Well, I'm pretty sure we haven't settled at all on the terminology, but here's how I use the terms:
Federated Search - I use this to mean a search where the query is sent against a number of disparate resources; it doesn't matter if they are local or not. I don't use broadcast or distributed search as terms at all. With LibraryFind, we generally describe it as a cross-collection discovery tool; I like this description because it differentiates between a broad discovery (i.e. across collections) approach and a focused discovery (i.e. deeply within a collection) approach, which is a useful distinction both from a systems side and from a user side. Ok, I'm sure that now just added more complexity to things. -- jaf ================================== Jeremy Frumkin Assistant Dean / Chief Technology Strategist University of Arizona Libraries frumk...@u.library.arizona.edu +1 520.307.4548 ================================== -----Original Message----- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:code4...@listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of Mike Taylor Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 7:41 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Serials Solutions Summon I, and most of the people I've worked with, have been using the terms "metasearch", "federated search", "broadcast search" and "distributed search" synonymously for years. Have they now settled down into having distinct meanings? If anyone could summarise, I'd be grateful. _/|_ ___________________________________________________________________ /o ) \/ Mike Taylor <m...@indexdata.com> http://www.miketaylor.org.uk )_v__/\ "Sorry if my English didn't good enough to well explain my idea" -- Ronachai Pratanaphon. Yitzchak Schaffer writes: > Andrew Nagy wrote: > > Summon is really more than an NGC as we are selling it as a service - a > > unified discovery service. This means that it is a single repository of the > > library's content ( subscription content, catalog records, IR data, etc.). > > Federated search is not apart of Summon > > Well, if we understand "federated" to mean "bringing stuff together by > searching all of it at once," then it is, as opposed to "broadcast > searching," a term you used later in this sentence. As in, "Origin: > 1665?75; < L foeder?tus leagued together, allied, equiv. to foeder- > (nom. s. foedus) league" from > http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=federated > > It is, though, a great *breakthrough* in the area of federated search, > which is why we ordered an onsite demo immediately on hearing about this > product. > > But I don't think I was clear with my question in any case; it occurs to > me now that my true question wasn't code-related, but seeing Summon on > the conf agenda prompted me to bring it up here. Namely: has anyone > investigated whether the arrangements SerSol has with content vendors > are easily duplicable by institutions for home-baked/potential OSS products > > -- > Yitzchak Schaffer > Systems Manager > Touro College Libraries > 33 West 23rd Street > New York, NY 10010 > Tel (212) 463-0400 x5230 > Fax (212) 627-3197 > Email yitzc...@touro.edu > Twitter /torahsyslib
