In our Project Technology workshop yesterday, we talked about the trend in search sites that are using “visual” methods for searching.    Ian Jukes talked about how students read screens differently and I think we’ll start seeing that trend in search engine websites.  Ok, so maybe this is geeky but after all, I am a ……

librarian….

 A few to check out–

Ask.com has a cool visual feature.  Try a search on Ask.  If you scroll down through the links, you see a little pair of binoculars.  If you slide your mouse over it, it shows an image of the page, which is helpful when you are trying to figure out which links to use.    They have a lot of nice features now, like recipe conversions (Try it by typing “how many ounces in a quart?”)  and nice mapping features.  It can even map a walking route rather than driving route.

Exalead.com is a new search site that allows you to set up a visual list of sites you use frequently on the first screen.   It’s like your “favorites” but it displays pictures of each screen.    Also once you do a search, it shows a miniature image of each website in your search.   Another nice feature is a toolbar where you can click to  narrow down your search for video or audio on that topic.

Clusty.com displays a list of subtopics when you do a search, which is really helpful for students trying to narrow down a topic.    They also have two new special search sites–Clusty Shakespeare and Clusty Ben(Ben Franklin) that have a wealth of information.    They have also added the Clusty Cloud, which displays your search visually.

and for extra credit….. Check out this library in Queens which searches with a “mind map” type of screen.   Very cool and what’s probably coming down the pike….

Happy searching (and finding!)