Quintura: Visual Cloud Search Engine

http://www.quintura.com/ Quintura takes searching to a new level...up in the clouds. It employs the new cloud technology to provide a more visual search, and also lets you see not just the usual search results, but also any images or videos that are in the selected websites. The images are useful if you need some quick visuals for PowerPoint presentations etc.

It also has an Amazon tab which shows you books available on the subject. It includes a widget building script so you can easily add it to your blogs or wikis (there's a sample in the right hand column).

For second language learners, the clouds help them find the exact information they need if they have difficulty determining effective key words, and the visualization helps them to check that what they have found is what they were indeed searching.

"Visualization becomes the center of user experience replacing antiquated listings and Boolean strings.

Visual Find Engine
While viewing the Quintura Cloud, you can visually navigate and easily refine in order to find relevant information faster and more efficiently!"

Commentary: Sotir: Technology Melting Pot

"The future is here. It's just not evenly distributed yet." WF Gibson

Nowhere is the above quote more true than in education. There really is no standard for how accepting educators are that technology is indeed a part of everyone's future, and how and when they access that technology. In every school there are the pioneers; those who have never met a new technology that they don't at least try, if not embrace. But educational technology is a pyramid, with a select few at the top and the majority filling out the rest.

I'm often surprised when I work with high school and college students by how little educational Websites are actually used. The main reason is that they don't really know that these sites exist. While some social networking sites such as My Space or Facebook might be ubiquitous, tools to make study easier or more effective, say StudyRails or StudyCurve, are not as well known. I'm also surprised by their inability to search with any engine other than Google (or even know that other search engines exist), and that they don't know even the most fundamental tips to make searching more effective.

With instructors, I find even less understanding and acceptance of technology. Educators from grade school to university level are overwhelmed with achievement gaps, standards-based educational reform and standardized tests. The mantra has been 'No Child Left Behind' but the reality is that we need a policy of 'No Teacher Left Behind'. If we want our children prepared for the future, we need to make sure that their instructors are sufficiently well-versed in tools that students will need to achieve success. In addition, administrators often disregard technology skill development training for classroom use. We need a top-down solution.

There is a societal difference in learning now that didn't exist 30 or even 20 years ago. In the past, teachers could teach with texts and lectures, and that was sufficient for students to learn and succeed. But just as previous generations were taught the Dewey Decimal System and how to use a card catalog, todays' students need to learn the skills necessary for finding information effectively. The general principles of learning still apply, but the methodology has changed dramatically. There is a wealth of information at your fingertips, but if you have not learned how to access it, it is merely a lot of wasted code.

Commentary:Sotir: Search Engines and Directories

http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listsuccessfjs.html

We all know that the Web has a seemingly infinite amount of information. One of the most important skills for the 21st Century will be the ability to find the information you seek. Search engines and directories are much more refined than they were in the old 'Archie' days (one of the first search engines on the Internet). There are meta-search engines, subject specific search engines, aggregators, blog, wiki and podcast search engines, and on and on. Some have a human interface, such as Cha Cha, and others offer targeted information like Google Scholar. All have a purpose, and all can help you to find what you need. For search engine information and sites, try our hotlist: http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listsuccessfjs.html or the engines cited in the right column of this Blog. The information is probably out there, the key is knowing how to find it. There are some unique and powerful tools available. It's worth a few minutes of your time to find out what they are.

Commentary: Using RSS and Search Engines

I have a love/hate relationship with the Web. Sure, it has all the information I could ever want. But then again, it has ALL the information I could ever want. Somehow having so much information is almost as bad as having no information at all. I recently did a Professional Development workshop on using search engines. This went beyond the Google ' Results 1 - 10 of about 114,000,000' response to the less is more approach employed by meta-search engines that allow Boolean Operators such as Clusty (http://www.clusty.com/) or Surfwax (http://www.surfwax.com/). Cha Cha (http://www.chacha.com/) even allows you to ask a real person for help. Of course, knowing how to use a search engine is as important as knowing what you are looking for. The advantage of these newer search engines is that they offer a lot of clues into how to search effectively. Those that deal with Blogs and Wikis (such as http://www.technorati.com/ or Del.icio.us http://www.del.icio.us.com/) show tags and keywords to help you refine your search or search for related aspects.

RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feeds also help you cut down on the clutter. First of all, you have to love technology that starts with the words 'real and simple'. If a Website that you like has one of the little orange boxes with RSS or XML on it, or gives an RSS address, you can get an RSS feed, or list of new articles and content (usually with just a title and short content description line) to decide if you want to learn more. You click on the little orange button or enter the RSS address, and you have a link to that feed. Then simply subscribe to that feed with your email address. The new content is automatically sent to you when it appears. For someone like me, who trolls the Internet incessantly searching for new and better sites, this allows me to know immediately when one of my favorite sites has been updated.

The process is simple. First you need an RSS reader program. Go into your favorite search engine, type in 'RSS Feeder' and try a few out. Once you have selected a reader, right click on the orange RSS button and choose 'Copy Shortcut' (or on a Mac, control-click and select 'Copy Link') . Open your reader, and select 'New Subscription'. Paste the link into the subscription box and press 'Enter'. (Sites such as Google and Yahoo! allow registered users to create custom home pages using feeds, which have your selected feed listed right on the home page. )

Now your reader gets to work by following that link and posting a list of new articles and content. If one of the articles interests you, simply click on the title and your Web browser opens the full article. You can subscribe (and unsubscribe) to as many sites as you wish.

To get a sense of how a feeder works, check out the 'Blogarithm' site at the bottom of this Blog. Type your email address into the box, and you will receive an email with the newest posts daily. If I am taking a break, you won't get a mailing until I post again. The RSS address for this Blog is : http://wccniuesl.blogspot.com/atom.xml. Start using the Web more effectively!

Also look in the right column of this Blog (it's a handy place) to find lists of recommended search engines, reading lists, other Blogs and Wikis I recommend, a translator to translate this page into another language etc. There's even a word of the day. It's a little gold mine of information.