Searching the Web
Volume 31, Number 5, June 2004
With Free Visual Search Engines
Holly Gunn
Most popular search engines present their results in
a linear list. Some newer engines cluster their results.
(See my October 2003 article, Clustering
search engines,
in Teacher Librarian, 31 (1), 52)
A
few of the newest search engines have been using visual
representations of search results. Kartoo, Mooter and
the still-in progress Google Viewer are three of the
next-generation visual search engines that have great
potential for K-12 searchers. Be prepared for a paradigm
shift when using these search engines. Visual search
engines challenge our expectations because they deliver
so much more than we expect.
Kartoo
Kartoo, a meta-search
engine from France, uses Flash Player to provide search
results in interactive maps.
Results are represented by pieces of paper, connected
to show relationships between sites. When the user
mouses over a paper, a description of the site appears
on the
left. If a site is selected, it opens in a separate
window. When activated, Kartoo’s Kapitalyse retains a permanent
search history. (This search history can be erased.)
Search result maps can be saved for future reference
or e-mailed.
Searching Kartoo
Kartoo uses and as the default in searching,
and employs several commands to refine searches. Searches
can be
restricted by title, domain and URL, and search for
similar sites. See Kartoo’s
Search Tips for more search commands. Note: A simple keyword search
often yields many commercial pages, but these commercial
pages can be eliminated with the command -domain:com.
Try
these search examples:
1. title:deserts -domain:com
This search ensures that the word deserts is located
in the web site title and that .com domains are eliminated
from the results.
2. deserts domain:edu
This search ensures that all results
come from the edu domain.
Be sure to click on Next
Map to see all the results.
Mooter
Mooter, a new clustering
search engine from Australia, presents its results
in a concept web. Mooter focuses
on relevance rather than providing as many results
as possible. It has been so popular since it
appeared in
late 2003 that it has even switched service providers
to handle traffic; still, it can be slow. Mooter’s
simplicity, relevance of results and use of sub-topics
to categorize search results make it an appealing
search engine for student researchers. Moot Quicker
gives a
clustered view without the web diagram.
Searching Mooter
Although search tips
aren’t provided,
Mooter appears to use several of the same search commands
as Google,
including intitle:, inurl:, site: and filetype:pdf.
Search for volcanoes with Mooter and notice the basic
terminology
used to describe the results: description, information,
map, geology. Be sure to click on Next Clusters to
see all the results.
Google
Viewer
Google
Viewer is one of the projects in Google
Labs,
the showcase for some
of Google’s favorite ideas
that aren’t quite ready for its main site.
Google Viewer displays search results as a continuous
slide
show. There is no need to use the mouse or arrow
keys to advance to the next site. Just sit back and
enjoy
the show. Controls at the top of the viewer adjust
the speed of the show, stop the show while visiting
an interesting
site, or resume the show. If you just want to quickly
preview search results on a topic, Google Viewer
is the search engine for you.
Searching with Google Viewer
1. intitle:volcanoes -site:.com
2. intitle:desertification site:edu
3. intitle:“Lesley Choyce”
(Google Viewer is a great place to see and learn about
people.)
Remember that you are using Google; therefore, all
Google power searching commands are at your disposal. Further reading:
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. (2002). Next
generation visual search engines. 21st Century Information
Fluency Portal IMSA Internet Search Wizard. Retrieved
January 23, 2004, from http://wizard.imsa.edu/Members/ckolar/News_Item.
2003-04-09.3344
Paterson, E. (2002). Visual search engines. Retrieved
January 23, 2004, from http://jimmy.qmuc.ac.uk/usr/im02pate/Subjbook.htm
Zastrow, J. (2003). The visual Web. Retrieved January
23, 2004, from http://www.hawaii.rr.com/leisure/reviews/jan_zastrow/2002-winter_tvweb.htm
Holly Gunn is the teacher-librarian at Sackville
High School, Nova Scotia. She can be reached at hgunn@accesscable.net.
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