Re: Fwd: The Holes in the Web

[john.coleman@YALE.EDU]

I highly recommend getting the real article from the authors (their link
is dead but they'll email it).  It's very interesting.

The Times article, on the other hand,  has been run through their
"goofy-glib-conclusion-filtering-engine."

I'm also dubious about the comment someone appended to the original
message:

>>cultivation of trusted sources, library-fashion, and the not just
>>continuing but rising need for 'information mediators', i.e.
>>librarians. This is a sentiment represented by Yahoo, much of whose
>>material is selected by their staff of about 300, rather than
>>collected by automated nocturnal drag nets. That makes a Yahoo
>>percentage mean something else than Alta Vista's

I'm willing to bet that most of Yahoo's "selections" are from people
self-submitting their web pages.  It's also interesting that what has
got to be the worst search engine available--'miningco.com' (now
'about.com' according to the screeching ads on CBS radio) sells itself
as providing "human guides."

What I've learned most from librarians is how important it is to use
these tools correctly, and that they're not "one-stop-shops."  If I type
"history" into Altavista and get a nonsense result (I got a link to the
'California Fig Advisory Board'), is it because Altavista is "biased"
(Somehow I doubt they're paying click-thrus to Altavista :) ) or because
I'm using the tool badly?
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