 Vol 5 . . . No 3 . . . November, 1995
 Muck-RakingNot so long ago, "muck-raking" was a phrase used to describe the uncovering of political wrong-doing and corruption.With the sudden proliferation of information resources on the WWW, "muck-raking" may take on new meaning, as earnest researchers find themselves wading through acres and acres of mudflats with rake in hand, digging for something of meaning hidden in the mud and muck. While AI (artificial intelligence) folks promise us personal assistants, knowbots and intelligent agents which will sort through the info-garbage and hand us gleaming jewels of insight, most search mechanisms today still leave much to be desired. Even so, some provide the user with better searches than others. Some "rakes" are more discerning than othes. Compare and contrast each of the following "mud-rakers." Which ones leave you with enormous undifferentiated lists that require endless opening and closing? Which ones leave you "without a clue?" Which ones provide abstracts that help pick and choose? Which ones support Boolean searches with some rigor? See a comparison of these four searching tools at http://fno.org/nov95/compare.html Return to Mucking About
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