Contrasting of Information Retrieval Systems - Case Study Example

Table of Contents I. Introduction to the User Group and Their Information Needs II. Two Systems Chosen for the Analysis III. Elements of Each Chosen System: III.1. Query Languages and Input Options III.2. Evaluation of Interface, Help System and Any Training Requirements III.3. Ranking or Other Sorting of Results and Display of Outputs III.4. Details of Collection Gathering III.5. Extent of Collection III.6. Storage and Representation Elements IV. Discussion of Analysis V. Recommendations for the Adoption of One or Both of the Systems VI. Bibliography VII. Appendices List of Figures and Tables Figure 1: Google Search Home Page Figure 2: BUBL Search Home Page Figure 3: Google Advanced Search Option Page Figure 4: BUBL Advanced Search Option Page Figure 5: Google Wrong Key Word Search Help Figure 6: BUBL Wrong Key Word Search Figure 7: Google Search Help Figure 8: BUBL Search Help Figure 9: Google Key Word Search Results Figure 10: BUBL Key Word Search Results List A: Choice of User Group List B: Popular Search Engines I. Introduction to the User Group and Their Information Needs Applied Science Researchers: For this paper the user group selected from appendix -List A "Choice of User Group is Applied Science Researchers". Applied science means for exact science of applying knowledge. The knowledge here refers for from one or more natural scientific fields to various types of practical problems. In general, applied science is important for technology development and it can be considered of forms of engineering. Many academic disciplines that is considered applied science are engineering, health sciences, library and information science, medicine, military science, architecture, education, agriculture, ergonomics, design, family and consumer science, forestry and forensics. Applied science researchers are basically those people who are associated with the above mentioned applied science disciplines. They have to collect information and news on various types of subjects and areas. The main need of applied science researchers are various types of news on latest technological development, information’s, latest books on their subjects and fields, new technology, events and seminars and many more different types of information’s that can not be summarized here. II. Two Systems Chosen for the Analysis There are various search engines (systems) and directory available today. Some search engines are Google, Yahoo, AltaVista, Msn, AOL, Netscape, and BUBL Information Service (See List B in Appendix). The two system chosen for the analysis that represent two different approaches to information retrieval are Google (Internet Search Engine) and BUBL (Internet Directory, Subject Gateway or Portal) .Google: Google was originally a Stanford University project by students Larry Page and Sergey Brin called BackRub. By 1998, the name had been changed to Google, and the project jumped off campus and became the private company Google. It remains privately held today. (Sullivan 2004) Figure 1: Google Search Home Page Google, Inc. is an American public corporation and search engine. Google was first incorporated as a privately held company on 7 September 1998. The company had 9,378 full-time employees as of September 30, 2006 (Financial Release: Google Announces Third Quarter 2006 Results.). Google, Inc. is based in Mountain View, California. Eric Schmidt, former chief executive officer of Novell, is Google's CEO at present, after co-founder Larry Page stepped down. The name "Google" originated from a misspelling of "googol", which refers to 10100 (a 1 followed by one-hundred zeros). Google provides the option to find more than web pages. (Koller 2004) & (Hanley 2003) BUBL: The BUBL Information Service is an Internet link collection for the library and higher education communities. This service runs by the Centre for Digital Library Research at the University of Strathclyde. BUBL name is originally short for 'Bulletin Board for Libraries'. BUBL describes itself as a 'Free User-Friendly Access to selected internet resources covering all subject areas, with a special focus on Library and Information Science'. BUBL is a good source of links to high-quality information. Figure 2: BUBL Search Home Page III. Elements of Each Chosen System III.1. Query Languages and Input Options Google provides option of different types of query languages that can be used for the search. Some of the languages that Google provides are Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian , Japanese, Korean, Russian , Spanish, Turkish and many more . In addition, it can be seen from the figure 3 that Google provides four types of input options that are: With all of the words With the exact phrase With at least one of the words Without the words Figure 3: Google Advanced Search Option Page Moreover, Google can search the key word depending upon different types of file types such as Adobe Acrobat PDF (.pdf), Adobe Postscript (.ps), Microsoft Word (.doc), Microsoft Excel (.xls), Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt) and Rich text format (.rtf). In addition to it Google also provides Page-Specific