Exalead has enhanced its NEAR command by allowing searchers to specify how close they want their search terms to be to one another. By default, NEAR looks for your terms within 16 words of one another in the order specified. You can now specify the maximum number of words that can separate your terms by using NEAR/n.
For example:
climate NEAR/2 change
finds climate followed by change but separated by up to 2 words.
climate NEAR/5 change
finds your terms separated by up to 5 words.
It is interesting that Exalead is resurrecting some of the search options that used to be standard but have been dropped by most of the major search engines. AltaVista used to have a NEAR command but this disappeared soon after it was bought by Yahoo.
Sunday, 2 April 2006
Monday, 20 March 2006
Accoona is Back
I spotted this piece of news in the Alacra Blog - AlacraBlog: Accoona is Back.
Accoona was first released in December 2004 and failed to impress me and others. This new version is greatly improved, although the business search is just a D&B search on US companies. It is the News section that I find particularly interesting with its "SuperTarget Your Search" option. Publication coverage is excellent and includes a good range of industry sectors and international, regional and local sources. My standard test search on wind farms for example picked up the Taunton Gazette and Rutland Herald as well as The Guardian, Washington Post and a host of environmental publications.
Results can be sorted by date and relevance but the SuperTarget goes even further and enables you to narrow down your search by publisher, companies and people mentioned in the articles, country and state. The "When published" feature includes an option for "More than 30 days ago" but this does limit you to only those sources that offer free access beyond this date.
This is a worthy competitor to the free offerings from Google, Yahoo and Ask but it currently lacks an Alerts option.
Accoona was first released in December 2004 and failed to impress me and others. This new version is greatly improved, although the business search is just a D&B search on US companies. It is the News section that I find particularly interesting with its "SuperTarget Your Search" option. Publication coverage is excellent and includes a good range of industry sectors and international, regional and local sources. My standard test search on wind farms for example picked up the Taunton Gazette and Rutland Herald as well as The Guardian, Washington Post and a host of environmental publications.
Results can be sorted by date and relevance but the SuperTarget goes even further and enables you to narrow down your search by publisher, companies and people mentioned in the articles, country and state. The "When published" feature includes an option for "More than 30 days ago" but this does limit you to only those sources that offer free access beyond this date.
This is a worthy competitor to the free offerings from Google, Yahoo and Ask but it currently lacks an Alerts option.
Thursday, 2 March 2006
Top Search Tips from Derbyshire - Updated
I am currently in Derbyshire giving a course on Searching Beyond Google. As usual, the group is asked to come up with a list of Top Tips & Sites. This is it!
1. BUBL http://bubl.ac.uk/ A good starting point for evaluated sites and portals covering a wide range of subjects and industry sectors.
2. FITA http://www.fita.org/. Links to sources of information on trade, export/import, business and companies worldwide.
3. Trovando http://www.trovando.it/. Enables you enter your search strategy once and run it in different types of search tools one by one for example web, images, news, blogs, audio, video.
4. Narrow down your search by limiting by filetype for example xls for tables of statistics in spreadsheet format, ppt for presentations on a subject, PDF for official reports or long documents. Available in most of the major search tools.
5. Use http://ranking.thumbshots.com/ to compare the overlap - or lack of it - in the first 100 results from pairs of search engines.
6. Blogs and blogging are worth exploring both as sources of information and as a means of disseminating information and current awareness.
7. BvD free directory http://www.bvdep.com/ for a list of companies by sector and/or country or for tracking down the location of a company and its subsidiaries.
8. Make use of the lesser known features of Google: Synonym search, define:, numeric range search
9. RSS feeds - a technology to be investigated as a means of keeping up to date with events and for SDI (Selective Dissemination of Information).
10. Official Company Registers for information on SMEs (Small & Medium-sized Enterprises).
Three lists for locating registers on the web:
Company registration around the world http://www.hrasg.ch/eng/welt-e.htm
World-wide Registries http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/links/introduction.shtml#reg
Official Company Registers http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/registers.htm
1. BUBL http://bubl.ac.uk/ A good starting point for evaluated sites and portals covering a wide range of subjects and industry sectors.
