Dave Snyder

SLM521SP03

2/15/03

Search Engine Elective

 

 

  1. Photographic Equipment:

a.        http://www.altavista.com/

Altavista didn’t have as many hits as Google (12,424), but it did include 12 categories under Altavista Prisma that would help to really direct your search.  To me this would really save time by directing the search more quickly and efficiently.

b.        http://www.google.com/

This search engine provided 110,000 hits on the phrase “Photographic Equipment”.  It also included images of photo equipment in one folder.  Google’s advanced search features are better than Altavista and easier to use.

 

  1. Photographic Techniques:

a.        http://www.teoma.com/

This engine performed a good search maybe not as many hits as Google, but it had a number of good categories along the side to further refine the search.  This would be very helpful because it would save a lot of time.

b.        http://www.dogpile.com/t/tools/custom

This site worked well because it combined the best hits from a number of different search engines and provided the results immediately.  It also had a nice advanced search feature that would link you to message boards to search as well.

                       

  1. Famous Black and White Photographers:

a.        http://www.google.com/

Google still provides the most hits out of the engines I reviewed.  The search for Famous Black and White Photographers had to be first conducted as a search for Famous Photographers and then narrowed by an advanced search to Black and White Photographers.

b.        http://www.teoma.com/

This had to be conducted the same way I have listed above for Google.  An advanced search had to be used to narrow the list.

 

 

  1. Black and White Photography Gallery:

a.        http://www.teoma.com/

Teoma does a great job of performing the initial search and then providing you with a number of relevant sub-categories to further refine your search.  I have not used this engine before, but I really like it after trying it.

 

b.        http://www.google.com/ 

Google still is the best overall search engine for the types of things I have been searching for and the advanced search feature works very well for refining the search.  Google has constantly provided the most hits of any of the engines.     

 

 

  1. Assignments or Themes:

a.        http://www.altavista.com/

Altavista performed a more comprehensive search for this topic than the other engines I tried.  I did have to use the more precision button to narrow the search and find relevant information.

b.        http://www.google.com/

There isn’t anything new that I can add.  Google works very well in all scenarios.