Beyond Google
-with ZoomerOne
Wei-hsing Wang, Ph.D.
NicheUSA, L.L.C.
1.
What
is Google anyway?
With
so much news recently on Google, no double you will say Google is a search
engine. Well, how does search engines work?
There
are four parts of a search engine: user interface, proprietary ranking process,
database system, and spiders (also called worm or robot). What you see on their
web site is just the user interface part. You can enter a keyword or a phase
into a box on the web page, and you will get a list of search results on the
next page. Behind the scene, the user interface talks with the ranking process
and the database to select findings (hits) from the search engineÆs collection
and present them in their own order to you.
How
did the search engineÆs findings get into its database? That is the job of a
spider, which is a software function like your web browser. They sent out
requests to all the web site in the world, (well, not quite, but at least 20%,
and it is a huge number of web pages) and put all the pages into the database.
Search engines compete with each other in all those four areas. They try to
offer more features in user interface so it is easy to use and to narrow down
to specific needs, better ranking system so that the results are more relevant,
more powerful database and spiders so that they can provide answers in
nanoseconds and have the biggest collection of web pages.
A
ôDirectoryö is a distant relative of search engines. People, instead of spiders
and databases, are finding and organizing web resources. People look at web
sites and write comments about them, and categorize the web sites. Users click
on categories and narrow down to the specific area of needs and find a list of
URLs (links). Some Directories are ôclosed,ö which are designed and maintained
by a company. Others are ôopen,ö which are offered by volunteer editors.
Two
other members in ôsearching the webö family are Portals and Meta-tools. In
general, a tool let users search several search engines without setting up its
own database is a meta-tool. A web site offers both a search engine and a
directory (and ômuch moreö) is a portal.
Here
are examples of each category:
Search Engines
|
|
Directories |
|
Portals
|
search.msn.com bubl.ac.uk infomine.ucr.edu |
Meta-tools
|
2.
Five
Generations in the family
How did those different
kinds of tools came to existence? What will they evolve into in the future?
LetÆs look back to 10 years ago.
Some people may still
remember those days before "search engine" became a commonly known
term. People were told or bumped into a URL. People used "bookmark"
to remember the URLs. Everybody soon found out that a long bookmark list was
not easy to manage. Sadly, some people today still struggle to manage their
long bookmark file (or something similar).
Then came the big idea, search engine. Search engines caught on quickly. Those
free tools help you find anything you want by typing in keywords. People can
get to many great web pages effortlessly. The problem is no longer "can I
find anything on this subject" but "I found too many pages than I can
handle." The meaning of "too many" quickly grew from thousands
into millions of URLs. However, the quality of the URLs is very unreliable. In
addition, search engines also have huge blind spots, also called the invisible
web.
Many people realized the shortcomings of search engines. They introduce URLs on
their own web sites. In many cases, people recommend URLs on their "My
favorite web sites" pages. Since a person screens the web sites, the
quality is generally better than those URLs selected by search engine software.
However, these URL pages age quickly. People could not keep those links up to
date. Links can be broken. Web sitesÆ quality and structure may also change.
Human beings can do a better job than search engine "spider"
software. But, this is clearly not a one-person job. Organizations offer the
next generation solution: the directories. An organization can watch over an
area of web sites, make recommendations with a team of experts. The
recommendations can be kept in a database. People can find quality web sites with
the help of directories. However, the biggest problem with directories is that
they are mostly in the invisible web. People don't know they exist.
New age Information specialists (some are librarians) are here to help.
Librarians are not made equal. While some librarians still will point you to
the index cards, some will answer your questions with a Google search, only a
few will actually point out the differences between an array of search engines
and directories. If you find those new age information specialists, you are in
luck. The 5th generation solutions will give you much better answer than the
2nd generation search engines. However, finding them and get them to work with
you is not easy. Many people canÆt find those experts and are still at the
mercy of search engines.
ZoomerOne is the new generation solution that can lead the public to the best web resources. ZoomerOne is a
software tool, which gathers best web resources for the subject, the keywords,
and the users, based on information specialists' suggestions. NicheUSA, L.L.C.
works closely with information specialists to create and maintain ZoomerOne,
which combines the power of search engines, individuals, and directories.
3.
Problems
and Tips
Many
people only use search engines. Many people count on the searching power
provided by Google (and the future MSN) for decision-making. Only a small but
growing number of us can see beyond Google.
The
biggest problem of search engines is lack of quality control. Search engines
search everywhere, including garbage dump. You are getting a mixed, polluted
list of findings. Your findings can contain the three most unwanted kinds of
web sites: those wanting your money, those wanting your information, and those
wanting your soul.á
Many
web sites and web elements are heavily used to sell you products and services,
or collect your personal information, with or without your knowledge, for
resell or more targeted sale. Other web sites provide users with misleading, poisonous,
and awful material, which is taxing the society. As long as those unwanted web
sites meet the ranking criteria of a search engine, you will get to see them.
Worse
yet, many (if not all) search engines sell list positions for profit, which
means the ranking process allow whoever pays the search engine be listed first.
Google is probably the most honest one that do not mix paid and fairly ranked
links together. However, with the trick of ôGoogle Bombing,ö (a method to
manipulate search result position in Google search, you can find more
information by search Google Bombing in Google) even Google findings cannot be
trusted.á Experts cannot offer any help
besides warning ôBuyers Beware!ö
A
savvy user has to look beyond Google. Actually one has to look beyond all
search engines. At the minimum, use some directories. The first thing is
shopping around. Take a look of the spectrum of tools and understand their
strengths and weaknesses. Search engines are capable of searching a huge number
of web sites, perform full text search, provides quantity but not quality.
Directories can offer structured, categorized information around a subject with
good quality, but are not updated as often as search engines, and not as
extensive as search engines. An experienced user generally use search engines
and directories like using both hands, passing findings between tools to locate
the best web resources.
4.
ZoomerOne
to Infinity and Beyond
The
web is ever changing, so do the tools of using the web resources. Google 2.0 is
not the ultimate answer, and MSN 2.0 is not the ultimate answer, either. A
combination of tools from different categories could be your best bet. With the
tools we mentioned above you can make use of the best web resources much better
than just provided by Google. However, if you do not intend to make yourself a
professional web searcher, you may need to consult with information specialists
from time to time to get updates.
All
those general search tools are good for the general, however, you know you are
special, and you have special needs. If you can go to a specialist, why do you
need the opinion of a generalist?á
ZoomerOne can offer you the best web resources customized for your
knowledge level, subject, and keywords based on information specialistÆs
knowledge.
á
Many
more search engines and directories will join the market, ZoomerOne product
family will grow to take advantages of those new tools like web browsers grew
to take advantages of new HTML and multimedia features. A savvy web user can
see beyond the hype and get much more from the best web resources than plain Google.