Information Skills Internet Using Internet Directories
Unlike search engines, which are compiled by computer programmes called robots, directories have been compiled by humans. The resources are then categorised according to their subject. The categories that directories use are hierarchical. This means that within categories you are likely to find sub categories.
However, you can still search directories if you wish, although the search will return many fewer results than a search engine will.
Directories do not cover nearly as much of the Internet as search engines, which can cover billions of web pages, so search engines are best if you wish to perform a comprehensive search of the Internet.
The great advantage of directories is the human input - search engines do not check the quality of the pages they index. This means that using search engines can involve a lot of time sorting high quality information from rubbish. If you use a directory, this work has already been for done for you to some extent.
When you are using directories you need to be aware of who has selected and organised the information within the directory. There are varying levels of quality control in directories:
You may be interested to know that Google also has a directory as well as a search engine!
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