2. FITA http://www.fita.org/. Links to sources of information on trade, export/import, business and companies worldwide.
3. Trovando http://www.trovando.it/. Enables you enter your search strategy once and run it in different types of search tools one by one for example web, images, news, blogs, audio, video.
4. Narrow down your search by limiting by filetype for example xls for tables of statistics in spreadsheet format, ppt for presentations on a subject, PDF for official reports or long documents. Available in most of the major search tools.
5. Use http://ranking.thumbshots.com/ to compare the overlap - or lack of it - in the first 100 results from pairs of search engines.
6. Blogs and blogging are worth exploring both as sources of information and as a means of disseminating information and current awareness.
7. BvD free directory http://www.bvdep.com/ for a list of companies by sector and/or country or for tracking down the location of a company and its subsidiaries.
8. Make use of the lesser known features of Google: Synonym search, define:, numeric range search
9. RSS feeds - a technology to be investigated as a means of keeping up to date with events and for SDI (Selective Dissemination of Information).
10. Official Company Registers for information on SMEs (Small & Medium-sized Enterprises).
Three lists for locating registers on the web:
Company registration around the world http://www.hrasg.ch/eng/welt-e.htm
World-wide Registries http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/links/introduction.shtml#reg
Official Company Registers http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/registers.htm
Friday, 24 February 2006
Russia: All Regions, Trade & Investment Guide
Available from Effective Technology Marketing, Russia: All Regions, Trade and Investment Guide is a comprehensive compilation of data for all regions of Russia. The Guide provides accurate, up-to-date information on markets, current economic conditions, sources of supply, infrastructure, trade opportunities, operating conditions, investment projects, legal and tax environment. Data is gathered directly from local administrations and governments, and reviewed and verified through government agencies.
The Guide has been completely revised for 2006 and is available separately in English and Russian with full colour charts, graphs and maps, and a fully searchable CD-ROM. There is a prepublication discount of 25% and discounted prices range from Eur 449 to Eur 679 depending on whether you opt for the book and/or CD-ROM and the language of publication (English or Russian, or both).
The Guide has been completely revised for 2006 and is available separately in English and Russian with full colour charts, graphs and maps, and a fully searchable CD-ROM. There is a prepublication discount of 25% and discounted prices range from Eur 449 to Eur 679 depending on whether you opt for the book and/or CD-ROM and the language of publication (English or Russian, or both).
Thursday, 16 February 2006
BvDEP launches Russian company database
Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing (BvDEP) is launching RUSLANA, a source of information on companies in Russia and the Ukraine. RUSLANA will contain both standardised and "as reported" financial information for nearly a million companies. It will be available from February 16th 2006 via bvdep.com.
RUSLANA will include profit and loss and balance sheet data in various accounting formats for approximately 600,000 Russian, and over 260,000 Ukrainian, companies, with summaries for a further 100,000 Ukrainian companies. The data is supplied by Creditreform, providers of business reports on companies in both region. Supplementary data includes: BvDEP detailed ownership information, news including M&A activity from ZEPHYR, activities, management, import/export details and stock price data.
To support and promote the new product, BvDEP has established a new office in Moscow which is overseen by Mark Schwerzel, BvDEP's director for Germany, Austria and Eastern Europe. RUSLANA will be provided via the internet, initially in English, with plans to launch a Cyrillic version in the near future. It will be aimed at financial services/banks, corporates, consultancies and accountants, as well as the public sector, and will be typically used for financial research, credit analysis and business to business marketing.
More information about RUSLANA is available from BvDEP on info@bvdep.com and bvdep.com where you can request a free trial.
RUSLANA will include profit and loss and balance sheet data in various accounting formats for approximately 600,000 Russian, and over 260,000 Ukrainian, companies, with summaries for a further 100,000 Ukrainian companies. The data is supplied by Creditreform, providers of business reports on companies in both region. Supplementary data includes: BvDEP detailed ownership information, news including M&A activity from ZEPHYR, activities, management, import/export details and stock price data.
