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amazon.co.uk
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amazon.com
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Details: |
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ISBN 0321306775
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Published by Addison Wesley.
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Written by Mark Levene
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Title:
An Introduction to Search Engines and Web Navigation
Review:
The web provides access to an unprecedented amount of information, but without the necessary skills in search and navigation, this information is all but useless. The search engines we use and how we use a link-following strategy are as much a part of the web as the information contained on it.
Despite so many of us using search engines and web browsers in our daily lives, most users have little idea of the technology behind the user interface. Mark Levene, Professor of Computer Science at Birkbeck, University of London, has been researching search and navigation technologies since the early '90s and has written "An Introduction to Search Engines and Web Navigation" in response to a lack of accessible books on the subject. Whilst it is intended as both an undergraduate introductory text and as a resource for IT professionals wishing to know how these technologies work, its interest is likely to extend to other information professionals who find searching and navigating the web plays a large part in their lives.
Unsurprisingly, for a book that is meant as an introductory text, it touches on a wide range of aspects of search and navigation, from the widely adopted search engines and browsers of the stationary web, to the more specific technologies of the mobile web and social networks. The bulk of the book focuses on the widely adopted search engine and browser technologies of the stationary web, highlighting the problems of information retrieval on the web, and how search engines and browsers try to overcome these problems (e.g., ranking of search results, personalisation, plug-ins).
Levene goes on to look at the specific area of the mobile web, a technology he sees as inevitable: "With the ubiquity of the mobile phone it is inevitable that the mobile and stationary web will eventually become inseparable". The mobile web is an important and necessary inclusion in the book, as small screens and lower bandwidth demand new and streamlined search and navigation tools.
Levene also looks at the impact of social networks on the web, and how they can "add value to existing information-seeking methods". Social networks on the web are an area of increasing interest, and Levene tackles many of the areas that are currently in vogue, including instant messaging networks, peer-to-peer networks and blogs.
As with any book about search engines or web technologies, it runs the risk of becoming out of date before it has been printed. This is especially true of those areas which are particularly in vogue at the moment such as social networks. But by focussing on the underlying principles of the technology rather than the facilities provided by individual web tools, Levene has maximised the book's shelf life. An accompanying web site with updates for each of the chapters would have been a nice touch; unfortunately, at the time of writing this review, the book's web site comprised only a link to the author's home page and a promise of forthcoming PowerPoint slides.
"An Introduction to Search Engines and Web Navigation" does provide an easy introduction to the subject. It is the sort of book that can be read from cover to cover, or alternatively be dipped in and out of. The book also provides plenty of references for further reading, with 202 notes highlighting web sites of interest and a bibliography of 410 academic papers. The only caveat is that the reference numbers are slightly out of sync.
Overall, Levene has made search engines and navigation an accessible subject to a wide audience. It reminds readers that there is a world beyond Internet Explorer and Google and their default settings, but also encourages a certain leniency towards their failings as we understand the difficult environment in which they operate.
FreePint Reviewer:
David Stuart is currently a member of the Statistical Cybermetrics
Research Group at the University of Wolverhampton
http://cybermetrics.wlv.ac.uk/, spending his time investigating the
University-Industry-Government connections on the web.
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