Ask.com

 

Ask.com is based on the search algorithm of the ex-search engine Teoma. According to the company, “Teoma was the first, and is still the only, major search technology based upon the clustering concept of subject-specific popularity: ExpertRank” ( Ask Search Technology par. 1). The ExpertRank algorithm retrieves relevant search results by “identifying the most authoritative sites on the Web”.  This would imply moving further from ranking in terms of volume of links pointing to a particular page, to “determine popularity among pages considered to be experts on the topic of your search”. 

 

The search algorithm is said to be set to identify clusters of information, the experts on those clusters, and the popularity of pages amongst those experts. Ask.com search technology has recently received many positive reviews, with claims such as that “Unlike Google, Ask gives you content before ads, includes previews, and offers related links […] that you might not have thought of” (Kirkpatrick par. 5).

 

Search Logic and Syntax

• Default Boolean AND

• Boolean OR is supported but it must be capitalized

• Phrase searching available using quotation marks

• Supports some nesting of Boolean operators

• Search terms are not case sensitive

• Spell checking

• No truncation available

• Stop words: 'the,' 'of', 'and', and 'or' and several others. These words can be included by adding the "+" sign in front of it.

• Minus symbol “-“ can be used to exclude a word or phrase

Limits: Some field search limit (e.g. page title, URL), domain, language, country, page last modification, etc.

 

Display of results: Document title, a two line keyword-in-context extract from the page, URL. Sometimes a binocular icon will appear with the results which provides a preview of the page. A link to cached version will sometimes be available. A “save” button is provided. On the right hand side of the screen, “Narrow Your Search” is displayed with links to clusters of information.

 

Figure 2 Display of search results in Ask.com

 

As with all major search engines, the algorithm used by Ask.com is constantly updated, and new features are frequently added. As an example of a recent change is the addition of cached copies of pages. While in a recent review Notess identified as a weakness of Ask.com that it did not offer cached copies of pages (Review of Ask.com par. 4) this is no longer the case. As Google, Ask.com is now offering cached version of many pages.

 

Search Strategy in Ask.com

 

"electronic collection development policy" OR "collection development policy for electronic resources"

 

Top Five Results in Ask.com*

 

Collection Development Policy for Electronic Resources Collection Development Policy for Electronic Resources ... documentation of electronic resources serves as an important selection and ... www.ahsl.arizona.edu/policies/cdpolicy.cfm · Save	Relevance 5
WelchWeb: Collection Development Policy for Electronic Resources Collection Development Policy for Electronic Resources ... library materials and information resources applies to all formats including ... www.welch.jhu.edu/about/ecdpolicy.html · Save	Relevance 5
[Publib] Electronic Collection Development Policy [Publib] Electronic Collection Development Policy ... Our library is working to establish an Electronic Collection Development Policy. lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/publib/2006-March/096885.html · Save	Relevance 2
Electronic Collection Development Policy> ... resources considered for addition to the collection should fall within current guidelines as reflected in the ELRC Collection Development ... mentors.ncu.edu/elrc/policy/collection_dev.asp · Save	Relevance 5
CDC_ELEC.PDF (PDF File) MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY ELECTRONIC RESOURCES I. GENERAL STATEMENT Mississippi State University ... library.msstate.edu/library/policies/Collection_Development_Policy_for_Electronic_Resources.pdf · Save	Relevance 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ask.com retrieved 4 out of the 5 results Google did, though the order differs. The one different result was the last one which corresponds to the policy statement of Mississippi State University Libraries. The other significant difference is that Ask.com did not retrieve the Yale document which was assigned the highest relevancy score in the previous search. As in Google, result number 2-- the email message to the listserv-- was assigned the lowest relevancy mark, since it doesn’t ofer information on the topic.

 

*Note: This search results were recorded on October 28th, 2006.