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Lesson 3: Subject Directories
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Unlike search engines, subject directories are almost always created and maintained by human beings instead of robots. A subject directory is usually an annotated list of resources that are selected by human editors. They may offer a search engine if the directory does not have the information requested.
There are quite a few different types of subject directories ranging from general directories, academic directories, commercial directories, portals, and vortals. Confused? Hopefully I will be able to explain things so you will have a clearer picture by the end of this lesson!
Portals are directories that are run by commercial entities and serve as a doorway to the world wide web. In addition to being search tools, they also offer other features, including, but not limited to email, news and stock quotes. Vortals (vertical portals) are more specific to given subjects than portals are, but offer many of the same features. A trend that is happening is that subject directories are now merging with search engines so both can be used from the same basic source.
Two companies have combined their subject directories and search engines. Click on the links below to see the way these sites look:
MSN Subject Directory Portal MSN Live Search Yahoo Subject Directory Portal Yahoo! Search
What I found when clicking on the subject directory, was that I was led to the basic MSN and Yahoo pages that I've seen before. They included the searching tool, but also had links to news, gateways to email, stocks, blogs, webpage development, messenger services, etc. When I clicked on the Search links, I was led to their search engines only, with a few extras, such as email and news headlines.
One thing to keep in mind is that most subject directories do not compile their own databases and store the pages; instead, they provide links to these pages. One of the problems with this is that sometimes web pages move are change, and the links that are in the subject directory are no longer usable. Subject directories, being compiled by humans, many times have higher quality content.
While reading this lesson, I was still a tad confused about the difference between a subject directory and a search engine, until I did the assignment at the end. What I had to do was choose from two of the subject directories below and search for information on weight loss. (I was instructed specifically to use the subject categories and NOT use the search box.) I was supposed to make a note about how the human editors organized their sites.
Beaucoup LookSmart Open Directory Project
I first chose LookSmart to search on my topic. When I got there, I clicked on "health" and then "weight loss." I was then taken to a page that had all kinds of information on it, including plans and supplements, healthy diet, and exercise, to name a few. Then I chose Open Directory Project. Again, I went to "health" first, and "weight loss" from there. I was taken to a very large amount of links and information--larger than that offered to me by LookSmart. What I noticed about the organization of the sites is that LookSmart had more features on its main page than Open Directory Project, but when it came to results, Open Directory Project was easier to read, and had more sites listed for each click.
Why don't you give it a try? Select two of the subject directories by clicking on the links above, and search for information about teen pregnancy. Remember, use the subject categories and not the search box. Compare how the two different subject directories are organized.
Lesson 1 Search Engines Lesson 2 Metasearch Engines Lesson 3 Subdirectories Lesson 4 Library Gateways
Lesson 5 Evaluating WebPages Lesson 6 Creating a Search Strategy Lesson 7 Basic Search Tips
Lesson 8 Boolean Logic Lesson 9 Field Searching Lesson 10 Troubleshooting Lesson 11 Clusty Search Engine