Commercial search engines and Resource Library (original) (raw)

Commercial search engines and Resource Library

(above: Hugh Newell, The Old Hulk, 1859, oil on canvas, Reading Public Museum. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)

Search engines give nearly instantaneous results but they are not very smart. If you go to the reference desk in a brick and mortar library, and ask the librarian help in finding information on a specialized subject, the librarian will ask you some questions to get a better idea of what you are looking for. Search engines don't yet do this -- yet. If you spend time looking up information on the Web, it pays to learn how to use search engines to your benefit. [1]

Algorithm-driven search engines use links pointing to a site as one of the factors determining page placement of search results.Our site has a higher count of links pointing to its site than most other sites dedicated to American art

To best obtain Resource Library and our content using popular algorithm-driven search engines such as Google and Yahoo, always use their advanced search option and limit the search solely within the tfaoi.org domain.

To find an artist via search in domains other than tfaoi.com or tfaoi.com, we recommend placing the word "artist" after the first and last name of the artist. If this approach doesn't work well, do the search again by adding additional keywords to limit the results. Types of additional keywords can include:

for artistic specialty: painter, sculptor, etcher
for type of art object or media: painting, sculpture, etching, oil, watercolor, pastel
place of activity: specify a state or city of residence

A word about AI...

Historically, search engine activity has been the largest driver of access to our site's contents. Because of the way search algorithms work, our page files often aren't included in the first or second page of search results, even though our content's quality often surpasses that served up by the algorithms. There are exceptions. Some of our Topics in American Art like California Art Historyare often listed on the first page of search results. Commercial organizations and large institutions spend vast sums on SEO to drive inquiries to their sites. We don't.

Here's where AI changes the game and amplifies the value of our content. AI large language models probably scrape the entire contents of our Free Online Digital Library. Our hundreds of thousands of words are sliced and diced into a stew that's reformulated into answers to AI users' prompts. We've played with prompts limited to our content. The results are often pretty good. Other prompts allow use of the entire sea of data besides ours accessed from the internet.

The public education element of our mission - via our site's contents - isn't constrained any more by search engines. It's reborn into endless results of AI prompts. We aren't getting credited for our data, so its quality can't be measured. That problem, along with copyright issues, is serious. However, the public benefit of the AI output is vast. Clever people can ask large language models to limit prompt results to our website, but even then we suspect they leak snippets from their ocean of data when answering prompts.

Note:

1. Readers using search engines directly access words or phrases in any_Resource Library_ page without going through a "portal" page. Specialized image search engines easily retrieve images in Resource Library. We do not change the URL addresses of _Resource Library_content pages once published in order to guarantee longevity of readers' bookmarks and references placed in pages of other websites. See the TFAO digital library sections on content retrieval and usage for more information.

From the founding of Resource Library in 1997 to April 6, 2004 all content was placed in the domain tfaoi.com As of April 7, 2004 new contentbegan being posted at tfaoi.org. Content published previous to April 7, 2004 remains available at the prior domain name, tfaoi.com. This is a courtesy to both readers who created bookmarks for specific Resource Library pages prior to the establishment of tfaoi.org and as a courtesy to scholars who placed references to tfaoi.com Resource Library pages in their articles and essays.

Return to Indexes and information retrieval

Links to sources of information outside of our web site are provided only as referrals for your further consideration. Please use due diligence in judging the quality of information contained in these and all other web sites. Information from linked sources may be inaccurate or out of date. TFAO neither recommends or endorses these referenced organizations. Although TFAO includes links to other web sites, it takes no responsibility for the content or information contained on those other sites, nor exerts any editorial or other control over them. For more information on evaluating web pages see TFAO's General Resources section in Online Resources for Collectors and Students of Art History.

*Tag for expired US copyright of object image:

Search Resource Library