Web search tracking tool
THIS WEEK NetSpeak features a couple of tools that let you record search engine output and the web pages you visit, on the local storage and retrieve them anytime you need.
It is likely that during your Web search you stumble across several interesting links/search results and at times you may want to view old web pages or search results dished out by your favourite search engines. Here we will have a look at some solutions developed for this purpose.
A web search recorder
The free Python based software, Dowser (http://dowser.sourceforge.net/), which automatically stores the search results from major search engines such as Google and Teoma on your local disk is a good tool for `searching your searches'. This web search archiving tool, which is being projected as a `Web research tool", organises search results into subject-specific clusters before placing them into the local database. The tool provides an easy-to handle user interface replete with all the required navigation facilities for retrieving the search results from the web and local cache.
Once you install the program, you will find an icon labelled `Dowser Web Search' on your desktop. To start Dowser, click on this icon. At this point, Dowser will start a web server on your machine and allow you to access Dowser's web interface by entering the address: http://127.0.0.1:5309/ into your browser. Now, conduct your searches through the `Search' box provided by the Dowser interface so that the results get stored on to the local hard disk automatically. When you invoke a search through Dowser interface, it collects results from specified search engines, combines them into a single web page and keeps a record of your queries/results you click on. As mentioned by the author of Dowser, Aristus, in an e-mail to this writer, "it builds up a nice local archive of whatever you are researching, and starts to associate more keywords and pages with each other".
Apart from tracking your web searches, there can be ample instances in which you would like to view the web pages traversed in the past. Of course, you can go back to the site again and view the required page. But it is not necessary that the same page is still available- the page's content/form might have been changed. Also, if a page contains dynamic data you will never be able to view it again. For example, take the case of an administrator who constantly monitors a graph that displays the capacity utlisation of her Net link on-line. As the graph changes each time she accesses the link, it has to be saved on to the local hard disk if she needs to view it again. Hence, a tool that enables us to save web pages either automatically or manually will be quite handy. The Firefox extension Slogger (http://www.kenschutte.com/firefoxext/ ) has been created to accomplish this requirement.
Once installed, Slogger can be configured to save all the web pages you visit automatically on to a specified directory of your hard disk. If you want to save only certain web pages, the program can be easily altered to behave so. After installation, bring the Slogger button on to the toolbar (for this, go through the menu options View/Toolbar/Customize and drag the Slogger icon on to the toolbar). Now, specify the directory in which you want to store the web pages.
To make Slogger log/save all the web pages you visit automatically, click on the Slogger icon (now the icon will turn red). Slogger lurks in the background, tracks your web journey and keeps the web page details on the local storage device. To access the archived pages, click on the small down- arrow button available on the `Slogger' icon and select the appropriate option from the menu that pops up.
Google print
Google has started a new project called Google print (http://print.google.com/) whose goal is to make printed materials such as books and magazine articles searchable by anyone on the Net. Google scans the books sent by publishers and adds the content on to its database.
As Google print is integrated with its search service, when you invoke a search on a string, along with the usual results the service provides `Book results', a link to excerpts of the book that contains the string. If you click on this link, Google will take you to the graphic of the page from the book that contains the search string. The service allows you to "flip two pages forward and back". That is, you can effectively read five pages of the book for free. The service also allows you to conduct further searches inside the book for other keywords. Apart from this, Google provides some useful information about the book such as book topics and purchase details.
If you want to narrow down the search to books/magazines only, have a look at the simple web-based search application available at Research Buzz! (http://www.researchbuzz.org/archives/002027.shtml). To search for Google's printed materials archive, just enter the keyword into the input box, select the type of materials (book or magazine) and press the `Search' button.
Slashdot in politics
As many of you probably know, Slashdot (http://slashdot.org/) is an extremely popular and highly acclaimed technology discussion site. The uniqueness of this technology news site is that a major share of its content comes from its readers. More than the threads being posted on the site, the depth/variety of responses from the participants make the site agog with action always. Recently, Slashdot has launched a similar discussion site for discussing political issues. Check out: http://politics.slashdot.org/.
J. Murali
Email the author at:murali27@satyam.net.in
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