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Enhanced search services debut for berkeley.edu
07 Nov 2000

The campus has two new Web searching services that make it easier to find official campus Web sites and news stories.

A new search service on the Berkeley home page replaces the previous Cha Cha engine, providing users with more concise and accurate result lists. The new system delivers exact results for common queries like "telebears," "admissions," and "seti." Less common queries are redirected automatically to the commercial search engine Google.

For those users looking for an old Berkeleyan story or campus press release, a new search engine on the campus news site (www.berkeley.edu/news/) makes it easy to find stories dating back to 1994.

"Our users have been crying out for more concise and accurate search results, so we're very excited to be launching these new services," said Brad Falconer, a Web analyst in the Office of Public Affairs.

Web Registry

The new Web search service combines the campus's Web Registry database with the third-party engine Google. When a user types in a search query, the new system will first search the Web Registry, which indexes official campus Web sites and includes keywords and descriptions submitted by Web managers across campus. For common queries, like "registrar" or "trademarks," the Web Registry will return a concise list of top links. If a user sees the Web site he was seeking in that short list, he can go there directly. If not, he can click a link to try his query again using Google, Cha-Cha or the news search.

Web Registry Search
Simple queries like "registrar" will be handled by the Web Registry. Click the search button in the image above to see how it works.

If a query is too specific to be included in the Web Registry - e.g., "performative identity structures" - the query will be automatically re-routed to the Google search engine, which is designed to offer much more comprehensive results. There are 658 official sites in the Web Registry, while Google indexes approximately 660,000 pages throughout the Berkeley Web.

Web Registry Search
More specific queries like "performative identity structures" will be handled by the Google search engine. Click the search button in the image above to see how it works.

News Search

For news junkies or those looking to research past articles, it's never been easier to find campus stories online. By simply entering a key word or phrase, users can search back to 1994 for Berkeleyan stories and to 1996 for press releases.

In the search field at the top left of the page, users type in a key word and hit the return key or the "Go" button. A list of stories appears and users can then click on the headline to read the entire article. Results can be sorted by how many times a key word appears in the story (relevance) or by date. Users can also narrow the results or alter the search by choosing to only search the Berkeleyan or press releases from the drop-down menu on the results page.

Web Registry Search
Use the News Search at www.berkeley.edu/news/ to search for campus news. Click the go button in the image above to see how it works.

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