THE CHANGING WORLD OF SEARCH ENGINES
By Amy Monaghan
Manager, COL Information Resource Centre
Three interesting developments have taken place in the world of search engines in recent months:
• Microsoft Live rebranded itself as Bing. To the surprise of many, the actual performance of the search improved dramatically.
• Yahoo and Microsoft struck a search engine deal that sees Microsoft’s Bing providing the core, or algorithmic, search results for Yahoo when a user makes a query.
• Google also recently announced an improvement to its search, called Caffeine. The major differences are speed and the results returned. Caffeine is currently available for testing at www2.sandbox.google.com.
Google has been the search engine of choice for many years; 65 percent of US Internet searches in July 2009 used Google according to ComScore Inc. Both Yahoo and Microsoft Live have had a small market share (19 percent and 9 percent respectively), but the recent developments could change that. It will be interesting to see how this affects the rankings over time.
To compare the results of the three search engines side-by-side, there is a good blind trial at http://blindsearch.fejus.com. It will be a couple of years before the Microsoft-Yahoo integration is complete, so Yahoo results won’t be quite the same as Bing just yet. You can also find a comparison of regular Google and caffeine Google at www.facesaerch.com/caffeine.
Beyond the general search engines, there’s an “Invisible” web. Also known as the “Deep” or “Hidden” web, it contains information that Google, Bing and Yahoo cannot index. Some web pages include script that restricts search engines, and entire databases are often excluded. For example, individual library catalogues (library databases) are not searched by the general search engines. You need to go into either www.worldcat.org (which searches multiple catalogues all over the world) or each individual library catalogue. Library catalogues are only one example of databases that you need to search directly. You can use general search engines to locate databases by typing, for example, “higher education” and “databases” in the query line. If the database uses the word “databases” in its own web pages, then you are likely to find it in a general search engine. You can then go to that database and search it directly.
www.bing.com
www2.sandbox.google.com
UPGRADING YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM
Until recently, many software companies tried to convince users to upgrade their operating systems by adding more and more features. But systems have become big, bloated and slow-running on older machines. Now Apple and Microsoft are trying a new approach: they’re both releasing upgrades this year that are smaller and faster than older versions.
Apple’s Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, launched in September 2009, promises faster start up and takes up less space on the hard drive. There are also numerous system tweaks as well as new features, including the ability to record your screen activity as a movie.
Windows 7 from Microsoft, released in October 2009, is described as “simpler and easier to use”. New features include the ability to watch and record TV, and Device Stage technology that makes it easier to interact with devices connected to your system.
Another option for upgrading your system is making the switch to an open source operating system. There are dozens of choices of systems that make their source code available – or open – for users to read, use and possibly re-purpose. Whether for philosophical, financial and/or system-simplicity reasons, a growing number of computer users are choosing open source systems such as Linux and Solaris.
So how do you know if it’s time to upgrade your system? Most operating systems should last for the life of your machine. For many people, the time to upgrade their operating system is when they can’t access documents that are sent to them. If you can’t open documents, you can’t work together; that’s a clear sign you need to upgrade.
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY DEBATE
This online forum promotes discussion on low-cost information and communications technologies (ICTs) initiatives for educational systems in developing countries. Sponsored by infoDev and UNESCO, the site facilitates online debates loosely based on the classic debate format including a moderator, two presenters and comments from observers. Topics to date include “Creating electronic educational content”, “Gender equality in ICT education” and “Mobile phones: better learning tools than computers?”
http://edutechdebate.org
SOCIAL MEDIA MISUSE A GROWING PROBLEM
Eight percent of U.S. companies have fired employees for inappropriate use of social media, according to a survey by the Internet security firm Proofpoint. That’s twice as many as the previous year when just four percent reported dismissing staff for the same reason. The survey also finds that 17% of companies report having issues with employees’ use of social media such as Facebook and LinkedIn. The reasons cited by Proofpoint: closer monitoring of social media use by employers and lack of common sense among employees.
The bottom line for social media users is that once words, photos and videos are posted online, they’re in the public domain. They can be viewed by employers, potential employers and others – not just your intended audience.
MOBILE APPLICATIONS DATABASE
This free online database contains details of projects from around the world that use mobile technology in fields such as human health, economic empowerment, conservation, education, human rights and poverty alleviation. You can do a specific search, browse the entire database or submit details for any related article, project or report.
http://www.kiwanja.net/database/kiwanja_search.php