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| Today's Tipple - Kartoo Visual Meta Search Engine |
| Author: | Simon Collery |
| Date: | Monday, 20th May 2002 21:03 |
| Views: | 6,329 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | FreePint | | URL: | http://www.freepint.com/go/b17808 |
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http://www.kartoo.com
It seems like ages since I last reviewed a search tool. That's because it is ages. And it's even longer since I reviewed a visual search tool. When I have done, I have always been guarded about these tools that seemed to place so much emphasis on the utility of this visual aspect. I still am.
Kartoo is a meta search tool with a visual navigation system. It creates a map of your search results and presents them as a picture that looks like a group of planets with connections between them. The connections are words that sites have in common and each one is labelled. The size of the planet suggests the relevance of the site.
The effect is thought provoking. And that is the biggest advantage I could find in this sort of tool. Rather than testing Kartoo by searching for things requested in the Bar, something I would normally to, I used some research terms about which I was trying to piece things together.
I was attempting to research something by finding out what sort of material there was on the Web, rather than by finding out a particular set of facts about it. The subject was Joyce's Finnegans Wake and I found (as I expected to) recordings, notes, essays, primary texts, photographs and that sort of thing.
If you hold the mouse over the site you are interested in, you get a summary of the site's contents in the left hand corner. The connections that I mentioned earlier can be added in to the search phrase to narrow the search. And you can page through the results as you wish.
There are various other features too lengthy to go into and there is an advanced search. But I have to say, I found it a bit irritating. You can have the whole thing in French as well as English, change the search engines it queries, etc., and there are good FAQs and search tips.
The most significant thing about this sort of search tool for me is that it helped me to think about the subject I was researching, how I wished to broaden or narrow my search, what sort of hits I was getting, etc. I could ignore commercial sites that were just selling books and merchandise and I could select sites that looked as if they had some interesting resources.
Not that I'm saying I couldn't do this with hundreds of other tools. Yet the visually appealing maps seemed to help a lot. I had time to spend on the subject and I wouldn't use Kartoo if I was in a hurry. But you should give it a try on your pet subject, perhaps in the comfort of your own home.
Regards
Simon
Content Developer, Free Pint
* To access the Archive of Today's Tipples see
http://www.freepint.com/portal/content/tipple.php3
* You can find lots more search resources in the Free Pint Portal: http://www.freepint.com/portal/
* Please post any comments about today's reviewed site here.
To suggest a Tipple, send it to simon@freepint.com
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Author |
Date |
ID |
 | Today's Tipple - Kartoo Visual Meta Search Engine | | http://www.kartoo.com
It seems like ages since I last reviewed a search tool. That's because it is ages. And it's even longer ... |
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Simon Collery |
20/05/02 21:03 |
17808 |
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Chris Norcombe Lillian McMaster |
31/05/02 14:31 |
18002 |
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