Search Tricks & Tips

Using a Semantic Engine for Better Understanding

Suppose, for a moment, that you had a problem for which you had little understanding. Something that just made you to quote Winnie the Pooh: “Think, think, think”; but, for which you had no good answer. Perhaps you have several “puzzlers” like that in mind already, but if you do not, imagine for a minute that you might want to better understand:sensebotlogo

  • why did Germans leave in the 1850s
  • what was the economic situation in Galicia in 1870
  • how were Mennonites treated in Prussia during the 1850s

Now let’s imagine, we could construct a tool that would analyze data from across the Internet and promptly provide us with information related directly to those query(ies), and, thousands of others like those. Wouldn’t that be nice? Might answers to those questions be useful in helping us explain family situations and circumstances? Could this type of information help us identify new places to hunt for family history clues?

Well such a tool does exist. It is in development, so there remain some rough edges. Rough edges or not, the insight this tool is able to extract from the Internet today is really quite helpful and amazing. The tool is called SenseBot and it is produced by a company called Semantic Engines LLC. The tool itself is pending registration under US Patent 8,239,358. (Patent Pending.). The Search function it offers is Free (so it meets my budget).  [sarcasm on] Nonetheless, I am certain several readers out there will still find reason(s) to complain. [sarcasm off].

As the SearchBot Engine is currently deployed, it searches the Internet via one of two means (selectable by you, the user). Search option one offers to examine the Internet using SenseBot as the base engine; option two, employs the ever popular Google as its base. Each options does produce slightly different results (possibly due to the extent of their internal databases).

This innovative tool is developed by Semantic Engines LLC a firm that develops products in the fields of information search and retrieval, text mining, semantic analysis, sentiment analysis, and contextual advertising. They are a private company located in New York City. Their product SenseBot is a semantic search engine that generates a text summary of multiple Web pages on the topic of your search query. The summary blends together the most significant and relevant aspects of the search results.

I will be adding a link to this tool from the various ManyRoads’ help pages, in hopes that SenseBot is able to help someone.

If you are interested in trying this tool out ‘right now’, you may access SenseBot at the end of this posting (below).

For additional & more complete help with your research,
visit our Free Help page.

Be aware that this search may return “for fee” site results!

Because the base of sites utilized by this engine is global, we have no control over the type of content (free, non-free) being returned in the result(s) pool.

Your comments and experiences are appreciated.

 

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ManyRoads Creator, Professional Genealogist, Family Historian, ManyRoads Podcast co-host, Old Guy and most importantly 'opa'