Here's a useful resource: The Guidebook to Internet Searching, from MakeUseOf.com.

From the Forbes article,  "10 Cool Search Engine Tips":

COOL TIP:	SEARCH FORMAT:	WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE:
1. Dictionary	define (your term here)
2. Calculator	(your calculation here) =
3. Travel Advisor	(Airline) (flight number)
.   4. Currency Converter	(units of currency to be converted) in (second currency)
5. Savant	(pose a specific question)
6. Help Desk	(pose a specific Help Desk question)
.   7. Specialized Search         Engine	site: (url of website)  “(search term)”   filetype: (filetype) "(search term)"
8. Yellow Pages	(zip code)  (search term)
9. Caller ID	area code (specific area code)
10. Librarian	(search term), then click Search Web   (search term), then click Search News

• "10 Cool Search Engine Tips" handout.
• Video demos on Tips 1-7 and Tips 8-10.

Alternative Search Engines - it doesn't have to be Google.

 Visual-interface search engines, rather than text interface:

•  http://www.spezify.com - general topic search engine
  
• http://redz.com - general topic search engine; gives you thumbnails of the webpages that you navigate by sliding back and forth (works like the Apple file navigation interface)
• http://www.qwiki.com/ - general topic search engine, but the results are presented in video format.

Image search engines (most of these search Flickr images):

• http://taggalaxy.com/ - Tag Galaxy is a little hard to describe -- you enter a term, and a little "solar system" of associated words comes up. If you choose the sun/star at the center, up comes a sphere that populates with related images from flickr. Try it!
• http://www.tineye.com (beta version - account required) -- reverse image search. Upload an image to conduct a search for a similar image on the web. Click here to see how/why you might use it.
• http://labs.ideeinc.com/multicolr/ - searches images in a specified color palette.
• http://xaviesteve.com/pro/flicksourcer/ - searches images of a specified size.
• http://www.tiltomo.com/ - search Flickr images by color/texture.
• http://www.forestandthetrees.com/findr/findr.html - searches images by tag, and suggests related tags
• http://www.airtightinteractive.com/projects/related_tag_browser/app/ - searches images by tag, and suggests related tags via visual/graphic interface
• http://compfight.com - searches images, allowing you to specify type of license (for me, Creative Commons non-commercial!)
• http://www.wylio.com/ - search free pictures

Video search engines:

• http://www.psykotube.com - video search engine - hover over the thumbnail, and the video plays.
• http://clipblast.com - video clip search.
• http://www.blinkx.com - search engine for videos, Blinkx uses am algorithm that will let you search on phrases contained in a video.

Miscellaneous:

• http://www.edutecher.net/links.php - search recommended instructional technology tools from EduTecher.
• http://findicons.com/ - search free icons
• http://searchteam.com/ - collaborative search.
• http://www.archive.org/web/web.php - Take a look at the history of any website with the Wayback Machine!
• http://conferencehound.com/ - conference and tradeshow directory.
• http://www.wolframalpha.com/ - "computational knowledge engine." Huh? Here are some examples, but you may want to just try it... or look at the Wolfram Demonstrations project.

There are many, MANY more search engines out there -- spend a little time right now to explore:

• "Top 150 Search Engines"
• Search Engine Watch: http://searchenginewatch.com

DISCUSSION: Pros & Cons of the different engines?

Can you think of a specific project or assignment that you give your students that might be better served by using one of these alternative engines?

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