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The Charleston Advisor gives Deep Web Technologies high marks

Sol — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 03:53:56 +0000

The highly regarded Charleston Advisor, known for its “Critical reviews of Web products for Information Professionals,” has given Deep Web Technologies 4 3/8 of 5 possible stars for its Explorit federated search product. The individual scores forming the composite were:

Content: 4 1/2 stars
User Interface/Searchability: 4 1/2 stars
Pricing: 4 1/2 stars
Contract Options: 4 stars

The scores were assigned by two reviewers who played a key role in bringing Explorit to Stanford University:

Grace Baysinger, Head Librarian and Bibliographer at the Swain Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Library at Stanford University
Tom Cramer, Chief Technology Strategist at Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources

The review upon which the scores are based, is available at Stanford. (Click on the purl.stanford.edu link for access to the full text.) At just six pages, the review makes for a quick read. The first four pages describe the Explorit features, infrastructure and support, and makes the case for the partnership between Deep Web Technologies and Stanford University that led to the development of the locally branded xSearch federated search product. Pages five and six provide the reviewers’ critical evaluation of Explorit, references, and their bios.

Key points from the critical evaluation include:

“Compared to other federated search products, Stanford found that DWT offered the most compelling package of performance, features, and design.”
“While federated search engines’ performance is inherently limited by the performance of its target sites, DWT’s progressive delivery of results gives researchers near real-time response with the first set of results while the application assembles a complete set of hits from all sources.” More information about how near-real time response works is available at the Federated Search Blog.
Explorit was “the only service that included alerts, and the only service that allowed us to create customized “search engines” locally.
“DWT’s performance, good relevance ranking, and faceting capabilities are very helpful to users.”
“Because Abstracting and Indexing tools contain controlled vocabulary terms, when a user is searching xSearch, there are more discovery points than if they were searching Google Scholar or a publisher’s site.”

More observations are available in the review. More information about xSearch is available at Stanford. Our own press release about the review is available on our website. An Explorit overview is also available at our web-site.

WorldWideScience receives warm welcome at the UN

Sol — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:05:10 +0000

WorldWideScience is a global science gateway that combines national and international scientific databases into a search engine. From a single search form, a scientist, researcher, or curious citizen can search over fifty databases in English and now 22 multilingual sources (with translation to the searcher’s native language) and seven multimedia sources. WorldWideScience is the brainchild of the director of the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), Dr. Walt Warnick. The gateway is maintained and hosted by OSTI and governed by the WorldWideScience Alliance.

Deep Web Technologies is proud to have developed the federated search technology behind WorldWideScience. And, with the cooperation of the Microsoft Translation services team, Deep Web Technologies also implemented the multilingual technology. It was a major undertaking but a worthwhile one for the science community, whose members can now greatly expand their reach to scientific papers in languages beyond their own.

Dr. Warnick was invited to deliver a presentation at the 14th session of the United Nations’ Commission on Science and Technology (CSTD). In a post at the OSTI Blog, Dr. Warnick shares the warm reception that WorldWideScience received.

I wish more of my OSTI colleagues could have been in Geneva to share the warm response from the attendees. Several country representatives offered up new sources for WorldWideScience (WWS). Another member of the audience searched mobile WWS for his own name and remarked that he found many of his papers. I received enthusiastic comments, so many that I couldn’t address all of them because of time constraints. Significantly, the Chair of CSTD volunteered to pay the costs of becoming a member of the WorldWideScience Alliance. There was great excitement about the possibilities for its use within the home countries of the attendees and how WWS advances the goals of CSTD.

The paper “Breaking down language barriers through multilingual federated search” co-authored by Abe Lederman (founder and president of Deep Web Technologies), and Dr. Warnick, Brian Hitson, and Lorrie Johnson from OSTI, explains the importance of the gateway:

“WorldWideScience.org (WWS) is a global science gateway developed by the US Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) in partnership with federated search vendor Deep Web Technologies. WWS provides a simultaneous live search of 69 databases from government and government-sanctioned organizations from 66 participating nations. The WWS portal plays a leading role in bringing together the world’s scientists to accelerate the discoveries needed to solve the planet’s most pressing problems. In this paper we present a brief history of the development of WWS and discuss how a new technology, multilingual federated search, greatly increases WWS’ ability to facilitate the advancement of science.”

