Copernic - new research power for the Web

[Ernest Perez]

I've been looking at a Web search agent called "Copernic," by Agents
Technologies Corp. (home page at <http://www.copernic.com/>)

I worked with their Windows 95 downloadable 30-day demo copy. It's easy
to use, intuitive, has GUI advantages, all that cool user interface
stuff. Copernic takes your keyword or phrase search, goes out and
searches 10 Web search engines (at present). It brings back responses,
de-duplicates, and sorts/re-sorts by any of these keys: page title,
description, URL, Rank, # of hits, search engine which delivered, and
new/old item (for updated searches). It includes descriptive/context
text for each hit. It works using either Netscape or Internet Explorer.

Plus you can validate the URL hits, download all or selected files
(including accompanying graphics), modify and redo searches, refine
searches using text search of downloaded items, and save your results to
a personalized HTML file, where you can edit/delete the results, etc.
You can post the final HTML file on your Web server, OR you can LAN,
sneakernet, or e-mail it to your patron/client. 

Whew!

It's FAST, does simultaneous searching of different engines, and
completes most searches in about a minute. With a little time for quick
evaluation, you can eliminate false drops and inappropriate stuff in a
few minutes. Let's say 10 or 15 minutes for most requests.  

Copernic is not opaque or difficult like some of the earlier agent tools
I've seen. It's s-i-m-p-l-e. Really. No, it hasn't got fancy searching
options. It's searches using simple, but globally-supported queries. But
it WORKS!

It's shareware. Would you believe $29.95?

Wow, you say. An unbelievable personal WWW research tool! What will they
do next, etc.?

But what strikes me is that with a power tool like this, it's time for
the next step past the personal tool stage.  With this kind of tool, we
can dependably provide real-time delivery response to queries involving
Web reference/research queries. And we can respond with a custom,
finished, presentation quality, information product. With something like
Copernic, and general or specialized subject knowledge, a librarian can
quickly and efficiently assemble a personalized, specialized,
prioritized, Web page in response to a question which involves a "I need
to know what's out there on the Web" component.

If you want to customize your results even a bit more, you can approach
the point of shameless display of your personal online virtuosity. I
suppose you might go on to edit the final HTML report file, adding your
library logo, your own custom logo, and a personalized flourish with 
  <H2> "Personalized Research Web-bliography <BR> Prepared for John Doe,
Esq.</H2>

Thinking about this, I fantasized getting a call from a user, going
through the reference interview, and allowing as to how, "Well, okay,
Martha...Let me get back to you shortly. I'll check out some Web
information resources, do some content quality evaluation, and build you
a personalized research report Web page."

"How long will that take? Oh..." [Select one of the following:]
  1)  "I'll e-mail it to you in about 15 minutes, is that okay? (modest
shrug)"
  2) "Check out the library web site when you get back from coffee.
It'll be at http://www.makebelive.com\report\6.html"



I remember the pleasure of those first couple of years out of library
school, and the thrill of hearing patrons react with, "How'd you know to
do that/look there/find this?" Check out Copernic. See if you don't
agree that it gives us this same kind of research response power in the
network resource area that we used to amaze them with in the stacks. 
:-)

Cheers,
-ernest

Ernest Perez//Oregon State Library//perez at opac.state.or.us//503-378-4243
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Those who do not read are no better off than those who cannot read.


P.S. For fun, take a look at a couple of searches I did in 5 or 7
minutes each. See <http://db.osl.state.or.us/sample/> I didn't evaluate
or edit these for quality at all. BTW, all the links are NEW, since I
just did the searches.



------------------From the Copernic home page-----------------------

                      Technical Specifications Sheet

                      Searches

  Search engines available: AltaVista, Excite, HotBot, Infoseek, Lycos,
Magellan, Open Text, WebCrawler, Yahoo, AltaVista - Usenet, DejaNews
  Possibility of choosing the search engines
  Maximum number of results per engine: 150
  Maximum number of results per search: 500
  Possibility of creating folders for the searches
  Possibility of copying and moving searches from one folder to the
other
  Search and result history available (the elements are displayed in two
windows: one for the searches and one for detailed results)
  No maximum number of searches in the history (limited only by the disk
space available and the computer's capabilities)
  Supports Boolean searches and quotes (AND / OR, for all search
keywords)
  Check out Copernic. See if you don't agree that it does give us this
kind of reference query response power.
  Possibility of updating the results of a search (new items hilighted)
  Possibility of changing a search that has already been carried out
(changes to the content or to the parameters)

                      Results


   Elimination of duplicate matching documents
   Extensive information concerning each document displayed on screen:
title, description, address, rank, hit count, date found, found by,
state (valid, invalid, new, refined, downloaded)
   Progressive display of the results obtained during the search
   Possibility of searching for an expression from the results displayed
on screen
   Possibility of deleting results
   Possibility of checking the availability of the documents found (upon
request, overall documents or a selection of desired documents)
   Possibility of conducting a more elaborate search of the pages saved
on disk (overall results or a selection of desired results, supports
Boolean searches - AND / OR, for all search keywords - and quotes)
   Time required for a search is minimal (generally less than one minute
and rarely exceeds two minutes - depends basically on the performance of
the Internet connection and the number of documents)
   Time required for a validation is very short (generally a few minutes
-depends basically on the performance of the Internet connection and the
number of documents)
   Time required for a search of pages stored on disk is almost nil (the
poor capabilities of a computer and a large number of documents
mayprolong the delay by a few seconds)
   Documents can be downloaded on request and saved on disk for off-line
browsing (overall results or a selection of desired documents)
   Text and image can be processed while downloading a document for
off-line browsing (images on request)
   Possibility of consulting a document during a search
   Production of a search report in Web page format
   Possibility of sorting the report presented in Web page format (by
rank, title, address or date)
   Availability of a quick selector to facilitate navigation and
consultation of the results using the browser (directional arrows,
pull-down menu to select the documents, shortcut to the page containing
the results, sort key selector for the report)
   Pinpointing documents is easy due to the presentation design (icons,
fonts*, colors*)

                      Configuration


   All search engines can be contacted simultaneously (speed is mainly
limited by by the computer's capabilities and the Internet connection)
   Availability of search schemes: normal, detailed, customized
   Possibility of customizing the presentation of searches (multiple
sorting by column, in ascending or descending order, column shifts* and
resizing)
   Connection management options available: number of simultaneous
connections, number of attempts, time-out delay
   Search results preview pane can be presented horizontally or
vertically
   Search results can be customized (multiple sorting by column, in
ascending or descending order, column shift* and resizing)
   Up to thirty two pages can be validated simultaneously (speed mainly
limited by the computer's performance and the Internet connection)
   Up to thirty two pages can be downloaded simultaneously (speed mainly
limited by the computer's performance and the Internet connection)
   Support of all Internet connection modes, including the proxy servers
(automatically imports configuration from browser, supports proxy
authorization)
   Software configuration wizard included
   Software update wizard included

                      Compatibility

   Minimum equipment requirements: 486-33 MHz, 8 Mb of RAM, 3 Mb of disk
space
   Operating system required: Windows 95 or later, Windows NT 4.0 or
later
   Browser required: Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or later, Netscape
Navigator 2.0 or later
   User interface is in compliance with the latest Windows standards
   Accessibility to the program from Windows Start/Find menu


                      Other Specifications

   Free 30 day trial version available on the Internet or through
distributors
   No additional downloading required to access commercial version
   Supports the Microsoft IntelliMouse
   Creates a shortcut icon on the Windows desktop
   Displays the percentage of progression of a task on the Windows
taskbar
   Windows compliant software (un)install
   Technical support available by e-mail