Journalists, and not only web journalists, constantly need quick access to all kinds of information. In this case, the search sometimes takes longer than writing the material itself. But with the right approach to search tools, these problems are solved, the Internet turns into a fast and reliable source of necessary information.
Search tools
Search and information processing tools can exist either separately from sources (e.g., public search engines or special programs) or within databases. Built-in tools allow you to work only with the content of the database, but the result of this work is usually very clear.
Linear search tools
A large group of linear search tools is designed for linear information retrieval, i.e. for detection of fragments similar to a given text (texts are used by search engines even if the search is performed on a video or photo database).
Such tools include, first of all, public search engines.
The world leader Google gives on average more links per query, as it has a wider coverage of indexed pages.
The choice of a search engine is a subjective matter and is determined by the results of the search by experience. When choosing, you should carefully examine the advanced search capabilities offered by global search engines. It is the conditions for compiling a search query that determine the degree of “noisiness” of the result.
Composing queries for linear search systems
Working with linear search engines implies certain skills in composing queries. Traditional query languages imply selection of keywords, indication of their obligatory presence or absence in texts, position of keywords in relation to the text structure (for example, in the title or in the body of the document itself) and in relation to each other (distance between words, sequence of usage, rigidity of word combinations, presence in one sentence, one document etc.).
In professional systems of linear, or universal, search the possibilities of additional parameters are considerably extended. For example, in the system “Garant” a unique technology of search through “Encyclopedia of situations” is realized. The user formulates a query using familiar terms, the system “translates” the query and provides an answer in a few minutes.
Nonlinear search tools and link building
Of particular value to professional journalists and searchers are systems that allow you to select data about the relationships between objects. It is the construction of connections, the systematization of facts, that is the ultimate task of the searcher. To some extent, this task can be automated.
In fact, an RDF is a database that stores the objects “person” and “organization” linked by the relationship “occupy a position”. In other words, it is a database from which one can find out in what organizations (and in what positions) a certain person worked and what people (and in what positions) worked in a certain organization. The database also allows to obtain all the documents, from which the relevant information was taken.
Derived from the FDF are the services “Colleagues?” (search for common places of work for two people) and “Related Organizations? (search for common employees for two companies).
The Quenza link analysis tool developed by Xanalys has similar functions. It allows you to retrieve and accumulate data from texts about people, events, and organizations and identify relationships within that data. Quenza works with information saved in MS Word, PDF, email and HTML format.
The Watson information analysis visualization tool, developed by the same company Xanalys, is of undoubted interest to professionals. Watson allows graphically revealing the relationships between apparently unconnected sets of data.
For example, Watson makes it possible to overlay information about transactions from one file with information about telephone conversations from another file. The resulting database allows you to query information about related relationships.
Advances in technology and the volume of information that journalists and professional searchers have to process require new and new tools for optimal processing, so here are just a few examples of the most original tools.