Michael L. Keene,
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Katherine H. Adams,
Loyola University New Orleans
| Advanced Search | Using words like AND, NEAR, or AND NOT as part of a search with a search engine. These "Boolean terms" let you narrow a search that may initially have found too many hits or broaden a search that found too few.
|
 |
|
|
| All-in-one search engine | A search engine that searches the database of several other search engines at once; the same thing as a multisearch engine. Examples might include Dogpile and Metacrawler, among many others.
|
|
|
|
| Boolean terms | See Advanced search.
|
|
|
|
| Cookies | Small pieces of information sent by Web servers and stored on your Web browser. If you revisit the site that sent the cookie, the site can read back information from the cookie (for example, what you ordered there, what preferences you set for that particular page, and so on). Different browsers provide different options for turning cookies on and off. The cookies stored in your browser may constitute a record of sites you have been visiting.
|
|
|
|
| Database | As used in this section, database is a name for a Web site or sites that provide access to groups of texts, whether the texts are periodical articles, books, or other kinds of documents. Thus ProQuest (see entry) can be described as an "online text database."
|
|
|
|
| Family filter | An option on search engines that will attempt to eliminate X-rated sites from the list of results produced by a search.
|
|
|
|
| General search engine | A search engine that searches many different categories of information (as opposed to a "specialized" search engine, which may restrict its searches to one area of information, such as English Literature or genetics).
|
|
|
|
| Keyword search | Searching a database or a search engine for a topic by using words associated with that topic. Thus, someone conducting a search for information on careers in technical communication might start by inserting "technical communication careers" into the text box of a search engine or a database. Keyword searches can be tricky because the word or words you select to identify your subject might not be those that other people would choose. When doing keyword searching, it is wise to do several searches using different keywords.
|
|
|
|
| Listserv | Listserv is a registered trademark owned by L-Soft International that names the software the firm markets for creating, managing, and controlling electronic mailing lists. A mailing list is a list of names and addresses of people to who mail can be sent all at once. Listserv is just one of many pieces of software that can be used to manage such lists, but the term is often used casually (as in "I joined a new listserv today") in places where it would be more accurate to say "I joined a new electronic mailing list today."
|
|
|
|
| Metacrawler | An example of a search engine that searches other search engines' databases. The term metacrawler is often used generically--and incorrectly--to name any search engine that operates in this manner. See All-in-one search engine; Multisearch engine.
|
|
|
|
| MOO | A MUD (see next entry) that is "object-oriented," a term that refers mostly to how the computer program that runs the MUD is written. From the user's point of view, there may not be much difference between a MOO and a MUD.
|
|
|
|
| MUD | A multiple user dimension, multiple user dialogue, or multiuser domain (or sometimes multiple user dungeon) is a computer program that creates a common space (thus "virtual reality") on the Web that users can log onto and explore. Each user takes control of a computerized character whose role that user plays when inside the MUD; because a MUD is text based, users type in dialogue to participate. Some MUDs are used for interactive chat rooms among people shared interests; others are used for role-playing games.
|
|
|
|
| Multisearch (or multiple search) engine | A search engine, such as Metacrawler or Dogpile, that searches the databases of several other seach engines at once. (See a fuller list at http://www.searchenginewatch.com/links/.
|
|
|
|
| News group | A place online where people can read and post messages related to a particular subject. Also called a Web forum, online discussion group, or message board.
|
|
|
|
| Portal | An Internet user's entry page to the Net. Often a combination of a search engine and a subject tree that appears on people's screens when they first log onto the Internet. Yahoo! and AltaVista, for example, have evolved from search engines into portals.
|
|
|
|
| ProQuest Research Library | A subscription-based online text archive. It contains articles from both popular and scholarly journals, many of which can be accessed in their entirety online. One of a growing number of such services.
|
|
|
|
| Search engine | A computer program for performing keyword searches to locate Web documents.
|
|
|
|
| Simple search | A search conducted without the use of terms such as AND, AND NOT, or NEAR. (Use of those terms creates an "advanced search.")
|
|
|
|
| Specialized search engine | A search engine that restricts its searches to one subject area, such as forestry or physics (as opposed to a "general" search engine, which searches pretty much every subject). Examples include Artcyclopedia http://www.artcyclopedia.com and FindLaw http://www.findlaw.com. See the fuller lists at Search Engine Watch http://www.searchenginewatch.com/links/ and at the Invisible Web http://www.invisibleweb.com.
|
|
|
|
| Subject search | A search accomplished by looking for a subject on a subject tree (see below), as opposed to a keyword search (see earlier entry), in which you type your subject into a search engine's text box.
|
|
|
|
| Subject tree | A hierarchical directory of information, such as the Virtual Library, that allows you to start with a general subject, such as Government, and follow the subject along the tree to its various branches (such as Embassies, Intelligence, Law), narrowing the subject with each subsequent choice.
|
|
|
|
| Text box | A rectangular box on a search engine's home page in which you type a keyword or phrase to initiate a search.
|
|
|
|
| Text database | An online collection of documents that may be searched and retrieved in various ways. The ProQuest Research Library (see entry) is one example.
|
|
|
|
| URL | Uniform resource locator; the address of a site on the Web.
|
|
|
|
| Virtual Library | A catalog of the Web, with categories like Education, Engineering, and Humanities; one example of a subject tree (see earlier entry).
|
|
|
|
| Vortal | The home page of a specialized search engine (also known as a vertical search engine). General search engines have portals; specialized search engines have vortals.
|
|
|
|
| Zombie page | A page whose original creator or owner no longer maintains it; in fact, no one does. Also known as a "walking dead" page.
|
2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education