IS IT IMPOSSIBLE TO CATALOG THE WEB?

Is it impossible to catalog the web? The Internet itself holds so much information that is always changing. One Web 2.0 program, SimilarWeb, has decided to give it a try. I thought that I would experiment with this program, and downloaded it to my computer to see how it would work. If you have Firefox, it is very easy to install. You just go to their website, and download it as an add-on.

Okay, so I see the possibilities here. A scroll bar appears at the side of your screen, and anywhere you go, SimilarWeb will almost always come up with something. I say something, because, well, something just about describes it. There is definitely some relevance here, and with the help of the community, it could turn into a great program. I go to ala.org (American Library Association), and it shows me sla.org (Special Libraries Association), arl.org (Association of Research Libraries), cla.ca (Canadian Library Assocation), all of which I can see as being appropriate, and I am also allowed to add any sites of my own that I think have any relevance.

However, you can go to some sites, and receive nothing, and at others you will see a repeat of the site you are currently on. You are also supposed to be able to share these found sites using Facebook and Twitter. This function has yet to work, and although I was told by one of the software developers that it would soon be fixed in the new release, I have yet to see any progress on that line.

Okay, enough about the bad stuff. One of the things I love, as a student, is the ability to look up articles, and then find similar articles. It does make research that much easier, and it's applications for all types of library users are great. Kids can find the sites they like, parents can do research more easily, shoppers can discover new brands; music lovers can find new artists. The list of possibilities are endless, and I think if librarians and the general public start using this program, and adding their own opinion of which sites they believe to be similar, we may just have a whole new revolution in net surfing.

Submitted by Melissa Beezley Fitzgerald, MLIS Student