SEARCH ENGINES? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ARE? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY CAN DO FOR YOU?

Here are some definitions for you:

1. A computer program that searches documents, especially on the World Wide Web, for a specified word or words and provides a list of document in which they are found. (Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/search+engine)

2. Computer software used to search data (as text or a database) for specified information; also :  a site on the World Wide Web that uses such software to locate key words in other sites. (Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/search%20engine)

3.

Search engine, computer program to find answers to queries in a collection of information, which might be a library catalog or a database but is most commonly the World Wide Web. A Web search engine produces a list of “pages”—computer files listed on the Web—that contain the terms in a query. Most search engines allow the user to join terms with and, or, and not to refine queries. They may also search specifically for images, videos, or news articles or for names of Web sites.

The Web is largely unorganized, and the information on its pages is of greatly varying quality, including commercial information, national databases, research reference collections, and collections of personal material. Search engines try to identify reliable pages by weighting, or ranking, them according to the number of other pages that refer to them... (retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1017484/search-engine)

Type "information retrieval" on your favorite search engine and see what results you will get!!

Google is the search engine I use the most for general searches on the web. I typed the words information retrieval, and in less than 3 seconds got the results. From the 10 results, 8 were advertisement about books and journals on information retrieval, 1 was related to a college course description, and the 1^st result directed me to Wikipedia.  Only the link connecting me to Wikipedia would provide me with some real content. This was the only link of relevance on my search in relation to the other 9 links.

The other 20 links contained information about books on IR as well, and information on IR college courses and conferences. Among all the remaining 20 links the three ones listed below are very interesting, and I considered them of high relevancy.

http://nlp.stanford.edu/IR-book/html/htmledition/irbook.html (great e-book on all topics of IR)

http://ciir.cs.umass.edu/ (The The Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval (CIIR) is one of the leading research groups working in the areas of information retrieval and information extraction. The CIIR studies and develops tools that provide effective and efficient access to large networks of heterogeneous, multimedia information.) Retrieved from http://ciir.cs.umass.edu/.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Information_retrieval (is a free online compendium of sourced quotations from notable people and creative works in every language, translations of non-English quotes, and links to Wikipedia for further information.) Retrieved fromhttp://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Main_Page. 

A NEW ASSIGNMENT (AMONG MANY OTHERS)

So,  I have a chance to choose a topic for my major project for my class Organization of Knowledge I. Among so many interesting topics, I chose FRBR - (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records). And you ask me: Why? Because I still haven't understood the total complexity of this new cataloging model. By all the research I have done so far, I know the changes will not be easy or fast, neither cheap. By my understanding a huge amount of records will need to be produced based on FRBR entities (work, expression, manifestation, item) and relationships. I can see how great that will be by having all records linked to each other by its relationships. Besides, the fact that all the information can be storage in a cloud to be shared with libraries around the world, it is just spectacular!! So...I am learning about this new cataloging mentally and I will keep you all updated!!

FRBR : THE FUTURE OF CATALOGING!!

 IFLA's Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records

FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) is a 1998 recommendation of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) to restructure catalog databases to reflect the conceptual structure of information resources.
More technically, FRBR uses an entity-relationship model of metadata for information objects, instead of the single flat record concept underlying current cataloging standards. The FRBR model includes four levels of representation: work, expression, manifestation, and item. If fully implemented, FRBR would produce the biggest change cataloging has seen in the last century. (Retrieved from http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/frbr.html?urlm=159763)