Search, and Topic-Specific Searches. Various other advanced options of the Google can be observed in figure 3. Now when an advanced search option for BUBL is looked than it is noticed that it basically provides three types of options they are: Simple Search Combined Search Advanced search Figure 4: BUBL Advanced Search Option Page It can be noticed that in all the above types of search that BUBL provides, one thing is common that is ‘search in’ feature. It contains five types of fields which are Title, Author, Description, Subject terms, Resource type. One more thing is important here that BUBL does not provides option of search in different types of languages that Google provides. It only provides search languages as English. III.2. Evaluation of Interface, Help System and Any Training Requirements Now as seen in figure1 and figure 2, both the information retrieval systems Google and BUBL interface that researchers can look is very simple and dissent. Both have chosen background as white. Google displays the fonts mainly in blue and BUBL displays it in Green. When one can type wrong key word than Google provides hint for the correct spelling of the word or correct keyword options depending upon the input given by the researchers. But in case of BUBL it is not there and it simply displays that there is no results found matching the item categories (Figure 5 and Figure 6). Figure 5: Google Wrong Key Word Search Help Figure 6: BUBL Wrong Key Word Search When comes the point of training requirements for both the information retrieval systems than both are so simple and user friendly that there is no specific need for any types of training that can be provided to Researchers. Researchers can use the Google and BUBL without any training and they will learn more and more as they can use these systems. Guide for Google (Google Search Help): Google search results page is packed with information. Each underlined item is a search result that the Google found for search terms. The first item (not counting News results) is the most relevant match that found; the second is the next-most relevant, and so on down the list. Clicking on any underlined item will take to the associated web page. Figure 7 shows a sample search results page, along with brief explanations of the various types of information about search results that one can find there. (Search Results Page) Figure 7: Google Search Help A. Top links: Click the link for the Google service to be used. The services are searching the web, look for images, browse Google Groups, or use Froogle to search for products and many more. B. Google Search Button: Click on this button to submit another search query (or hitting ‘Enter’ key). C. Advanced Search: This links to a page on which user can do more precise searches. D. Search Fields: To do a search on Google, just type in a few descriptive search terms, then hit “Enter” or clicks on the “Google Search” button. E. Preferences: This links to a page that lets user set their personal search preferences, including language, the number of results per page, and options for search results screened by Google SafeSearch filter to avoid seeing adult material. F. Statistics Bar: This line describes search and indicates the total number of results, as well as how long the search took to complete. G. Tip: Information that helps search more efficiently and effectively by pointing out Google features and tools that might improve the query made. H. OneBox Results: Google's search technology finds many sources of specialized information. Those that are most relevant to user search are included at the top of user search results. Typical onebox results include news, stock quotes, weather and local websites related to search criterion. I. Page Title: The first line of any search result item is the title of the web page Google found. If user sees a URL instead of a title, then either the page has no title or Google haven't yet indexed that page's full content, but its place in Google’s index still tells user that it's a good match for query. J. Text Below the Title: This is an extract from the result page with user’s query terms are bolded. K. URL of Result: This is the web address of the returned result. L. Size: This number is the size of the text portion of the web page, and gives some idea of how quickly it might display. M. Cached: Clicking this link will show user the contents of the web page when Google last indexed it. If for some reason the site link doesn't connect user to the current page, user might still find the information they need on the cached version. N. Similar Pages: When user selects the Similar Pages link for a particular result, Google automatically scouts the Web for pages that are related to this result. O. Indented Result: When Google finds multiple results from the same website, the most relevant result is listed first, with other relevant pages from that site indented below it. P. More Result: If Google find more than two results from the same site, the remaining results can be accessed by clicking on the "More results from..." link. Figure 8: BUBL Search Help Guide for BUBL (BUBL Search Help): BUBL Search result page is not