage, indicate the "importance" of the page, as determined by Google's so-called PageRank technology. Google enthusiast should note that when they use the "old" search engine, it will give you a link to what it thinks is the relevant directory category.
Google search engine:
http://www.google.com/NORTHERN LIGHT
Northern Light is one of the least known of the search engines. A pity, really, as it is actually one of the best. Not only has it got a large database and some fine facilities for advanced searching, it also sorts the results into so-called "Custom Search Folders", clustering them by topic, thus making it much easier to go though thousands of hits. Northern Light will, like most search engines, give you links to webpages for free. I addition this search engine will give you results from sources outside the Web, includng newspapers, books, magazines and databases. You normally have to pay to access information from this special collection.
Go to:
http://www.northernlight.com/RESEARCHBUZZ
ResearchBuzz started as a companion to a Netscape book on Internet Searching, but has developed into a valuable source of information on Web searching. It is not a huge site, but it has good articles and useful links to various search resources on the net. Its best feature, however, is the search news section. There is also a newsletter. Higly recommended!
Go to:
http://www.researchbuzz.com/SEARCH IQ
SearchIQ tries to solve some of the same problems as Pandia: making the search process easier and more effective for all of us. The site presents Internet search news and short reviews of all the major search engines, directories and metasearch services (and some of the minor ones as well). Our favourite is the index of speciality search engines. These can be very useful when you are looking for information in a special field.
Go to:
http://www.searchiq.com/WEBSERCH
WebSerch [sic.] is a brand new site devoted to Web research, targeted towards librarians and information professionals. Professional researchers should definitely take a look at the excellent reading list, which has a lot of interesting online articles on Internet searching and researching. The page gives a summary of each article and adds information about the author where available. In the same way the link page gives a survey of useful sites and publications. The Search Tips page includes information on Internet searching and how to use your browser. Furthermore, there are reviews of the major search engines. The site is maintained by Eddie Byrne, a librarian with the Dublin City Public Library Service. The site is probably not for
the Internet novice, but we do recommend it strongly to experienced searchers.
Go to:
http://www.webserch.com/FONT>----------------------------------------------------
/////BOOKS SEARCH ENGINES FOR THE WORLD WIDE WEB.
THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO ONLINE SEARCH SECRETS
by Michael Miller
We have to admit it: Sometimes we find the American idea of creative titling a bit annoying. "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Search Secrets"? Please!!! It is as if we should have called Pandia "The Morons Guide to Online Searching". We will not blame the author, though, as the book is part of a larger series.
Apart form the title, this is an excellent book, and -- no -- you don't have to have an IQ far below the average to enjoy it. Actually, even seasoned researchers will probably learn new tricks reading it. Michael Miller has written some 30 books on computer-related issues, and he
definitely knows the Internet. The books tells you how to use giants like Yahoo, Alta Vista, Lycos and HotBot in the easy as well as the advanced "Boolean" way. What's even more interesting, he also gives you insight into the use of various specialised search services: white and yellow pages, email directories, business sites, job searching sites, auctions, search engines for pictures and more. We like it!
Buy this book from Amazon.com: ---------------------------------------------------- If you are using newer versions of Internet Explorer or Netscape: Enter "pandia" (without the quotation marks) in the address field and hit Enter. The browser will take you directly to the Pandia Search Central.
Do you like Pandia? Click here to recommend it to a friend: ---------------------------------------------------- The Pandia Post is copyright 2000 P&S Koch. All rights reserved. Feel free to forward this newsletter to others as long as as you forward it in its entirety and leave this notice.
Visit the Pandia Search Central for more information on Internet searching:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789720426/pandiainternetse
Buy this book from Amazon.co.uk (Europe):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789720426/pandiasearchcent
More books on Internet searching at: http://www.pandia.com/bookstore/ .
/////AT LAST...
The Pandia Post is edited by Per and Susanne Koch
mailto:editor@aviana.com
Pandia Post Home Page:
Send suggestions and comments to: editor@aviana.com .