Comparison of two approaches to building a vertical search tool

Abstract

As the Web has been growing exponentially, it has become increasingly difficult to search for desired information. In recent years, many domain-specific (vertical) search tools have been developed to serve the information needs of specific fields. This paper describes two approaches to building a domain-specific search tool. We report our experience in building two different tools in the nanotechnology domain -- (1) a server-side search engine, and (2) a client-side search agent. The designs of the two search systems are presented and discussed, and their strengths and weaknesses are compared. Some future research directions are also discussed.