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Tales from the Terminal RoomFebruary 2007 , Issue No. 77 |
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Please Note: This is an archive copy of the newsletter. The information and links that it contains are not updated.
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Tales from the Terminal Room ISSN 1467-338X Tales from the Terminal Room (TFTTR) is a monthly newsletter, with the exception of July and August , which are published as a single issue. TFTTR includes reviews and comparisons of information sources and search engines; updates to the RBA Web site Business Sources and other useful resources; dealing with technical and access problems on the Net; and news of RBA's training courses and publications. Many of the articles included in TFTTR will already have appeared in Karen Blakeman's blog at http://www.rba.co.uk/rss/blog.htm. Tales from the Terminal Room can be delivered via email as plain text or as a PDF with active links. You can join the distribution list by going to http://www.rba.co.uk/tfttr/index.shtml and filling in the form. You will be sent an email asking you to confirm that you want to be added to the list. TFTTR is also available as an RSS feed. The URL for the feed is http://www.rba.co.uk/rss/tfttr.xml In this issue
Search ToolsAsk XAsk.com has just automatically redirected me to what seems to be a test version of a new interface called Ask X (http://www.askx.com/). My first impression of the Spartan home page is that I do not like it at all. The menu of search options - news, images, blogs and feeds etc. - that normally appears on the right hand side of the screen has gone. All you have is a single search box. Phil Bradley and I have already argued the case for leaving tabs such as these on the home page with Accoona (http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/accoona/index.html ), who soon after restored them. I do not want to have to do a two step process to carry out, for example, a blog or news search. Some of the options for the other resources reappear on the Ask X results page, but to have to carry out an 'all' search first annoys me. Ask X home page
I do like the three panel results screen, though. The left hand panel includes a search box together with links to some of the specialist resources, and the Zoom options (Narrow, Expand, Related Names). It also contains search suggestions that change as you type. The middle panel contains your search results and on the right panel there are sample results from other types of resources including video, news, images, blogs and encyclopedia. For those who do not think beyond standard web page searching they are a reminder of other, possibly more relevant forms of information. Overall, I like Ask X but please, guys, leave the specialist search links on the home page. Ask X results screen
Lack of overlap in search enginesGreg Notess has come across two examples of why we need to use more than one search tool and why Google is not always best. In his recent posting Page Found at 3 or 6: Not Google (http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/blog/2007/02/page_found_at_3.shtml) he shows that a web page he could not find in Google - a page on a Canadian academic site that has existed since at least 2003 - was indexed by Yahoo!, Gigablast, and Exalead, but not by Google, Live, or Ask. In Conflicting Overlap (http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/blog/2007/02/conflicting_overlap.shtml) he looks at how well the search engines covered the personal pages that people create in a social networking site such as LibraryThing. Both articles are accompanied by short screencasts hosted on YouTube and neatly demonstrate how video and audio can be used in demonstrations and as teaching tools. Update on CrossEngineA few hours after I had blogged my comments (http://www.rba.co.uk/rss/2007/01/crossengine.html) on CrossEngine (http://www.crossengine.com/) Greg Notess of Search Engine Showdown emailed me asking if we in the UK were seeing a different version from people in the US. My screen shot was different from what he was seeing on his screen. A quick check confirmed that CrossEngine had already made changes to the interface. The Formats tab has gone and the filetype search has been included under the Web tab (the Standard tab renamed). The audio search, previously included under Formats, now has its own tab, which seems far more sensible to me. A few further comments now I have had time to look at it in more detail:
By the time you read this, CrossEngine may have changed something else but I'm all for that. At least it demonstrates that they are actively developing it (and possibly monitoring what the blogosphere is saying about it?). Top Search Tips from WalesI seem to have spent most of February travelling round Wales running various workshops. In Swansea and Aberystwyth I did sessions on Internet search and new technologies. The first half of the day was taken up with new developments in search engines and the second half looked at RSS, blogs and wikis. Participants were able to try out search techniques and the new tools for themselves. Both groups were made up of HE, public sector and health-care information professionals and they were all experienced, advanced searchers, so they kept me on my toes! At the end of the workshops I asked them to compile a list of Top 10 Tips on Searching. There were some common elements but I have combined and de-duped the two lists into one.
