Trapping Topic-Based Information - Information Trapping: Real-Time Research on the Web - page 112

hint
Live search does have that single query box on the front page that
searches several sets of data, including news and images. But Live
search doesn't have an advanced search page. instead it offers
advanced search options on the search result pages. one of the
options is a set of sliders that lets you change some of your search
options without having to specify syntax or query words.
Trapping
Unlike Google and Yahoo, Live Search ofers its search engine results in
RSS format. To get an RSS feed for your search results, just add &format=rss
to the end of any URL in your Live Search search results, like this:
http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=woodworking&format=rss
Possibilities
Because Live Search ofers RSS feeds, you can monitor a lot of searches
without worrying about using page monitors or getting false positives. Take
advantage of this feature and stock up with queries.
Open Directory project
he Open Directory Project (dmoz.org) is one of the reasons my hair is
rapidly turning gray. It ofers so much and yet is so frustrating at the same
time. On the one hand, Open Directory Project comprises a group of edi-
tors working together to build a searchable subject index, and I agree that
the world needs more searchable subject indexes. On the other hand, it's
sometimes a bear to search, and you never know when the categories are
going to be updated. Despite the drawbacks, in some ways I feel it's the best
directory out there, better even than Yahoo Directory.
tip
open directory project is the directory on which the google
directory is based. But in my experience, the data in the open
directory project is updated much more often than the data in
the google directory.
Building your queries
You can browse the Open Directory Project (ODP) just like you browse
Yahoo's Directory. However, it may not be as fruitful. Earlier in the chapter,
we used an example of browsing for “lions” in Yahoo's Directory, where