Bob Drudge created this Web‐indexing site in 1995 in an attempt to provide some order to the Internet. The three goals of the project are:
- 1.
1fast access,
- 2.
2intuitive and easy navigation and
- 3.
3comprehensive content rationally indexed.
In the Mission Statement for refdesk.com the philosophy of the project is summarized as simplicity.
Searching: individuals who have specific sites in mind may access a database of all links on the site via the Search Refdesk.com option. These searches may consist of names, titles, or keywords. Entering a search is relatively simple. Lots of color, movement, and sometimes numerous subjects appear on the screen. All users have the options of text or graphic views. Printing material from the screen is permitted.
The database is tiered in three levels. Brief views into subjects are offered on the first level: FastFacts 1999, Quick Reference/ Research, and My Facts page. Researchers needing more information but not quite that offered in a comprehensive research may try the second level groups: My Virtual Newspaper, My Search Engines, Internet Help and Writing Web Documents. Others interested in putting some depth into the research should enter the third tier, My Virtual Encyclopedia. This option is reported online to be 50 volumes of indexed subjects.
The surfer will be attracted to My Daily Almanac, My Indispensable Links, Weather Links, Fast Facts 1999, Selected Sites of the day, Best of the Net, Top 100 Web Sites, and Windows 95/98/NT Links.
A type of recreational use of the Internet is facilitated by the subject groups Fun Stuff, Free Stuff, My Download Page, and Devices and Gadgets on the Net.
Potential use: this is a sizable indexing service that will attract a tremendous audience. Mr Drudge indicated, when responding to e‐mailed questions, that the service should help students in grades K‐12, college students, researchers, educators, and scientists. In that message, the question was asked as to whether or not a block existed to control information available to children. The response was “No block, but we put no adult sites or material on refdesk.” A statement of selection or evaluative criteria for sites indexed was not found.
Any interested reader must check this site just for curiosity. There is a chance that once you see it; you’ll go back. The reviewer is amazed that one person is responsible for the site. The organization, usability and accuracy of information appear to be in line with what is generally needed. The site is recommended. Potential users may wish to compare the site with others such as the Britannica Internet Guide, a selective directory of Websites http://www.britannica.com (review in Vol. 3 No. 9).
There is no telephone, street address, or fax number for this site. In preparing the review, the reviewer tested e‐mail communications by placing an inquiry. The response was received within a few hours.
Technical information: the reviewer found that the search option responded very quickly; and searches were completed rapidly. No problems were encountered in numerous trials in each indexing tier. There were no equipment or software problems in preparing this review using Netscape Communicator.
This site is best viewed with Netscape at 800 × 600 or higher screen resolution. Instruction online for making refdesk.com your start‐up page cover Netscape Communicator 4.01 or higher; Netscape 3.0, 2.0, 1.2 and previous versions; Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and 3.0; NetCruiser; AOL Web Browser; WebExplorer (OS2 Warp); NCSA Mosaic; and Spry Mosaic.
Information online indicates that all links are verified every six weeks using LinkBot ver.4.0. Other technical data relative to the operation of the site under the Mission Statement option indicate the “Internet Service Provider, ICNet, has a full T1 line operated by Sprint. Refdesk.com has its own dedicated server running Red Hat Pentium processor with 128MB RAM and two 4GB SCSI hard drives, configured into a Raid 1 Array, mirroring each other as one drive.”
