[Buddha-l] Google as a research tool

[Donna Bair-Mundy]

Aloha,
   My colleague, Dr. Peter Jacso, does extensive research on search 
engines.  The figures that Google gives regarding Web pages found with 
search terms are wildly inaccurate.  In one demo I saw him do he searched 
two terms using the OR operator (additive) and then searched the same 
terms using the AND operator (which selects only those sites with both 
terms).  (You can force Google to use one or the other.)  The latter 
search came up with a far larger number of hits--a number that did not 
match the number of Web sites actually presented in the results.
   As you can imagine, the folks that promote the various search engines 
are somewhat less than fond of anyone who actually tests their claims for 
their products.

                    	Have a safe and joyful day,

 			donna Bair-Mundy
 			Instructor, LIS Program
 			Information & Computer Sci. Dept.
 			POST Bldg., Room 314-D
 			University of Hawai`i at Manoa
 			1680 East-West Road
 			Honolulu, HI 96822
 			Voice: 808-956-3973 Fax: 808-956-3548
 			<donnab at hawaii.edu>