THUNDERSTONE NEWS

September 2008 - Archive

CONTENTS

TECH TIPS: HOW TO USE THE "BEST BETS" FEATURE ON YOUR THUNDERSTONE SEARCH APPLIANCE OR WEBINATOR

Best Bets allow you to create "adword"-style results, where you create an arbitrary keyword-url association. When people search for that keyword, that URL will appear above the results in a special display at the top of the page, regardless of any matching or ranking algorithms.

Thunderstone has made getting started with Best Bets easier than ever. If your Webinator or Appliance software is up to date, you can skip Steps 1 and 3 below.

Try bringing up the list/edit page that Step 2 describes. If it lists the Best Bet Group as "(Create New)" then you only need to do Step 2 (it will automatically create a group and set it to display). If it says "Select", you'll need to either update your software or perform Steps 1, 2 and 3.

1. Create a Best Bet group.

  • Choose "Best Bet Groups" on the left menu.
  • Choose a name for your group (such as "myGroup"), choose how you'd like it to display, and hit "Save".

2. Add keyword-url associations.

  • Choose "List/Edit URLs" on the left menu. (or "Profile Tools->List/Edit URLs" with the latest script updates)
  • Enter a pattern to list, or just hit "Submit" to list all.
  • Click on the URL to create keywords for.
  • In the "Best Bet Words" section, enter the Title, Keywords, and Description you want. Also choose the proper group if there are multiple, and hit "Save".

3. Set that Best Bet group to display.

  • Choose "Search Settings" on the left.
  • Change the "Top Best Bet Group" setting to "myGroup" (or whatever you chose as the name for your Best Bet group).
  • Check "Apply Appearance" if you'd like it to apply to the live site.
  • Hit "Update".

The Best Bet should now show on your searches when the keyword is searched for. You can create more keyword-url associations within the same group by repeating the steps above.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"Thunderstone demonstrated a real willingness to make changes that we wanted and to customize their standard appliances to meet our needs. The ability to customize was a big thing. Plus, we really like the way the search engine runs. Our decision to buy and deploy Thunderstone Search Appliances saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars in development costs."

Kevin J. Payne
Director of System Applications
U.S. Government Services Administration (GSA)

HAPPENINGS

DM Radio Hosts Eric Kavanagh and Jim Ericson spoke at length with Thunderstone CEO John Turnbull, Forrester Analyst Leslie Owens and Progress EasyAsk General Manager Dr. Larry Harris during an August 21, 2008 online program entitled In Search of... Enterprise Search. You can hear John Turnbull's interview segment and his comments in the roundtable discussion at http://www.dmreview.com/dmradio/10001790-1.html.

On September 3, 2008 Thunderstone Software LLC presented a free webinar on "3 Powerful Advantages That SQL Brings To Structured And Unstructured Search." If you would like to receive a copy of the slides and notes from that webinar, just send your request by email to call Peter Thusat at +1 216 820 2200 ext. 118.

CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY: THUNDERSTONE DATA SERVICES FOR SEARCHING A WEB-BASED RESOURCE TO HELP STUDENTS WITH HOMEWORK

Editors at Lincoln Library Press, Inc. created an online version of everything contained in the multi-volume hardback books their publishing company sells to school libraries. This new and popular web-based resource for students, called FactCite, would also offer much additional content not currently available within the printed editions. The creators of FactCite required powerful search technology that could handle the growing information access and retrieval needs of the FactCite.com website. After considering Google and a couple of other potential options, they started with a Thunderstone Search Appliance -- but they ultimately decided it made the most sense to have Thunderstone Data Services host their search solution.

FactCite: The Lincoln Library Online provides more than 20,000 pages of eye-catching, thought-provoking and intelligently presented factual information that includes many useful elements designed specifically to help students in grades 4 - 12 with their homework assignments.

The online articles, bios, photos, illustrations, etc., include 700+ reader-inspiring profiles of the world's greatest athletes (from all eight editions of the 14-volume set entitled The Lincoln Library of Sports Champions,) the complete five-volume contents of The Lincoln Library of Greek & Roman Mythology, as well as the entire seven-volume set of The Lincoln Library Shapers of Society and The United States Encyclopedia of History -- an impressive (but, alas, no longer in print) work which The Lincoln Library Press bought, took over, updated, computerized and put online exclusively at FactCite.

Located in Cleveland, Ohio, The Lincoln Library Press (http://www.thelincolnlibrary.com) markets its large, colorful books and the FactCite online resource directly to school librarians throughout the United States. Schools that own at least one of the printed and bound sets (Sports Champions, 8th Edition; Greek & Roman Mythology; or Shapers of Society) can obtain unlimited access to FactCite for an annual license fee of $179 per building. Schools that don't own any of the print editions may provide unlimited FactCite access to their students by paying an annual license fee of $495 per building.

The Lincoln Library Press is an imprint of Lincoln Library Press, Inc., which Timothy and Susan Gall have owned and operated since 1992. This husband-wife team already possessed more than 20 years of hands-on experience as reference work developers by the time that their company's editorial offices assumed stewardship of all The Lincoln Library publications in 1998. They first met each other while employed at Northeast Ohio-based ASM International, the Materials Information Society. Timothy, an attorney, worked there as an acquisition editor. He also developed a product called Metal Selector, an online database of alloys and materials, to assist engineers in selecting materials for design purposes. Susan, a teacher by training who additionally earned an MBA, worked at ASM International on the educational end of things -- developing technical courses and producing learning programs in video and print formats.

Putting All Their Best-Available Content on the Web, and Making it Searchable

As the forward-looking owners of all The Lincoln Library publications decided to update, expand, digitize and put their proprietary intellectual property on the web and to offer it to schools as FactCite -- they required search technology that could handle the growing data access and retrieval needs of the FactCite.com website.

Tim Gall, publisher at The Lincoln Library Press, recalled, "We needed search capabilities, and there were a lot of different types of ways to do that..." Read More...
Download the FactCite case study PDF here.

Thunderstone Data Services provides Internet presence for demanding Web applications. All Data Services sites come with multi-megabit connectivity and include usage licenses to both Texis and Webinator. For more information call Fred Harmon at +1 216 820 2200 ext. 105.

If you would like to share your own story about how your organization has deployed Thunderstone search technology, please call Peter Thusat at +1 216 820 2200 ext. 118.

Feedback, suggestions and questions are welcome. Send your email to

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