[WEB4LIB] Re: Mooter search engine

[Robin Boulton]

I compared Mooter and Kartoo (both of which I learned about on this list
over the last week) with two searches: 

"Peace like a River Flows" (the book we’re using for our community reading
program this year); and

"miss mouse" (a children's game on our web site). 

Although both sites served up results that gave me the information I wanted,
I thought Kartoo did a better job and made the information more easily and
readily accessible (although as an Aussie I really wanted Mooter to be the
better engine :(  )

Anyway I hereby donate my search terms to the public domain in case anyone
is starting to put together a standardized list (a very good idea, I think).

___________________________________
Robin Boulton
rboulton at linc.lib.il.us
IT Manager
St. Charles Public Library District 
St. Charles, IL 60174
Cell:  (630) 918 8738
FAX: (630) 584 3448 
(630) 584 0076 x 258
http://www.stcharleslibrary.org
___________________________________ 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib at webjunction.org [mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org]
> On Behalf Of Jerry Kuntz
> Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 10:35 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: [WEB4LIB] Re: Mooter search engine
> 
> 
> ..hmm, I was just about to praise their visualization for being so
> "primary" and clear--in contrast to animated hovering globes in a 3D
> enviroment, or globes of varying size and color on wires of different
> lengths (all of which I find non-intutitive and often bewildering, which
> may mark me as old, but then again I'm not seeing visualization system
> catch on yet after lo these many years they've been touted).
> My quick test was using a search suggested on the Scirus home page:
> the single term "Dolly". I tried it in Google, Google Scholar, Scirus, and
> Mooter, and thought the Mooter results were best. But one of the problems
> with evaluating search engines (including federated search tools) is that
> you can construct searches that show off the tools to their best
> advantage, while other searches work very poorly. As we talk about these
> on Web4lib, it would be nice to have a standard set of representative
> search terms taken from real-life samples of audiences matching the
> intended audience of the tools.
> 
> ---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
> From: "Alain D. M. G. Vaillancourt" <ndgmtlcd at yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: ndgmtlcd at yahoo.com
> Date:  Fri, 19 Nov 2004 08:05:11 -0800 (PST)
> 
> > --- Terry Nikkel <Terry.Nikkel at Dal.Ca> a écrit :
> >A couple of simple searches show that
> >>
> >> Mooter has some great features, particularly clustering of related
> >> results.  http://www.mooter.com
> >
> >I got some rather stunning results from a few searches.  Their
> >algorithm is quite wonderful.  I can't say the same for the
> >visualization they present as the first page of search results.  The
> >"Calder mobile" type of beads on wires is rather innocent and primary
> >and adds nothing to the usability of their system. Information
> >visualization is a vast and complex field.  They should stay away from
> >it instead of blundering into it, given that its use here distracts us
> >from their incredible asscociative engine.
> >
> >Alain Vaillancourt
> >
> >__________________________________________________________
> >Lèche-vitrine ou lèche-écran ?
> >magasinage.yahoo.ca
> >
> >
> 
> --
> Jerry Kuntz
> Electronic Resources Consultant
> Ramapo Catskill Library System
> jkuntz at rcls.org
> 
> --
>