Mooter search engine

[Terry Nikkel]

The current discussion of Google Scholar is stimulating and seems to be 
making a lot of us think hard about our roles in the evolving world of 
search engines.  I have come across another search engine that I had not 
heard of before, called Mooter, and that I think may interest search engine 
fans.  Mooter is under development in Australia, and is headed by Liesl 
Capper, who is a psychologist.  A couple of simple searches show that 
Mooter has some great features, particularly clustering of related 
results.  http://www.mooter.com

The following is a quote from the Mooter 'About' page:
In the past, search engine development focused on making as much 
information available to users as possible. It was up to the user to sort 
through hundreds or possibly millions of search results to find what they 
were looking for.

Mooter, by contrast, employs unprecedented "artificial algorithms" based on 
psychological modelling to process and understand the information users seek.

"Today's engines typically throw up hundreds of results and ask users to 
sort through them or rephrase the search criteria," Ms Capper, CEO of 
Mooter, says.

"We use complex algorithms to short-circuit the search process."

"Users shouldn't have to work hard to find what they want. Mooter sets out 
to solve the problems of most search engines by understanding the 
psychology of how users interact with information."

Terry Nikkel

Terry Nikkel
Head, Library Systems
Dalhousie University Libraries

Phone: 902-494-6686
Fax: 902-494-2062
Cell: 902-449-8706