The Launch Of eBizSearch: The Next Generation Of Specialized Internet Search Engines
The Launch Of eBizSearch: The Next Generation Of Specialized Internet Search Engines
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - Can internet search engines keep up with the explosion of content on the Web? It is estimated that there are many billions of accessible pages on the Web, and the number of new pages each year is increasing rapidly. Experts estimate that the best of today's search engines can index or read only a small fraction of the Web and cannot keep up with this growth. Now, the eBusiness Research Center at Penn State's Smeal College of Business has developed eBizSearch, the next generation of specialized internet search engines that improves search results by more directly linking to specific research topics.
"Focused and specialized search engines like eBizSearch will be some of the most important of future search technologies," says Dr. Lee Giles, holder of the David Reese Professorship of Information Sciences and Technology and associate director of research at the Smeal College's eBusiness Research Center at Penn State.
eBizSearch is a new niche search engine that finds and indexes documents about e-business, e-commerce, and closely related topics. The search engine crawls the Web sites of universities, commercial organizations, research institutes, and government departments to retrieve and catalog academic articles, working papers, consulting reports, magazine articles, and published statistical facts. Rather than sifting reams of potentially irrelevant information eBizSearch focuses tightly on relevant data, making its results more productive for those interested in e-Business.
The eBizSearch search engine offers many advanced features to help researchers find the most relevant and up-to-date information. Like more generalist search engines, eBizSearch continually "crawls" the web collecting information that it organizes and stores in its database. But unlike these other search engines, eBizSearch collects and indexes more specific information including author, title, publisher, abstract, and article citations. Users can search not only by document key words but also by citation. Citation searches are very valuable because they help the researcher identify the most influential articles in e-business. The context of citations are also displayed so that a user can immediately discern the impact of the cited work. Futhermore, links are given to the citations and documents that cite the indexed paper.
Another advanced feature built into eBizSearch is the ability of users to provide it with e-business document links and updated information. Users are able to submit articles directly to the search engine ensuring they will be saved and indexed. This means that eBizSearch database will have more up-to-date and accurate information than a generalist search engine that relies completely on its Web crawler to build its database.
eBizsearch is built on the CiteSeer technology platform which can be used to develop and deploy search engines in other clearly defined topics , such as biotechnology, entrepreneurship, and physics.
The eBusiness Research Center is one of five research centers in the Smeal College of Business. It conducts research on how businesses strategize, operate, market, and manage in the realm of electronic commerce and business. Established in June 1999, this center has become a preeminent source of information for decision-makers in industry, academia, and government. The eBRC is home to a network of researchers from universities around the world, as well as consultants, hardware, and software suppliers, and other enablers of e-business. It has developed a powerful "virtual global network" of e-business scholars and is developing close links with industry partners with whom it can share, learn, and enable new developments in e-business. Its current industry partners include IBM, Unisys, Xerox, AT&T Wireless, Delphi Ventures, SAP America, Cigna and Tyco.
eBRC recently co-hosted a conference: Accelerating Global Commerce Through Technology and Policy , at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The conference addressed the technology sector's rebound and economic recovery, and keynote speeches were made by Commissioner Thomas Leary, of the Federal Trade Commission; Director Mike Nelsen, of IBM; Director of Internet Programs, Elliot Maxwell, of the Aspen Institute; and Associate Director of Information Technology and e-government Mark Forman, of The Office of Management and Budget. A white paper from the conference can be found at www.ebrc.psu.edu/events/pastEvents/index.html .
Dr. C. Lee Giles received the 2002 IBM Distinguished Faculty Award in recognition for his development of eBizSearch. He is recognized as an international expert in Internet search technology. Professor Giles was instrumental in developing the most popular scientific search engine called CiteSeer while at the NEC Research Institute, Inc., prior to joining the university's faculty.
Nirmal Pal of the eBRC can be reached 814-865-5670 or nirmalpal@psu.edu .
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REPORTERS & EDITORS: For more information, please contact Wyatt DuBois in the Smeal College of Business Media Relations Office at 814-863-3798 or wed112@psu.edu.
Penn State's Smeal College of Business offers highly ranked undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, Ph.D., and executive education opportunities to more than 5,500 students at all levels. Featuring academic departments of accounting, finance, marketing, insurance and real estate, management, and supply chain and information systems, the college is also home to major research centers such as the Center for Supply Chain Research, the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, the Center for Digital Transformation, the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Center for Global Business Studies, and the Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change.
