#12: Rollin', rollin', ROLLYO!

Listen to this podcast [1:58] ---> powered by ODEO

ROLOS? No, but a few of those would be yummy. RollYO. Roll Your Own search engine.

Do you have sites you tend to search frequently? The "usual suspects" when you're looking for updated information on a certain topic? Do you find it a little tedious to go from bookmarked site to bookmarked site looking for similar information from similar organizations/institutions/companies/entities? Well, Rollyo is worth checking out. It enables you to create a search tool for your own selection of web sites; this is called a Searchroll. You can create private ones or public ones to share. Take a look at some of the Searchrolls others have created:

• Food and Dining
• Phoenix News
• Triathlon Junkie
  

The first one above is considered a "High Roller." This moniker is bestowed upon celebrity-created Searchrolls or very popular Searchrolls. My attempts at rolling are: higher ed and ed tech.

If in surveying your search results you are impatient to see what a particular site from the Searchroll has yielded, you can click on that site's name (at the left on the results page) to narrow your search to results from just that site.

You will have noticed that Rollyo does generate sponsored links at the top and amidst search results; however, no obnoxious ads nor graphics litter your screen. These oh-so-brief (and clearly labeled) advert interruptions are certainly worth tolerating given such a useful free tool!

Now, we all know Google basically dominates the search world. But even Google knows that the breadth it covers cannot touch the depth that niche, specialty searching can provide users. Rollyo really has something going here. It is making available to all of us what sites like Travelocity and BizRate make money doing. So not to be outdone by this little start-up venture, the Big G, along with Yahoo! and Microsoft, have their own customizable search engine tools if you are interested in comparing:

Google Custom Search Engine - in beta from the Google Co-op. You must have a Google ID to create (which you already have, if you set up your blog through Blogger!). Google will host a search page for you, or you can paste the code into your own site/page.

Yahoo! Search Builder - tool provides for free (without requiring a Yahoo! ID) the code for providing a Yahoo! search box of your own site. That means Yahoo! does not provide a webpage to host your customized search. [Did any of you notice that Rollyo is powered by Yahoo! Search?]

Microsoft Live Search Macros - Macro Creator ID is linked to your Windows Live ID. This tool creates a webpage for you to bookmark.

Discovery Exercise

1. Roll Your Own! Create a Rollyo account of your own.
   
2. Create your very own customized search engine. It can be based on someone else's if you don't want to start from scratch.
3. Blog about what you think of having this personalized power searching at your fingertips. Can you see some amazing potential here? Or are you satisfied and accustomed to "feeling lucky" with Google's searching?