A New User's Guide to ResearchBuzz

ResearchBuzz has been chugging along since 1998. Because of that, there's a lot in the nooks and crannies of this site that you may not know about. With that in mind, I'm offering this New User's Guide to ResearchBuzz. This has pointers to the many ways you can get ResearchBuzz, some useful tools you may find here, and pointers if you want to do things like request sites. So with no further ado...

Reading ResearchBuzz -- The Archives

ResearchBuzz archives come in two yummy flavors: Date-Based and Categories.

The date-based archives start at http://www.researchbuzz.com/archives.shtml . The archives go back to the beginning, one month per page, though when the site was migrated to Movable Type in the fall of 2003, a lot of nonresponding/dead sites were removed. Use the date-based archives if you have a lot of free time or just want to get a sense of what's available here.

The category-based archives -- all 200+ categories -- are available at http://www.researchbuzz.com/categories.shtml . The last two entries from each category are listed. Click on the category title and you'll go to a list of entries. If you just want to get a birds-eye view, there's a list of the most popular categories at http://www.researchbuzz.com/commcats.shtml .

Reading ResearchBuzz -- The Fresh Stuff

Maybe you've read all the archive and you want to keep up with the fresh stuff. You have a couple of options.

Option #1 is to subscribe to the free weekly newsletter. To do that send a blank e-mail to
join-researchbuzz@host.netatlantic.com . Every Thursday you'll get a newsletter with the previous week's stuff, and links to the newsbits. You will have to confirm your subscription, so watch for that subscription confirmation letter. (We do that to ensure that nobody gets added to the list who doesn't want to be there.) You can get more information on subbing and unsubbing from the newsletter at http://www.researchbuzz.com/subscriberbuzz.html .

Option #2 is to add the RSS feed to your favorite RSS reader. If you want to read all the latest entries, you want to use the RSS feed at http://www.researchbuzz.com/researchbuzz.rss . If you're only interested in certain categories, you're in luck; RSS feeds based on categories are also available. Go to the category list ( http://www.researchbuzz.com/categories.shtml ), pick the category you want, and look for the "Get this category as an RSS feed"/XML Orange Button at the top of the page.

Putting ResearchBuzz on Your Site

You are welcome to reprint items from ResearchBuzz and send them on to mailing lists provided you give credit. Please see http://www.researchbuzz.com/about.shtml for more information on that. You may also reproduce the ResearchBuzz RSS feed on your site. If you'd like to reproduce entire items or articles on a Web site, please drop a note to permission(at)researchbuzz.com .

Do you want to put the ResearchBuzz RSS feed on your site but you don't have the tools for it? I've put four of the site's feeds on Feedroll Pro. With Feedroll Pro you just add a snippet of JavaScript to put a feed (which you can customize in many different ways) on your site. The feeds available are all at http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=142 and are customizable.

Handy Tools at ResearchBuzz.com

A lot of ResearchBuzz is site reviews, but there are also a variety of handy tools available as well. Like what? Try these tools on for size:

1. GooFresh -- http://www.researchbuzz.org/archives/001405.shtml -- Search Google by the date contents were index. Doesn't require a Google API key.

2. Cookin' with Google -- http://www.researchbuzz.org/archives/001404.shtml -- Enter in some ingredients and find out what Google recommends as a recipe. Doesn't require the Google API key.

3. LuckyMarklets -- http://www.researchbuzz.org/archives/001414.shtml -- Like Google's I'm Feeling Lucky search? Now you can do it from the comfort of your own browser, without visiting Google! Doesn't require a Google API key.

4. Wumwum -- http://www.researchbuzz.org/archives/001395.shtml -- If you want your Google results in a handy, comma-delimited format, or you want to elimate certain domains from your link: search results, you want to try out WumWum. Does require a Google API key.

5. Google Phone Book Search -- http://www.researchbuzz.org/archives/001408.shtml -- A Google interface specifically for Google's phone book syntax. Does not require a Google API key.

There are several other tools and pointers to tools in the Search Engines-Google category ( http://www.researchbuzz.org/archives/search_enginesgoogle.shtml ) and the Google Hacks category ( http://www.researchbuzz.org/archives/google_hacks.shtml )

The whole idea behind ResearchBuzz is to tell you about cool search engines, directories, and other online information collections. If you have any suggestions for coverage, found a neat site you think we should know about, or have a research question you'd like to see answered, drop us a note -- the addresses are on the contact page ( http://www.researchbuzz.com/contact.shtml ). Thanks!