17
Mar

I’ve been noticing that my Biznar alerts for the quoted phrase “federated search” were finding me articles that Google Alerts wasn’t finding. I wanted to quantify this experience — i.e. I wanted to know exactly how many results were exclusive to Biznar. So, I performed a simple experiment. I compared my Biznar alert results to my Google alert results. Specifically, I searched my Gmail account for the title of each of the 21 Biznar alert results that I received for “federated search” at 1:11 this morning to see if Google Alerts had ever (not only today) found me an article with the same title. Note that the most recent Google Alert email for “federated search” came at 11:34 this morning, a bit over 9 1/2 hours later than the Biznar alert.

What was shocking to me was that, of the 21 Biznar alerts I got today, only 4 of them were ever presented by Google Alerts. At the end of this article are the titles (with links), authors, and snippets of the 21 Biznar alerts.

Let me clarify some things about my experiment:

  • Federated search vendor Deep Web Technologies sponsors this blog and built Biznar.
  • My Biznar alert is configured to search all sources.
  • I only searched Gmail to see if there was a title match from Google alerts for the title that Biznar found. Two articles with the same title might not be the same article. But, if anything, this simple comparison method would give Google Alerts the “benefit of the doubt.”
  • This experiment only demonstrates the Biznar is finding some results that Google Alerts has not yet delivered to me. I am not implying that Google Alerts won’t find these alerts tomorrow or next week. I will redo my comparisons in a couple of weeks to see if and when Google Alerts finds the documents that Biznar Alerts found today.
  • I’m not saying that people should be getting Biznar Alerts instead of Google Alerts. Biznar is a federated search engine that searches 70 sources. Google searches millions of sources and will certainly find many results that Biznar won’t. My recommendation is to look at the list of sources that Biznar searches and to perform Biznar searches for your topics of interest. If Biznar finds relevant documents then register with both alert services to receive alerts.
  • In the cases where a Biznar Alert title ended in an ellipsis (…) I removed the ellipsis from the phrase I used to search for a Google alert of the same title. I do not expect Google Alerts to truncate page titles the way Biznar does and did not want to put Google at a disadvantage.

I’m very interested to know if others of you who receive Biznar Alerts have noticed the same thing that I have. I’m excited that, even if Google Alerts finds me a bunch more of the Biznar results tomorrow or next week, Biznar found them first! For those of you who are interested, the results that Google Alerts found are those numbered 1, 2, 5, and 21 in the list below.

As I dig deeper into the data for this experiment I will try to gain an understanding of what is actually going on. Is Biznar merely ranking differently than Google Alerts and thus both alert services are showing their best results and the intersection of the two sets of results is small, is Biznar searching sources that Google isn’t indexing, or is there something completely different going on?

Here are the results of the Biznar Alert I’ve been talking about:

  1. How To Get Windows 7 Federated Search Feature In Vista
    B, Speedy 2009-03-15
    If you are unaware, Federated search enables the user to search remote data sources from within Windows Explorer. Remote data sources make themselves searchable with a simple web front end that exposes their search capabilities. …

  2. Helpstream Named “Cool Vendor” for 2009 by Leading Analyst Firm

    … content is created (eg, Q & A thread, knowledge base article, case history), it can be easily located through Helpstream’s federated search capability. …
    Emediawire (press release)

  3. Sectors – NetApp heads for the ghetto :: SearchStorage.com.au
    2009-02-26
    A venture capitalist’s view of future storage. Sectors - The feud continues: NetApp slams EMC’s dedupe plans. Sun flashes new storage products. EMC CEO responds to massive SSD adoption, hints at federated search …

  4. Microsoft Touts Windows 7 Enterprise
    Sam
    Making users Productive Anywhere is a focus on the mobile user community and empowering users with seamless access: We built technologies into Windows 7 such as BranchCache, Direct Access, Federated Search, and Enterprise Search Scopes …

  5. SeeUnity, Inc.: Now Available: Solutions Overview
    News, Seeunity
    SeeUnity Announces Federated Search Connector Version 3.6 Available SeeUnity Announces Support for FAST ESP SeeUnity Completes Rebranding Exercise Open Text Expands Content Lifecycle Management Ser… Archives …

  6. STEC set to ride enterprise SSD wave - Storage Soup
    Raffo, Dave 2009-03-13
    EMC CEO drops storage product hints at investors’ forum. It’s time for Phase 2 of EMC’s SSD product development, according to president and CEO Joe Tucci, along with federated search for compliance archiving…READ MORE …

  7. Beyond the Job » Blog Archive » SLA Membership Award from FreePint
    Rachel
    And where else can you use words like “taxonomies” and “federated search” without getting funny looks?’ — Marcy Phelps, FUMSI Find Contributing Editor, and SLA Member. ENDS. For further Information: Robin Neidorf, General Manager, …