To support and promote the new product, BvDEP has established a new office in Moscow which is overseen by Mark Schwerzel, BvDEP's director for Germany, Austria and Eastern Europe. RUSLANA will be provided via the internet, initially in English, with plans to launch a Cyrillic version in the near future. It will be aimed at financial services/banks, corporates, consultancies and accountants, as well as the public sector, and will be typically used for financial research, credit analysis and business to business marketing.
More information about RUSLANA is available from BvDEP on info@bvdep.com and bvdep.com where you can request a free trial.
Friday, 10 February 2006
Exalead reaches 4 billion pages
Exalead is now searching over four billion Web pages and aims to reach eight billion by July. As many information professionals say, the size of the web database is irrelevant if it generates rubbish results but a critical mass is essential to encourage users to use a search engine, and Exalead has certainly done that now.
I am a great fan of Exalead: it has several unique features and has resurrected a couple that were discarded by the other main stream engines long ago. You can use wildcards (*) at the end of a word and the NEAR command looks for your terms within 16 words of each other. Unique features include phonetic and approximate spelling search options, and the pattern matching option enables you to cheat - ahem, I mean - can help you find that final, elusive solution for your crossword puzzle.
And if you want to run your search in other search tools after running it through Exalead, you can set up short cuts to them from Exalead's home page. (For further details see Tales From the Terminal Room October 2005: Exalead revamps web search.
I am a great fan of Exalead: it has several unique features and has resurrected a couple that were discarded by the other main stream engines long ago. You can use wildcards (*) at the end of a word and the NEAR command looks for your terms within 16 words of each other. Unique features include phonetic and approximate spelling search options, and the pattern matching option enables you to cheat - ahem, I mean - can help you find that final, elusive solution for your crossword puzzle.
And if you want to run your search in other search tools after running it through Exalead, you can set up short cuts to them from Exalead's home page. (For further details see Tales From the Terminal Room October 2005: Exalead revamps web search.
Wednesday, 8 February 2006
Inforum - Final Call for Papers
The organisers of the 12 Inforum Conference on Professional Information Resources, to be held on May 23 - 25, 2006 in Prague have issued a final call for papers.
If you are interested in presenting a paper, the topics are:
Participation of both, researchers and practitioners is strongly encouraged. The first author of the accepted paper will be entitled to free registration.
Submissions in the form of abstracts should meet the following requirements and include:
1. Major theme of the paper should be in line with the conference topics and the content should be strictly non-commercial
2. Paper title
3. Abstract of 200 words, in English.
4. Author(s) and/or co-author(s) with names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses.
Abstracts should be submitted using via the form on the conference web site http://www.inforum.cz/inforum2006/english/papers3.php
Deadlines
February 13th, 2006: Submission of abstracts
March 8th, 2006: Acceptance notifications will be sent out
April 24th, 2006: Submission of full text's electronic versions
Accepted papers will be published by means of electronic proceedings on the Inforum website.
If you are interested in presenting a paper, the topics are:
- The Future of Scientific and Technical Information Searching
- Trends & News in the Field of Electronic Information Resources
- Current Trends and Technologies of Digital Libraries
- Web Search News, Wikis, Blogs and RSS
- Open Access - a New Way for the Distribution of Scientific Information?
- Management of Information and Knowledge in the Business Environment
- E-learning and the New Information Technologies in Medical Libraries
Participation of both, researchers and practitioners is strongly encouraged. The first author of the accepted paper will be entitled to free registration.
Submissions in the form of abstracts should meet the following requirements and include:
1. Major theme of the paper should be in line with the conference topics and the content should be strictly non-commercial
2. Paper title
3. Abstract of 200 words, in English.
4. Author(s) and/or co-author(s) with names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses.
Abstracts should be submitted using via the form on the conference web site http://www.inforum.cz/inforum2006/english/papers3.php
Deadlines
February 13th, 2006: Submission of abstracts
March 8th, 2006: Acceptance notifications will be sent out
April 24th, 2006: Submission of full text's electronic versions
Accepted papers will be published by means of electronic proceedings on the Inforum website.
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