The web is defined as a system of interlinked, hypertext documents that runs over the internet. Search engines on the other hand, operates algorithmically and are a mixture of algorthmic and human input. They are more robot than human. Here's a picture for better description.

Yeah, that's what i think of it as. Correct me if I'm wrong. So basically, there are many other portals, directories and web pages invisble to the search engine user. Generally, web directories are maintained by human editors. Here are several pointers to getting around information in the world wide web.

 

1. Directories and Portals.

Useful when :

• quality is the priority
• you're looking for chosen, reviewed and commented upon sites
  
• it's a bottom's up situation. Starting with a general topic.

Because of the nature of reviewing and evaluation of humans, the indexed sites are generally quality ones. However, because of physical and time limiations, the information may not be parallel to time. Several directories worth a look at :

Librarian's Internet Index
a collection of over 20,000 quality websites, organized into 14 main topics, 300 related topics and 40, 000 subscribing to their weekly newsletter.

Find Law
the highest trafficked legal website.

Info Mine
a university resource collection divided into 9 categories for university staffs, students and professionals.

 

2. Invisible Searchable Sites and Databases.

Useful when :

• looking for information most likely found in a database
• looking for information that changes dynamically in content

Here are 5 recommended links to find needles in haystacks.

Resource Shelf

Complete Planet
contains over 70,000 searchable databases and specialty search engines.

Animal Search
search by group, type, and geographic regions for clean animal-related sites.

Nuclear Explosions Database
provides location, time, & size of explosions worldwide since 1945.

FindArticles
find magazines and articles by topic, explore all
publications by title or limit your search to "free articles only".

 

3. Search Engines.

Useful when :

• we're specific on information
• we want to make use of new retrieving technologies

Common ones are google , yahoo , msn , AOL , Ask .

Singingfish
a superior audio/video search engine.

Scirus
a science search engine with over 250 million science-specific Web pages.

UFOSeek: The UFO and Paranormal Search Engine
indexing over 110,000 Paranormal, Spiritual and UFO sites in the their system.

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