Affiliations: U.S. Geological Survey, Center for Biological Informatics, Mail Stop No. 302, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA 22092, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Note: [1] This article has been presented at the NATO Research and Technology Organization (RTO) lecture series, under the sponsorship of the Information Management Comittee (IMC), 8–10 September 2004, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Abstract: Due to the rapid growth of electronically accessible content from the Internet, there is a corresponding increase in demand for information of all types from a number of diverse users. Although the World-Wide Web presents tremendous opportunities to users for access to this wealth of information, the quantity of that information can be overwhelming. The user who attempts to find information can become confounded by the sheer volume of data and information returned as “pertinent” to his/her need. In addition, current awareness becomes an obstacle, as variations in search engine crawls of the Web, as well as the user's own ability to keep up with frequent queries to multiple search tools, can prevent timely access to and knowledge of pertinent information. This session will focus on the various Internet search engines, directories, and how to improve the user experience through the use of such techniques as metadata, meta-search engines, subject specific search tools, and other developing technologies.
