Tara Calashain, who writes the incredibly useful blog ResearchBuzz, has launched a new service called Search Gizmos, a suite of JavaScript gizmos to help you target your searches in specific ways. There are 57 available as of April 17 and new ones are added frequently.
Some examples include:
- I’m looking for information about people famous enough to be in Wikipedia: try Crony Corral or MegaGladys or Gossip Machine or Contemporary Biography Builder.
- I want to explore Wikipedia itself: try WOLPE or Wiki-Guided Google Search or Wiki Bunch or Wikidata Quick Dip or Sheet-Shaped Wikipedia or Category Cheat Sheet or the Wikipedia Page Count Checker or Wikipedia GenderScanner or Wiki Page Backstory or Wikidata Property Peeker.
- I want to try different ways of searching Google: try Biography Buckets or Non-Sketchy News Search or Shuffle Search or Smushy Search or Sinker Search or Clumpy Bounce Topic Search or No Shop Sherlock.
- I’m doing genealogy searching: try Obit Magnet or Carl’s Name Net or The Anti-Bullseye Name Search.
- I’m doing location searching: try Pam’s Pin or Pam’s University Pin or Super Edu Search or Backyard Scholarship.
- I want RSS: try CountryFeed or WikiRSS or JOOC Box or Kebberfegg.
- I want Mastodon: try MastoWindow or Mastodon Web Search.
Go give them a test drive.
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