Evaluation of Internet search tools instrument design

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This study investigated Internet search tools / engines to identify desirable features that can beused as a benchmark or standard to evaluate web search engines. In the past, the Internet wasthought of as a big spider's web, ultimately connecting all the bits of information. It has nowbecome clear that this is not the case, and that the bow tie analogy is more accurate. Thisanalogy suggests that there is a central core of well-connected pages, with links IN and OUT toother pages, tendrils and orphan pages. This emphasizes the importance of selecting a searchtool that is well connected and linked to the central core. Searchers must take into account thatnot all search tools search the Invisible Web and this will reflect on the search tool selected. Notall information found on the Web and Internet is reliable, current and accurate, and Webinformation must be evaluated in terms of authority, currency, bias, purpose of the Web site, etc.Different kinds of search tools are available on the Internet, such as search engines, directories,library gateways, portals, intelligent agents, etc. These search tools were studied and explored. Anew categorization for online search tools consisting of Intelligent Agents, Search Engines,Directories and Portals / Hubs is suggested. This categorization distinguishes the majordifferences between the 21 kinds of search tools studied. Search tools / engines consist ofspiders, crawlers, robots, indexes and search tool software. These search tools can be furtherdistinguished by their scope, internal or external searches and whether they search Web pagesor Web sites. Most search tools operate within a relationship with other search tools, and theyoften share results, spiders and databases. This relationship is very dynamic. The majorinternational search engines have identifiable search features. The features of Google, Yahoo,Lycos and Excite were studied in detail. Search engines search for information in different ways,and present their results differently. These characteristics are critical to the Recall/Precision ratio.A well-planned search strategy will improve the Precision/Recall ratio and consider the web-usercapabilities and needs. Internet search tools/engines is not a panacea for all information needs,and have pros and cons. The Internet search tool evaluation instrument was developed based ondesirable features of the major search tools, and is considered a benchmark or standard forInternet search tools. This instrument, applied to three South African search tools, providedinsight into the capabilities of the local search tools compared to the benchmark suggested in thisstudy. The study concludes that the local search engines compare favorably with the major ones,but not enough so to use them exclusively. Further research into this aspect is needed. Intelligentagents are likely to become more popular, but the only certainty in the future of Internet searchtools is change, change, and change.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University