It is not immediately clear how to get to the content of this simple, yet attractive site. On the initial screen, one is faced with a local search engine as well as an impressive array of links to ancient and medieval history sites. The links are nice; but one wonders what the rest of the site offers.
The subtitle of the site ‐ “Limited Area Search of the Ancient and Medieval Internet” ‐ gives some clue as to what may be found here. The scope of the site, however, is not clear. It takes some stumbling around the site to figure out what the creators of this site did and why. To find out about the site, click on ABOUT on the initial screen. Here you will find the whys and wherefores that really make this site a gem.
My one complaint about the structure of the site is that the individual pages tend to be long. This involves a good deal of scrolling; and that’s something the general public usually does not like to do. The target audience (scholars, academics, etc.), however, should be well used to this type of thing. Still, chunking of information would be a step in the right direction as far as web design goes.
A note about the language of the site: It is not intuitive. It is written for people with a knowledge of both the Internet and ancient/medieval topics. Having both at my disposal, I had an easy time with the site; but I could see where problems could arise for neophytes. The main thing I would emphasize about the language here is that scanning is not really an option. To gain access to the great value of this site, the user will have to read the text.
Now, we come to the reason this site is so good: the content. ARGOS is a peer‐reviewed site. This means that all of the sites listed through ARGOS have been examined for value by top academics in the areas of ancient and medieval studies. Sure, the user will get fewer hits using ARGOS than when using another search engine (Excite, Hotbot, etc.), but the sites supplied will be more appropriate to the search. Having conducted a number of searches, I was very impressed with the results that came back. For example, in searching for information about St. Francis of Assisi, I used the term “Francis” on both ARGOS and Hotbot (http://www.hotbot.com). ARGOS came back with 294 records, many of which pertained directly to the saint from Assisi while Hotbot supplied more than 500,000 records on many different topics. Would that there were more sites of this kind available for use regardless of subject.
The user simply has to spend the time learning its ins and outs of the site to navigate through it. It is quite possible to go to the main search page, type in a word, and find some results. If the user learns about the site (by clicking on ABOUT and some of the other links from the initial search page), however, the results will be even better. Once the process of searching is learned, navigation is simple and efficient. I would call it one of the many joys of the site. Again, it would be helpful for the user to know a bit about searching as well as ancient/medieval topics to make full use of the site.
Coverage is limited...and excellent. This is a great boon in a virtual world that has millions of records. One might find hundreds of records instead of hundreds of thousands with each record appropriate to the search as in the example above. This is a real time saver and of great use to searchers.
Overall, this is a very nice site sure to be of assistance to the ancient and medieval scholar or seeker of knowledge. It is well worth a visit.
