Middlespot: Getting More Out of Search
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In the first part of this two-part review, I introduced you to Middlespot, a Canada-based startup company with an online tool that can help you organize your online research. In this second part, I finish my review, touch on the features they plan to add, and give my overall opinion.
I left off last time showing you how to create a workpad with Middlespot and add information to it, such as notes on each individual site, to make it more useful. If you like to share things, you'll be pleased to find out that having a workpad doesn't have to be a totally solitary pursuit.
Sharing and Using Your Workpad
It's true that you don't have to be social on this site; if you're doing research by yourself, that's perfectly fine. But if you have friends who are into some of the same things, you might want to show them what you've turned up. And that is what the “email” option is for. Clicking on it lets you email your currently-open workpad to someone else. It pops up a small form, like so:
All you need to do is enter a “from” email address, the email address you're sending to, a subject line, and body text (which may be optional). Middlespot sends your buddy a link to your workpad. He or she will be able to look at the workpad, but not add or subtract anything.
By the way, your workpads are NOT public by default; if you want anyone other than yourself to see them, you need to make an actual effort. Fortunately, that's not difficult. In addition to emailing a workpad, you can also embed it on your web site. I'm not exactly sure what that does. Middlespot notes that it's “completely flexible so you can decide how big both the embed frame is and the size of the screenshots. Any comments you made about each screenshot are presented as mouse over tips.” If you choose to do this, you'll always know when people have looked at your workpad because “a view counter keeps track of how many times your shared community have opened your workpad.”
After you've put a lot of content into a workpad, you may get tired of looking at it as a strip across the bottom of the screen. Middlespot anticipated this; hit the “maximize” option and your workpad gets displayed as if it were a Middlespot search result:
If you take a look at the left pane here, you can even see the comments I made on the workpad, in italic.
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