Simpsons on Alta Vista

1. Day, date, locationTuesday evening Nov. 11, 1997 at friend's house.
2. Mood/affective stateHappy and content, ate a good meal which friend paid for.
3. Search engine, number of times used, whether like it or not, whyThe search engine used was Alta Vista and it was the fifth time I have used it. I liked it because it was easy to use, it lists 10 results at a time with a brief summary of each, how big the document is, when it was put up, and language it is in. Plus there are many tools to help customize your search and tips to make your search more easier.
4. Statement typed in, why chose those words, did it contain Boolean operators, why/why not, and was it a first search or respnse to anotherStatement typed in was simpsons, no capitals. I chose this statement because I like to watch the Simpsons on TV and wanted to see what people would put up on pages about them. I didn't include any Boolean operators because I didn't need any. And this was my first search on this topic.
5. Number of expected hitsExpected at least 50,000.
6. Number of actual hitsGot 18,904.
7. Reactions to #5 & #6I expected way more than what I actually got. I mean it's a very popular TV show all over the world, so I thought there would be plenty of sites about them.
8. Evaluation of hits: what proportion were relevant and how found this outAll of the results were relevant. I went through all of the results' titles and summaries, quickly. As long as there was something about them in the title or summary, I concluded it was relevant. I also visited some of the more interesting sites.
9. How felt about it, did mood influence how I searched, did topic influence search strategy, did make use of engine instructions or help documents, whyI was very happy I came up with all relevant hits. This search proved to be very worth while. Being in a good mood influenced how I searched. I went through all the results, which if I was in a bad mood would not have done. It also made the search more exciting because I looked forward to the results, no matter how many I received. Again the topic didn't influence my search strategy and I didn't use the help items because I didn't need to, all the results were relevant.
10. Ratings Stressful-3/-2/-1/0/+1/+2/+3Pleasant: Good meal
Dissatisfied-3/-2/-1/0/+1/+2/+3Satisfied: All relevant results
Wasted-3/-2/-1/0/+1/+2/+3Valuable: Interesting stuff
Confusing-3/-2/-1/0/+1/+2/+3Clarifying: Good find
Discouraging-3/-2/-1/0/+1/+2/+3Hopeful: Can learn more

Back Up Top

Simpsons on Webcrawler

1. Day, date, location Tuesday evening Nov. 11, 1997 at friend's house.
2. Mood/affective state Happy and content, ate a good meal which friend paid for.
3. Search engine, number of times used, whether like it or not, whyThe search engine used wasWebcrawler and this was the fifth time I have used this engine. I liked this engine because it was also easy to use. It lets you customize the way the results are displayed. You can list 10, 25, or 100 results on a page, you can list the results by title or title and summary. There are also shortcuts given to you, services, and other channels. This is better than Alta Vista.
4. Statement typed in, why chose those words, did it contain Boolean operators, why/why not, and was it a first search or respnse to anotherThe statement typed in was simpsons, no capitals. I chose this statement because I like to watch the Simpsons on TV and wanted to see what people would put up on pages about them. I didn't include any Boolean operators because I didn't include any in my first search with Alta Vista, plus I didn't need any anyways.
5. Number of expected hitsI expect less on this engine, so about 10,000.
6. Number of actual hitsToo much again, only 4,581 hits.
7. Reactions to #5 & #6A little shocked that there were so little results. I expected my prediction to be pretty near the actual. I mean, there are a lot of Simpsons fans. At least it won't take me too long to look at the results.
8. Evaluation of hits: what proportion were relevant and how found this outAll the results were relevant. They all contained some information about the Simpsons. I found this out by looking at all the results' titles and summaries, visiting some sites also.
9. How felt about it, did mood influence how I searched, did topic influence search strategy, did make use of engine instructions or help documents, whyI felt happy all the results were relevant. It shows this search was very good. Being happy made the search easier. It allowed me to look at all the results, taking as much time needed. If upset, I would be rushing and not doing a very good job. Topic didn't influence my search strategy and I didn't use any help stuff because I didn't need them since I found what I was looking for, all relevant hits.
10. Ratings Stressful-3/-2/-1/0/+1/+2/+3Pleasant: Good meal
Dissatisfied-3/-2/-1/0/+1/+2/+3Satisfied: All relevant results
Wasted-3/-2/-1/0/+1/+2/+3Valuable: Neat stuff
Confusing-3/-2/-1/0/+1/+2/+3Clarifying: Easy to do
Discouraging-3/-2/-1/0/+1/+2/+3Hopeful: More, more, more

Back Up Top