packed with information’s as compared to Google. Each underlined item is a search result (shown as title and Descriptions in Figure 8) that the BUBL found for the search terms. The results are displayed in alphabetical order (Title). Clicking on any underlined item will take to the associated web page. Figure 8 shows a sample search results page, along with brief explanations of the various types of information about search results that one can find there. A. Top links: Click the link for the BUBL service to be used. The services are searching the web, Subject Menus, Countries and BUBL UK. B. Search Fields: To do a search on BUBL, just type in a few descriptive search terms, then hit “Enter” or clicks on the “Search” button. C. Advanced Search: This links to a page on which user can do more precise searches. D. BUBL Search Button: Click on this button to submit another search query (or hitting ‘Enter’ key). E. Index: Alphabetical listing of different topics, subjects and areas. F. Link Browse (Different Domains): This link provides the options for searching in different domains by clicking it, such as Generalities, Philosophy and psychology, Religion, Language, Science and Mathematics, Technology , The Arts, Literature and rhetoric and Geography and history. G. Subjects and Areas (Domain Contains): List of Various Subjects and disciplines that Link Browse contains. H. Search Title: Title name at the left side of the search result page. I. Title Number: Title number at the left side of the search result page. J. Page Title Name: The title of the web page BUBL found for the search terms. K. Number of Matching Items: The total number of the web page BUBL found for the search terms. L. Title descriptions: Title Descriptions at the right side of the search result page M. Page Title Name: The title of the web page BUBL found for the search terms. N. Short Page Description: This is an extract from the result page (or short summary what page contains). O. Author Name: Author Name of the webpage. P. Dewey Class: A system used in libraries for organizing nonfiction publications into subject categories corresponding to three-digit numerals, with further specification expressed by numerals following a decimal point. III.3. Ranking or Other Sorting of Results and Display of Outputs Figure 9 and 10 shows the display of results for the Google and BUBL respectively. It can be observed here that in case of Google there is no specific order of display of results (Google provides result in order that is most matched with key terms), whereas in case of BUBL it is in alphabetical order. In case of BUBL number of matched results is shown at the top of the display of results and below that there are two columns that display the ‘Titles’ and ‘Descriptions’ of the search results (Figure 10). Figure 9: Google Key Word Search Results In case of Google there are sponsored links that also displayed along with the search results. In Figure 9, the sponsored links are shown at the top and left side of the web page. Since Google provides various types of advanced options, so if simple key word search is used than there may be thousands and millions of results ( in figure 9 it is about 882,000,000 for Internet security.) that is irrelevant because it is not possible to see all of them. Therefore it is better to Search Google using advanced search options provided by the Google to get meaningful results. One more thing is important here is that Google does not provide result in alphabetical order so some times it is very hard if correct keywords is not known for the search. But this is a small thing because Google have wide reach and range for providing searches. Figure 10: BUBL Key Word Search Results III.4. Details of Collection Gathering It means for, from where the data is being collected whether paid or unpaid resources. Now In this regards Google Searches for all types of information weather it is paid or unpaid. Basically Google provides the link of the WebPages and it is Researchers job to go for paid or unpaid sites depending upon the information and criterion set (used) by the different websites. The BUBL Information Service is an Internet link collection for the library and higher education communities, so in case of BUBL the various types of results displayed are free article, WebPages and academics disciplines (subjects) that can be used free. Also BUBL provides selected internet resources covering all academic subject areas and one can search all the subjects with the help of link provided at the top of page as from A to Z. III.5. Extent of Collection Extent of collection here means for how much in depth and detail the search items/topics are covered all together by the website. In this regards it can be observed that BUBL provides more relevant results as compared to Google. As seen in figure 9 it is observed that Google display results in terms of thousand and millions of number. Now it is very hard and confusing for any researchers to know which result is relevant to research and which is not. In addition, the number of results sometimes confuses the researchers because they can not have any specific method to know which results they can use