Hello people,


Resource Discovery Unit has released a beta version of Whats'Hot
software. The package contains a customizable search engine, a web
crawler and a client. The software is designed to support shared indexes
of resources. We use it to index Web pages. It may be configured to
index and search any other types of resources (videos, books, museum
items etc.), but the relevant documentation and samples are yet to be
released.

The package can be used to support medium size collections (up to a
million records). You can visit its home page at
http://what-s-hot.vic.cmis.csiro.au/home.html or try to search our 50K
sample collection of Web bookmarks at
http://what-s-hot.vic.cmis.csiro.au/

What'sHot supports not only remote indexing, but decentralised real-time
indexing as well. This means that any site can run their own indexer
(crawler) to update the central index, provided that they are allowed to
do it by the index server administrators.

I am providing a short description similar to the other systems
descriptions below.

 Regards,


Arkadi.

PRODUCT NAME: What'sHot
PRICE: Free
METATAG SUPPORT: YES
METATAGS CONFIGURABLE: YES
OS: UNIX, NT
SCRIPTING: No scripting, but customizable input/output HTML based forms
are
supported
DEMO FOR DOWNLOAD: You don't need a demo

The comments are similar to those for INFOSEEK (with small changes)
> COMMENTS: This is a super easy to use search engine. From installation

> to your first indexing job will be about 30 minutes. Dublin Core
> metatags are configured in another 2 Minutes. <snip> If you can't
> index your web site with this baby there is something wrong with
> you. Even my grandmother could use this product (if she could
> speak english). <snip>
If money matters go for this one!!!

Debbie Campbell wrote:

> for information
> Debbie
> Manager
> National Initiatives And Collaboration Branch
> ph. 02 6262 1673
> fx. 02 6273 1180
> e-mail [log in to unmask]
> http://purl.nla.gov.au/metaweb/home
>
> > ----------
> > From: Thomas Hofmann[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: Thursday, 13 August 1998 8:13 PM
> > To: Greg MacGowan
> > Cc: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: DC or RDF support in search engines
> >
> > Hi Greg, hi everyone else,
> >
> > Regarding DC support in Search Engines. We have just completed
> > a re-evaluation of search engine software for implementation on
> > our web server. We have been using Verity's Search97 for the
> > past Year and half now.
> >
> > We, that is AMOL - Australian Museums Online. AMOL is a gateway
> > to Australian museums and their holdings. As part of this
> > gateway we provide access to 400.000 item level records from over
> > 51 museums.
> > Rather than holding all records in one single database or using
> > expensive Z39.50 repositories a distributed search was implemented.
> >
> > All records are held on various web servers around the country,
stored
> > in plain HTML with Dublin Core metatags implemented. A web crawler
> > indexes these HTML pages and extracts the metatags to allow for
> > fielded searching.
> >
> > For more infos see: http://amol.phm.gov.au/AMOL/MuseumSearch.shtml
> >
> > A short summary to your questions regarding metatags and index
servers:
> >
> > PRODUCT NAME: Verity Search97
> > PRICE: somewhere around AUD 30.000 (but don't pull me up on it)
> > METATAG SUPPORT: YES
> > METATAGS CONFIGURABLE: YES
> > OS: UNIX, NT
> > (meaning you can implement your own metatags including Dublin Core)
> > SCRIPTING: Verity Search Script
> > DEMO FOR DOWNLOAD: YES
> > COMMENTS: This search engine also works with "zones" which means
> > you can define you own "HTML"-tags and search between those.
> > This potentially opens the door for XML. The price depends on
> > the indexing option of the search spider local indexing is
> > cheaper than remote indexing. Setup is somewhat painful and
> > requires a lot of documentation studying, especially if you
> > want to support Dublin Core metatags. Ad on required for ODBC
> > indexing. If you like to torture your self want to tweak the
> > last bit out of the software because you would like implement this
> > really bizarre search option go for this one.
> >
> > PRODUCT NAME: Infoseek's Ultraseek
> > PRICE: starting from US$ 1000 (10.000 documents up to US$ 250.000
> > (unlimited documents)
> > METATAG SUPPORT: YES
> > METATAGS CONFIGURABLE: YES
> > OS: UNIX, LINUX, NT
> > SCRIPTING: PYTHON
> > DEMO FOR DOWNLOAD: YES
> > COMMENTS: This is a super easy to use search engine. From
installation
> > to your first indexing job will be about 30 minutes. Dublin Core
> > metatags are configured in another 2 Minutes. XML support is in beta