  8. How To Get Windows 7 Build 7057 Logon Screen In Vista [Without ...
    2009-03-15
    How To Get Windows 7 Build 7057 Logon Screen In Vista [Without Using Any Apps] March 15, 2009. Download Windows 7 Build 7057 Logon Screen Wallpaper March 15, 2009. How To Get Windows 7 Federated Search Feature In Vista March 14, 2009 …

  9. bigBrains.com » Blog Archive » Chat: TinyChat Generates Disposable …
    David 2009-02-17
    Now Published with Purpose Have Windows 7? Download the bigBrains Federated Search. « Jailbreak 101: How to Jailbreak you iPhone on Windows. Hacking Windows7 MediaCenter: Theme Media Center: Changing the Background » …

  10. cutting: Reference Librarian - Chang Jiang Qi Hao
    Admin
    System, Serials Solutions OpenURL Resolver, and WebFeat federated search engine; the Libraries actively partner with other academic and administrative units on campus to improve services to the University community; the University has a …

  11. IBM Rational Asset Manager e-Kit: IBM’s Product Demo
    2009-03-13
    Improve governance with easy discovery and federated search across the SOA lifecycle. Store information that is useful for collaborating on software development of assets. Provides tools for defining, creating, reviewing and retrieving …

  12. Eventseer.net - 15th international conference on distributed …
    2009-03-12
    LO and instructional design. Impact of learning object in teaching and learning process. Digital libraries and repositories of LO Federated search of LO Usability and accessibility of LO Current research and challenges in LO technology …

  13. Music HipHop Rap: Talisma Adds Enterprise Chops to Knowledge …
    Oanes 2009-03-08
    " Having a federated search contraption that can scan all untaken content source is complaining, he added. At alike time, nevertheless, "concept" analysis is an emerging technology that hold the guarantee to vastly …

  14. Vadlo, the beta biomedical search engine wants to scale up! « Pimm …
    Attilachordash 2009-02-20
    Search Twitter with Windows 7’s federated search. This entry was posted on November 17, 2008 at 4:37 am and is filed under Search Engine, biology, biotechnology, science, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through …

  15. Searching PoshCode repository from your Desktop in Windows 7 …
    Prosser, Karl 2009-02-16
    Search results from the PowerShell Code Repository right there on your desktop in windows 7 thanks to federated search and Jaykul adding OpenSearch support to PoshCode. YAY. So how do you get this. Simply download this link and save is …

  16. Are we too connected to social media? | ChangeForge | Ken Stewart …
    Stewart, Ken 2009-02-17
    This extends the reach and richness of the information that they are able to pull back on behalf of users of their system, in a similar fashion to the functionality of federated search or universal search in more traditional enterprise …

  17. The Cyber World: Behind the Scenes of Windows 7 Enterprise
    Sheikh, Zaheer 2009-03-05
    •Making users Productive Anywhere is a focus on the mobile user community and empowering users with seamless access: We built technologies into Windows 7 such as BranchCache, Direct Access, Federated Search, and Enterprise Search Scopes …

  18. Stealth Report - Siri the “do engine” « AltSearchEngines
    Knight, Charles S. 2009-03-15
    Our Favorite Blogs. Caronte Web · Federated Search · Highlight Health · MSearchGroove · Ramenos Blog · Reel SEO · Software Abstractions · The Genius Files · The Next Web. AltSearchEngines Partners. March 2009. M, T, W, T, F, S, S. « Feb …

  19. World of Warcraft new user interface and upcoming patches pr
    … » Blog Archive » Can Social Bookmarking Be … Related Blogs on User Interface For The SixthSense Every Surface Is A User Interface | Trends Updates Adwords Venture » Twitter user interface hints at possible ad … The Sugar User- Interface Opportunity by Anne Gentle » Moving at … federated search user …

  20. Voice Web Sites: New Frontier for Search : Beyond Search
    Arnold, Stephen E. 2009-03-15
    business strategy · Cloud computing · conferences · Cost · database · eDiscovery · enterprise · feature · federated search · financial · google · government · image search · interview · legal matters · library automation · microsoft …

  21. Helpstream Named “Cool Vendor” for 2009 by Leading Analyst Firm

    Helpstream Selected for Community-Driven Customer Service Solution
    PRWeb via Yahoo! News

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to the RSS feed!

Tags: ,

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 at 2:34 pm and is filed under viewpoints. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or TrackBack URI from your own site.

One Response to "Biznar alerts: better than the leading brand?"

  1. 1 Hope Leman
    March 18th, 2009 at 7:31 am  

    I loooove my Biznar alerts. I use them to follow search engine matters. You list some meaty items for your search term, too. I should add such things to my own daily diet. Good stuff!

Leave a reply

Name (*)
Mail (*)
URI
Comment