IIITMK

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Information Retrieval from InternetPart III -
Meta Search Engines

• Sainul Abideen P
• BSc, BLISc, PGDCA, ADIS, VLIR Scholar VUB,
  Belgium
• Librarian, IIITM-K

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What is a Meta Search Engine ?

• A Meta Search engine allows you to search
  multiple search engines at once, returning more
  comprehensive and relevant results, fast.
• A search engine which does not gather its own
  information directly from web sites but rather
  passes the queries that it receives onto other
  search engines. It then compiles, summarises and
  displays the information that it finds there
• www.rosetta-alba.com/webmentor/glossary4.htm

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Why Meta Search Engines?

• General Search Engines have
• Difference in Search Syntax
• Incomplete Database of Websites.
• Difference in frequency of updation.
• Difference in the Display Results and Search
  Interface.

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General Features of Meta Search Engine

• Unifies the Search Interface and provides a
  consistent user interface,
• Standardizes the query structure,
• May make use of an independent ranking method for
  the results.
• May have an independent ranking system for each
  search engine/database it searches,
• Meta Search is not a search for Meta Data!!

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Types of Meta Search Engine

• Searches Multiple search engines, but may not
  collate the results. High Possiblity of
  Duplication.
• Searches Multiple search engines and returns a
  single list of results, often with duplicate
  removed.

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Principles of Meta Search Engine

• Accept the User Query
• Convert the Query into the correct syntax for
  every underlying Search Engine
• Launch the multiple queries
• Wait for the Result
• Analyze the results, eliminate duplicates.
• Merge results
• Deliver the post processed result to the Users.

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Examples of Meta Search Engines
Dogpile Mamma Metacrawler Kartoo Turbo 10
Vivisimo ixquick iBoogie Search.com Many more
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Dogpile

• One of the earliest meta search engines and
  remains very popular today.
• Its major advantage lies in its search engines
  Google, Yahoo!, Ask Jeeves, Teoma, About etc.

www.dogpile.com
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Mamma

• Canadian-based Mamma began in 1996 as a Masters
  thesis, arguably the first meta search
• Today it is a well respected search tool and like
  Dogpile.
• Searches the Webs top engines such as Google,
  Open Directory, Teoma and others

www.mamma.com
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Turbo10

• It has a long list of specialist databases on
  specific subjects 804 Search Engines
• Searches the Deep Net (others rarely go there)
• Find more quality information from specialist,
  topic-specific engines.
• Users can also tailor their searching by
  selecting unusual databases of their own choosing
• Directly access online government, business and
  university databases.
• Can search up to 10 Deep Net engines
  simultaneously.

www.turbo10.com
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Information Retrieval from InternetPart IV
Information Sources
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Useful Reference Tools

• You can find free dictionaries online, such as
  Merriam Webster, Oxford, Macquarie, Cambridge and
  Dictionary.com
• Most dictionaries also have a thesaurus tab
• The meta dictionary OneLook simultaneously
  searches nearly 1,000 general and specialist
  dictionaries! (http//www.onelook.com/)
• Some of the weirdest words out there are at the
  Strange and Unusual Dictionaries website
• Or visit RyhmeZones Rhyming Dictionary
  Thesaurus for a bit of fun!

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Useful Reference Tools

• Origin of a phrase or saying Brewers
  Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
• Theres also the ClichéSite or the Hutchinson
  Dictionary of Difficult Words
• Free encyclopaedias Encyclopedia.com, Columbia,
  Encarta (partly free), Wikipedia, Hutchinson
  many more..
• Way Back Machine has been archiving large
  portions of the Web since 1996, so if a website
  has suddenly disappeared, search for it here!

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OneLook Meta Dictionary
http//www.onelook.com/
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OneLook Reverse Dictionary

• http//www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml

http//www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml
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Wayback Machine
http//www.archive.org/web/web.php
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Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia
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Wikipedia

• Wikipedia is a Web-based, multi-language,
  free-content encyclopedia written collaboratively
  by volunteers and sponsored by the non-profit
  Wikimedia Foundation. It has editions in about
  180 languages.
• Its purpose is to create and distribute a free,
  reliable encyclopedia in as many languages as
  possible.

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