Downloading Tools / Plug In Task
Search Manager / Combiners
I downloaded Copernic Agent Basic to test as a search engine. Google didn’t like it very much – in fact it was a bit of a surprise that I suddenly got a message from Google claiming that another piece of software was trying to take over as my search tool. I thought this was interesting as I thought Google was a tool I used when I wanted – I didn’t realise it has claimed ownership over my pc!
As a search engine it was fine, it utilised 10 other search engines and was fast enough with results. I found the page layout quite busy and bit distracting in its presentation. I’m likely to stick with Google as my main search engine simply because of the simple design.
I really didn’t want to download any more software onto my pc, I’ve got so many unused programs already! So I thought I would upgrade Windows Media Player – but it appears that I have the latest version, so instead I used it to do something I haven’t done before – listen to the radio. I’m really excited now, I found Triple J which is a station I haven’t heard for years! There are no interesting non-commercial stations in the UK so I’ve been having withdrawals!
I really appreciated this exercise because I’ve realised that with my new internet provider and Windows Media Player – I can have a little bit of home every day now!
The difficult part of Media Player is the file format issue. We find that most days we use this program and iTunes to listen to music. It would be great to find a player that could play all music formats. I used Copernic to search for possibilities but again, found the display very distracting and couldn’t find anything that caught my eye in it’s busy, half highlighted presentation.
Search Engine Task
Unfortunately the two pages we were asked to visit in the curriculum, Using Web Search Tools and Specialised Databases. have been removed from the OSU site.
Following on from my excitement of remembering internet radio, and specifically Triple J, I searched Google with the keywords ‘hottest 100’. The results were:
Results 1 - 10 of about 625,000 for hottest 100. (0.15 seconds). The first 5 results were:
When I ran the same search on Copernic it returned 49 results from 11 search engines. I ran it a second time using the identical words and syntax and this time it gave me 50 results from 11 search engines. Strange! Here are the first 5 results:
I didn’t like the results from this search very much as the sponsored links really dominated the top of the page, and the page I actually wanted, triplej.net.au, came in 5th place. It was first on the list in the Google search.
I’ve been searching for some more information behind the reason why 11 search engines have returned such a small response compared with the Google results. I think I’ll have to look into this further, I’ve not been able to find a simple explanation as the two pages mentioned above obviously provided.
Using Boolean searching, I would get the most results using the Boolean term AND in my search (ie hottest AND 100). A quick rundown of the results:
Without Boolean Logic – result 625,000
With Boolean Term ‘AND’ – result 31,400,000
Copernic
Without Boolean Logic – 49 or 50
With Boolean Term ‘AND’ – result 53
Regarding relevance, Google gave by far the most accurate results for my search, Copernic pushed my destination website down to 6th position.
I’m not sure if I’ve missed an important point in not being able to access the OSU websites recommended to find a way to just search university websites, but I have found a link in Google that allows you to narrow your search to a particular university website. See link below:
http://www.google.com/options/universities.html
Google has created Google Scholar that searches all areas such as universities, theses, academic publishers etc. Microsoft has also released Windows Live Academic Search that does the equivalent. Whilst this does not narrow down the search to only universities, the search results are clearly refined.
Organising Search Information
The best responses I received were from Google. At number 1:
http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/
Author – unknown
Institution – Australian Broadcasting Corporation
And number 2:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_J_Hottest_100
Author – it’s a wiki, there are many authors
Institution – Wikipedia
But number 3 had no relevance at all!
http://www.totalfilm.com/features/the_hottest_100_people_in_hollywood_right_now
Author – unnamed
Institution – Squiz
To record these 3 websites I have used the method I am most comfortable with – I added them as favourites in Microsoft Explorer. To keep my favourite addresses under control I put them into folders. In this case I have used called the folder Net11, it is where I keep the links to my blog and other relevant sites to this course. I find this the easiest way to keep track of my websites, as Explorer is the program I use most commonly, and I really don’t use other programs or bookmarking functions. I prefer to keep it simple
Evaluating the web
For this exercise I used a more relevant webpage from my concepts assignment, http://www.xssed.com/pagerank
the reliability and authority of the site / source / article
the reliability of the statistics of the site are open to interpretation, as although it claims to be the largest repository of information regarding XSS vulnerable sites, it relies on submissions from the public to identify them. If there was decreasing public interest, the results would become skewed and unreliable.
I was concerned when viewing the submissions page, as the last update regarding submissions was posted in 2007, but when viewing the XSS Archive, I can see that it is update daily, this attention gives me more confidence in the accuracy of the data.
the main ideas or subjects discussed in the article
To provide information and education regarding XSS vulnerabilities to all interest site developers and users.
the purpose for which the site was written (this might include any apparent external interest, intellectual motivation or contextual information)
The site was created as a reference point, but I would suggest that the developers intended for it to become a commercial concern.
As I have used separate sites for the different parts of this exercise, comparing the relevance of the information provided in the search results to my closer look at the site. The most useful research to look back on would definitely be my more detailed information. To judge, or provide some permanent ranking on the site to remind myself of the usefulness of the site, I would personally put something in the link name in my Explorer favourites, although now I beginning to understand the usefulness of bookmarking sites.
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