1What is online journalism? - Ayo Menulis FISIP UAJY

80 Journalism Online
Metacrawler (www.metacrawler.com); and
ProFusion.com (www.profusion.com).
Subject directories
Some people might name their favourite search engine as Yahoo!,
but Yahoo! is a subject directory not a search engine (although it
has now teamed up with the Google search engine to offer both
facilities on its site).
Making this distinction is not pedantry. It is actually quite
important. Subject directories are put together in a fundamentally
different way to search engines. You need to be aware of the
difference to know which one to use and when.
Most search engines use software to comb through millions of
web pages, looking for traces of your key search word. Yahoo!, as a
subject directory, has been compiled by human beings. This means
you can browse through a database of handpicked sites organized
under subject headings (in much the same way as you would
browse books in different sections of a library). You can search it
too. You tend to be offered web sites, whereas search engines
hunting for your key word, will pick up individual web pages.
Like most things in life, the intervention of humans brings
advantages and disadvantages to subject directories. Extraneous,
coincidental yet irrelevant material tends to be filtered out so you
can get a higher quality of information. Yet, inevitably, the
database is usually smaller. This reduces the number of search
returns, and also takes them from a smaller sample, which is
probably less up-to-date.
Examples of subject directories include:
Britannica’s best web sites (www.britannica.com);
Galaxy (www.galaxy.com); and
Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com) (with a UK version called
uk.yahoo.com).
Again, please note. Still no surprises among the URLs.
Restricted area search tools
The subject headings in Yahoo! are many and varied, covering
most areas of human endeavour – everything from arts,