Middlespot May Hit Search Sweet Spot - What is it Already?
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So what exactly is Middlespot? Brownlee offered long and short versions of how his company's visual search interface works. He said that it "allows a user to see results on an infinitely zoomable, pannable grid that can be saved and shared with friends." That's the short version; the longer version homes in on Middlespot's audience. It's for "those who spend more than 1 minute in researching or looking something up. People who want to really interrogate a lot of results with a lot of varying queries, then want to collect results that are relevant (for people who search over multiple sessions over multiple days). We also want to make it easy for these deep researchers to share what they have found. Like Delicious, but applying that concept to the effort of search."
Judging from the references to Middlespot that I found in a Google search, the librarians have already discovered it; that's certainly a plus in my book. Here's a screen shot of the home page, but I assure you it doesn't do the search engine's potential justice:
Before I continue, I'd like to add that Middlespot offers a slide show tutorial. That may seem like a relatively "low tech" approach when they could have done a video or something equally flashy, but I honestly can't fault it. It works, and even an older system (such as mine) had no problem with it - and I highly approve of things that work. Brownlee noted that the company is working on additional tutorials and demos (including a video) to help show the depth of the service. But the proof is in the pudding, so let's get to our first search.
Next: Searching With Middlespot >>
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