Deep Web Technologies is delighted to be working with OSTI and other organizations to push the envelope of search technology and to make the world a smaller place.

Cushing Academy Trades Books For Couches

Nicholas — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 21:02:09 +0000

Technology has claimed the lives of many electronic devices in the past: floppy disks, landlines, VHS, VCRs, beepers (remember those?)– just to name a few. However, it’s really rare for a technology to come out that has the ability to completely re-organize an industry in such a monumental way.

Now that databases are getting larger and more numerous, Deep Web Technologies’ federated search services have opened up parts of some industries that have been untouched since their beginning, (think libraries without books).

The digital book has been in the background for some time now. Though the Kindle was the first e-book reader to become widely popular, it was not the first e-book reader. The Sony Reader was launched earlier in 2007 (the year the Kindle was introduced) and Motricity sold e-book reader software for Windows Mobile and Palm devices. Source

Librarians are still largely unfazed by this technology, seated comfortably in the midst of massive bookshelves, quietly, but audibly turning pages. So it’s no wonder that Cushing Academy received a lot of attention when they announced that they will be spending more money on databases and less on physical books; in fact they got rid of nearly all of them. The library has been completely remodeled. Instead of rows and rows of book shelves, patrons are greeted with bigger lounging areas, computer space, and a brand new coffee bar, making for a very welcoming educational environment.

The databases are linked with Deep Web Technologies’ next-generation federated search engine. E-books are included. The students are trained in the search mechanics, introduced to the databases they will need for class, then left to explore on their own.

Deep Web Tech provides a service that will be changing the way we receive information as well as the environment in which we receive it in.

While this trend of less books, but not book-less, has not picked up much momentum (the short list includes, but not limited to, University of California at Merced and Stanford’s engineering library). It certainly has, in the case of Cushing, led to increased library attendance and use of organizational resources. We believe that this industry trend is the beginning of a world wide standard, although we may find ourselves missing the little things about the look, smell, feel, and the physical connection we have with our books.

Something to remember: Cushing is a private high school and, as far as we have searched, the first of its kind to make this drastic shift.

Something to think about: Where do you think the future of the library is? Or even better, do you think you will tell your children or grandchildren about a time that you had to physically search thousands of books by hand to get the one you needed? Would you say you missed it?

Maybe the only question that remains is: What will happen when the power goes out?

Less Books, not Bookless

Sissi — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:32:40 +0000

As the Stanford Engineering Library nears the completion of its move into new facilities, so does its transition from a print-based library into an econtent-based one. According to an article published by the Library Journal, the library has removed more than 85% of its print collection (about 98,000 books and journals) to offsite storage facility. In addition to e-books, the library is going electronic in other ways as well. New iPhone apps, digital bulletin boards, touch-screen kiosks, and an improved online course management system will all help to enhance a student’s library experience. Furthermore, students will be able to access a growing body of scientific databases and ebooks through xSearch, which was co-developed by Deep Web Technologies and Stanford. Seen as part of the phenomenon of “bookless” libraries, the digitization of the extensive Stanford Engineering Library collection testifies to the increasing integration of technology into academic research. While some resistance to this shift in the library experience does exist among users, there is no denying that the digital age has dramatically altered the role of the library in the educational process.

Stanford’s Excellent xSearch

Debbie Taylor — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:05:42 +0000

Yesterday I read Grace Baysinger’s post on Stanford University’s new xSearch – Multidisciplinary Search Tool which uses the Deep Web Technologies Federated Search, and I need to say that I’m thrilled! Our product offers features that Stanford wouldn’t have found in one package elsewhere. For example, we coordinated with their IT department to integrate federated search directly with their WebAuth and LDAP servers – a powerful way for users to authenticate automatically to secure web pages and applications.

We also integrated our Search builder tool into xSearch so that an unlimited number of unique search engines can be created for courses or individuals. Grace mentioned this capability in her article, referencing Stanford’s accessibility to these specially created search engines:

Create Your Own Search Cluster

It is possible to create your own custom search engine by choosing among the resources available in xSearch. The saved cluster of sources is accessible later in three different ways:

Through the xSearch interface after logging in,

As a link that you can bookmark or include on a Web page, and

As an embedded search box that you can include on a Web page.

Working with Stanford was a unique experience. They were a great team! I look forward to our continuing relationship as we unveil new functionality and continue to refine our product to Stanford’s specifications.