Blog move from Blogger to WordpressA reminder to those of you read my blog that it has moved from http://www.rba.co.uk/rss/blog.htm to http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/ . The associated RSS feed is now at http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/feed/. The old version of the blog used Google's Blogger. Although the latest version is greatly improved over the original, I was becoming increasingly annoyed by the unpredictable behavior and availability of Blogger's server. I published the blog on my own site but had to go to Blogger to create the entries. I have now switched to WordPress, which I have installed on own server, and was pleasantly surprised by how easy and trouble free the transition was. Further details are on my 'new' blog at http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2007/02/19/move-from-blogger-to-wordpress/ Internet Librarian International 2007 - Call for SpeakersNew Realities, Roles and ResourcesDeadline 30 March 2007 Information Today invites proposals for presentations at Internet Librarian International to be held in London on October 8th - 9th. They are looking for a mix of papers for conference sessions, workshops and short tutorials with the emphasis on the practical rather than theoretical. In particular, case studies and proposals about initiatives in your organisation would be welcome. To be considered as a speaker, please submit your ideas at www.internet-librarian.com/CallForSpeakers.shtml where there is also a list of possible topics. The Advisory Committee will review all submissions and notification regarding acceptance will be made this summer. If your proposal is selected, the primary speaker will receive a free registration to the full conference, which includes lunches and a reception. The organisers are not responsible for speakers' travel and accommodation costs. Information ResourcesHotFrog Business DirectoriesNewly launched HotFrog UK (http://www.hotfroguk.co.uk/) is an interesting implementation of a business directory from Reed Business Information. Based on its Australian counterpart (http://www.hotfrog.com.au/), a tag cloud forms a major part of the home page, highlighting the top 50 products/services. There is also an alphabetical index if you wish to browse the categories. In addition you can browse an A-Z of companies or use the search box to carry out a key word search. Limiting your search to a region or county is a two step process. You first search on a category and a location box appears on the results screen alongside the companies. Business owners can add their company to the directory free of charge and can determine how they want their business classified. They can also include brand names in their entries. There are another thirteen country 'versions' of HotFrog including India, Spain, Germany, France, Thailand and the US, all of which use the same interface. They are easily missed as the links are represented only by a series of flags at the bottom of the home pages. Intute Subject Bookletshttp://www.intute.ac.uk/support.html#booklets Intute has added new subject booklets to its list of support materials. The booklets are available as PDF files and provide a selection of some of the most useful Internet resources for students, lecturers and researchers working in the subject field. The new additions to the list include Environmental Engineering, Physics, Law, Fashion and Beauty, Visual Arts, Religion and Theology, Animal Health, Physiotherapy and Orthopaedics, Meetings and WorkshopsWorkshop: Assessing the Quality of Information Workshop: Advanced Internet Search Strategies Workshop: Business Information: Key Web Resources TFTTR Contact InformationKaren Blakeman, RBA Information Services ArchivesTFTTR archives: http://www.rba.co.uk/tfttr/archives/index.shtml Subscribe and UnsubscribeTo subscribe to the newsletter fill in the online registration form at http://www.rba.co.uk/tfttr/index.shtml To unsubscribe, use the registration form at http://www.rba.co.uk/tfttr/index.shtml and check the unsubscribe radio button. Privacy StatementSubscribers' details are used only to enable distribution of the newsletter Tales from the Terminal Room. The subscriber list is not used for any other purpose, nor will it be disclosed by RBA or made available in any form to any other individual, organisation or company.
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| This page was last updated on 4th March 2007 | Copyright
© 2007
Karen
Blakeman. |
