Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
how Do You Build these Searches?
so how do you build effective searches for conversations, if just getting as narrow as possible
won't do it?
if you make good use of the intitle syntax, or any other resource syntax that allows you to limit
your searches to the subject line (which in this case is considered the title) of a post, you can get
by with general searches. since titles of usenet and mailing list posts are generally designed to
get attention and to continue a conversation, they're usually good for searching.
if your searches on titles aren't getting you anywhere, try slightly more speciic searches within
the body of the list posting or newsgroup posting itself. i ind that newsgroup searches work
very well in technical arenas when you include direct quotes of error messages or speciic model
numbers for technical items. usually when people are requesting technical help they are as
speciic as possible and provide an extensive level of detail.
so where you might on a Web search be forced to search for
“collapsing drive from WidgetCo”
,
a newsgroup search might allow you really narrow in on
“collapsing Widget2400ZBQ
from WidgetCo”
.
Try using model numbers, complete error messages, drug names, the full names of medical
conditions, and other precise nouns that people might use in describing a problem and asking for
help. That's a lot of what takes place in online conversations. Try searching for the most speciic
query words—the model numbers, medical condition names, error messages—in the title.
if that fails, think of the topic you want to monitor, and try to articulate it as a question.
how would you describe it? What would you ask? (
“What are the latest treatments for
muscular dystrophy?” “What's happening with the Arizona Cardinals?” “What are the
latest antique woodworking collectibles?”
) Take the questions you generate and pull out
the keywords, then search for them (
treatments “muscular dystrophy”
,
happening Arizona
Cardinals
,
antique woodworking collectibles
). Leave out the time-related words, such as
new or latest. The fact that you're only getting the most recent messages will take care of your
information timeliness. if those questions don't ind you speciic enough information, ask a
different question, extract the relevant words, and start over.
What you're doing when you create your queries this way is thinking about how an information-
rich conversation might start—by creating a question. The theory is that a query based on a
question that will bring you information-rich answers will hopefully also point you towards good
query results.
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