The way in which the majority of internet users use search engines is simplistic in the extreme if we are to believe the statistics. Normally, a visit to google.com, few key words, a few clickthroughs with only a small minority of searches ever making it onto page 2. The result is that you are missing out on an enormous amount. Here are some suggestions for your personal search strategy that will empower your internet use and make your searches more powerful.

• There isn't just google! Remember that there are many search engines on the internet - don't rely on a single source and cross reference with other search engines. Sites such as Dogpile.com have the ability to search across multiple search engines eg. google, yahoo and msn.

• Properly format the question. Be clear about what you want to ask and look for the most efficient way in which to format and ask your question so that search engines provide useful results.
• The source of the information used to search will profoundly impact the usefulness of your search. What organisations, keywords and networks are associated with chat you are looking for?
• Higher quality searches are to be found on the Google Books programme or the Google Scholar for more academically oriented resources.
• Google Print - Google has partnered with several libraries and publishers to digitize their collection and Google Printaims to search the book content and links to view the entirety of public domain books or, for books under copyright, just a few pages or in some cases, only the title's bibliographic data.
• Install the Stumbleupon Stumbleupon.com search tool onto your browser. This will enable you to do searches within websites that have been recommended and reviewed by communities and individuals with interests similar to yours.
• Install Delicious Delicious is similar to Stumbleupon in that it allows you to do searches within websites recommended by communities and connect with people that have similar interests to your own.

Make it part of your search strategy to do meta-search; search some of the more exotic search engines on the 'net from time to time. Just a short search of 'search engine' using the resources above will bring you many useful links. A 'computational knowledge engine' called WolframAlpha launched in May 2009 promises to be a totally new category of search engine. Interestingly, Wolfram Alpha produces the following when asked to define knowledge: "knowledge | the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning

Steve Banhegyi - steve@storytelling.co.za