Jill Hurst-Wahl of Digitization 101, yesterday published a list of blogs and presentations related to federated search. Here is Jill’s blog list:

• The Blog Libific by Peter McCracken, librarian and co-founder of Serials Solutions
• Federated Search Blog written primarily by Sol Lederman and sponsored by Deep Web Technologies
• MUSEings written by MuseGlobal CEO Kate Noerr
• Search Done Right, a team blog by Vivisimo, which is a more broadly focused blog
• Beyond Search by Steve Arnold at Arnold IT, which focuses on all corners of the search industry, including federated search

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Stephen Abram is one of my favorite visionaries about technology and social media. Tim O’Reilly is my other favorite. On Christmas Eve Abram published an article in his blog, Stephen’s Lighthouse, telling us about two important tipping points we’ve reached this year.

For those of you not familiar with the term “tipping point,” Wikipedia explains it. A Simple definition is “the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable.”

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Hopefully you’ll get a chuckle out of some of these Internet-related satires from The Onion:

Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years Of American Independence

NEW YORK—Wikipedia, the online, reader-edited encyclopedia, honored the 750th anniversary of American independence on July 25 with a special featured section on its main page Tuesday. More…

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In the spirit of the holidays I’m compelled to write about a new iPhone federated search application for wine lovers. Drync-wine is a very novel application of federated search and a great idea for a phone app. It’s also a great combining of federated search and community. The $4.99 app, created by Drync, allows users to search for wines based on label information, to get details, reviews, and pricing info, to save info in their virtual cellars, and to share their wine experiences with others.

Here’s a piece of the announcement of Drync-Wine, titled “Drync Releases Drync-Wine a Mobile “Lifestyle” Solution for the iPhone.” (The emphasis of some of the text is mine.)

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[ Editor's note: Darcy Pedersen, Mednar Product Manager for blog sponsor Deep Web Technologies (DWT), shares her enthusiasm about the latest good press that DWT's new Mednar medical research portal has received. I welcome stories about good press from any federated search vendor. ]

What’s an alternative search engine, you ask? According to AltSearchEngines.com, their motto is: “The most wonderful search engines you’ve never seen.” On AltSearchEngines.com, you are not only exposed to eloquent reviews on current and new search engines, you get the low-down on up-and-coming technology in the search world. And guess what just poked its head around the corner?

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How was 2008 an important year for the federated search industry? How will the world-wide economic crisis influence vendors and customers in 2009? Last year Abe reviewed happenings of 2007 and he’ll be making his assessment again in the next week or so. This year, he’d like your input, your questions, your ideas for what the most noteworthy events were. And, this year, Abe will try to predict what 2009 will bring. Help Abe by contributing your ideas.

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I have three items to briefly cover today:

1. The judges have judged. I will be contacting the winners of the federated search writing contest in the next couple of days to congratulate them. The grand prize winner will be pleased to learn of an extra surprise. I’ll share that surprise with all of you soon.

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Today I wrap up my interview with Erik Selberg, which began with a preview here. Erik answers questions about federated search, about his work at Microsoft and Amazon, and a couple of other questions.

Erik Selberg joins the ranks of federated search luminaries, standing together with Kate Noerr, Todd Miller, and Michael Bergman.

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Alissa Miller has produced an impressive list of deep web-related resources for the Online College Blog. I’m particularly impressed at how much time Alissa must have spent researching resources for the list.

The list is divided into nine sections:

1. Meta-Search Engines
2. Semantic Search Tools and Databases
3. General Search Engines and Databases
4. Academic Search Engines and Databases
5. Scientific Search Engines and Databases
6. Custom Search Engines
7. Collaborative Information and Databases
8. Tips and Strategies
9. Helpful Articles and Resources for Deep Searching

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ALCTS, a division of ALA, is hosting a series of ongoing electronic discussions of interest to the library community. You’re invited to join in. There’s no cost and you don’t even need to be an ALA member. And, the February 2009 topic includes federated search.

ALCTS is the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services. The ALCTS About page describes the organization:

Comprised of nearly 5,000 members from across the United States and 42 countries from around the globe, ALCTS is the premier resource for information specialists in collection development, preservation, and technical services. We are the leader in the development of principles, standards, and best practices for creating, collecting, organizing, delivering, and preserving information resources in all forms.

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