> > an will come soon. Doesn't support ODBC indexing yet. If you can't
> > index your web site with this baby there is something wrong with
> > you. Even my grandmother could use this product (if she could
> > speak english). Unfortunately this comes with a very hefty price
tag.
> > If money doesn't matter go for this one!!!
> >
> > PRODUCT NAME: Altavista Search97
> > PRICE: US$15.000 (they are constantly changing their prices so check

> > their web site for more info)
> > METATAG SUPPORT: YES
> > METATAGS CONFIGURABLE: YES
> > OS: UNIX, NT
> > SCRIPTING: ?
> > DEMO FOR DOWNLOAD: YES
> > COMMENTS: This product is actually based on Verity's Search SDK,
> > hence it supports self defined metatags. We haven't done much
testing
> > but it seems to work okay.
> >
> > PRODUCT NAME: Microsoft Index Server 2.0
> > PRICE: free (included in service pack 4)
> > METATAG SUPPORT: YES
> > METATGS CONFIGURABLE: NO (?)
> > OS: NT (only)
> > SCRIPTING: ASP (which means any ASP scripting language)
> > DEMO FOR DOWNLOAD: YES
> > COMMENTS: It's free, so don't complain if it can't do everything you

> > want it to do. It doesn't come with a remote indexer. Metatag
support
> > is somewhat strange. Even after extensive documentation reading I
> > couldn't get the metatags to work. (If anyone knows how to please
let
> > me know.) If you need a remote indexer either go for MS-Site Server
3.0
> > or program your own (see literature recommendation for more info).
> >
> > PRODUCT NAME: Microsoft Site Server 3.0
> > PRICE: AUD 1.800
> > METATAG SUPPORT: YES
> > METATAGS CONFIGURABLE: YES
> > OS: NT (only)
> > SCRIPTING: ASP (any ASP scripting language)
> > DEMO FOR DOWNLOAD: YES
> > COMMENTS: This is actually a web site suite. The search engine
builds
> > on MS Index Server 2.0 and extends it by a few functions such as
remote
> > indexing capabilities and better support for metatags. I haven't
been
> > able to test it's XML functions yet. It does ODBC indexing out of
the
> > box and has great authentication and knowledge management potential.

> > It also comes with a hole range of example solutions on the CD to
> > help you implement and utilize it's full potential. I don't want
> > to recommend this product just yet. But should you have a WinNT only

> > environment on your Intranet/ Internet have good look at this
product.
> >
> > LITERATURE:
> > Wes Sonnenreich: Guide to Search Engines, Wiley Computer Publishing,

> > 1998, price: US$ 34.99
> >
> > good book on search engines and search engine technology,
describes
> > installation of various products: Ultraseek, Altavista Search, etc.,

> > also explains how build your own search engine, web crawler
including
> > source code
> >
> > http://www.searchenginewatch.com
> >
> > definite web site on search engines, also offers a newsletter for

> > a nominal monthly fee
> >
> >
> > Greg MacGowan wrote:
> > >
> > > [This message is being cross-posted. Please excuse any
duplication.]
> > >
> > > I am in the midst of implementing a new search engine on our
server, but
> > > have been asked to do some "blue-skying" and project what kind of
more
> > > advanced search engine we might want to implement in the near
future
> > > (anywhere from 6 months to 3 years down the road). I would very
much
> > like
> > > to implement something that can handle metadata, particular
advanced
> > > syntaxes such as Dublin Core or RDF. My understanding is that no
are no
> > > search engines currently available that can effectively handle
metadata.
> > Is
> > > that right? Can anyone peer into their crystal ball and predict
when
> > this
> > > kind of functionality will be on the market, either in a search
engine
> > or
> > > as a plug-in to a search engine? Thanks very much for any advice
you can
> > > give on this subject.
> > >
> > > Greg
> > >
> > > --------------------------------------------------------------
> > > Greg S. MacGowan
> > > Information Technologies Coordinator (and Webmaster)
> > > Brandeis University Libraries
> > > P.O. Box 9110 Mailstop 045
> > > Waltham, MA, USA 02454-9110
> > >
> > > phone: (781) 736-4690 (W)
> > > fax: (781) 736-4719
> > > mailto: [log in to unmask]
> >
> > --
> > Thomas Hofmann
> >
> > AMOL Coordination Unit
> > email: [log in to unmask]
> > www: http://amol.phm.gov.au/
> >
> > ************************************
> > we are all foreigners at some point
> >
> > rage against racism...
> > ************************************
> >



--
------------------------------------------------------------
Dr Arkadi Kosmynin, Senior Research Scientist
CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences
723 Swanston Street, Carlton, VIC 3053 AUSTRALIA
Tel.:+61 (03) 9282 2614, fax.:+61 (03) 9282 2600