from the number of available results. In case of BUBL the number of result are displayed in small number as compared to Google. Also the results displayed are selected internet resources from academic point of view so the researchers get less number of results but they are useful and almost all of them relevant for researchers. III.6. Storage and Representation Elements In this section how the data is being stored and represented by the website, the data storage system, backup and various other elements are discussed. In case of Google it shows even dead-link that is not available to its original web sites. Google is known for the wide range of features it offers, such as cached links that let researchers "resurrect" dead pages or see older versions of recently changed ones. It offers excellent spell checking, easy access to dictionary definitions, integration of stock quotes, street maps, telephone numbers and more. It is an important aspect because in case of comparison or analysis it will be useful. BUBL does not provide this feature (Cached links), therefore some times when the title is clicked, it is possible that there will be no page exists for that because either the page removed or it is dead link. IV. Discussion of Analysis In this paper various sections covered different aspects from Query languages, and input options, Evaluation of the interface, help system, and any identifiable training requirements, Guide for Search helps, Ranking or other sorting of results, Display of Outputs , Details of Collection Gathering , Extent of Collection, Storage and Representation elements for the Google an BUBL. V. Recommendations for the Adoption of one or Both of the Systems From the above analysis it can be seen that Google provides more options for the search as compared to BUBL, But from the point of view of Applied Science Researchers both are useful and both can be adopted. Since Google provides many feature (for example Cached link) that is useful for the researchers and BUBL provides result from the point of view Internet resources covering all academic subject areas. But if there is option of only one system that can be chosen than it is better to choose Google because the range and scope of the search that Google provides is much more that that of BUBL. VI. Bibliography (Work Cited) Sullivan, D. 2004. ‘Major Search Engines and Directories’. Retrieved on 13 November 2006 from http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156221 Financial Release: Google Announces Third Quarter 2006 Results. Retrieved on 13 November 2006 from http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/revenues_q306.html Koller, D. 2004. ‘Origin of the name "Google"’. Retrieved on 13 November 2006 from http://graphics.stanford.edu/~dk/google_name_origin.html Hanley, R. 2003. ‘From Googol to Google’. Retrieved on 13 November 2006 from http://daily.stanford.org/article/2003/2/12/fromGoogolToGoogle Search Results Page. Retrieved on 13 November 2006 from http://www.google.com/help/interpret.html (Reading Done) http://www.google.com accessed on 14 November 2006 http://bubl.ac.uk/ accessed on 14 November 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BUBL accessed on 15 November 2006 http://www.google.com/help/features.html accessed on 15 November 2006 http://www.google.com/help/basics.html accessed on 15 November 2006 http://www.google.com/help/refinesearch.html accessed on 15 November 2006 http://www.google.com/help/interpret.html accessed on 15 November 2006 http://www.google.com/help/customize.html accessed on 16 November 2006 http://www.google.com/about.html accessed on 18 November 2006 http://www.google.com/options/ accessed on 18 November 2006 http://www.googleguide.com/feature_history.html accessed on 18 November 2006 http://bubl.ac.uk/ accessed on 18 November 2006 http://www.bubl.org/ accessed on 18 November 2006 http://www.internettutorials.net/bubl.html accessed on 19 November 2006 http://www.internettutorials.net/eng.html accessed on 19 November 2006 http://www.lub.lu.se/netlab/documents/lisres.html accessed on 19 November 2006 http://scone.strath.ac.uk/Dissemination/slamit/slamit.ppt#341,13,CAIRNS accessed on 19 November 2006 VII. Appendices List A: Choice of User Group List A Choice of User Group Genealogy Researchers Health Professionals Medical Researchers Applied Science Researchers Social Science Researchers Local History Library Humanities Scholars Art Historians Primary School Children Junior School Children Secondary School Children Journalists Law Library for local Legal Practices List B: Popular Search Engines Search Engines URL Google http://www.google.com Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com Ask Jeeves http://www.askjeeves.com AllTheWeb.com http://www.alltheweb.com AOL Search http://aolsearch.aol.com (internal), http://search.aol.com/(external) HotBot http://www.hotbot.com Teoma http://www.teoma.com AltaVista http://www.altavista.com Gigablast http://www.gigablast.com LookSmart http://www.looksmart.com Lycos http://www.lycos.com MSN Search http://search.msn.com Netscape Search http://search.netscape.com Open Directory http://dmoz.org/ BUBL Information Service http://bubl.ac.uk/ Read More