Clusty
For a long time now, I have been a strong advocate of Google for any and every query, However, Sarah Houghton may have opened my eye to another.
Clusty the clustering engine is a search engine with a difference. As well as the main set of results, it also clusters results into smaller groupings. These are displayed as a simple expanding menu on the left hand side of the screen.
When I have looked at other clustering style search engines, they have tended to present the results in a highly stylised way. One of the draw backs to these novel presentations of information is that they can be difficult to use. Especially when you want to see the results and not have to wade through several layers of graphical interface.
When using Google I do a sort of human clustering. When given the initial set of results (I prefer a set of 50) I quickly scan the list looking at the descriptions and seeing how they fit into the ‘idea’ of my original search. Then If nothing jumps out as being worth looking at, I ammend my search based on the first set of results, either narrowing down my search, or changing the terminology. This process is repeated until I find what I am looking for.
There is even a Search Plugin for Mozilla/Firefox!!
Clusty provides an experience that fits well with my usual search pattern. I can adopt the same method of refining my search, and use the information provided by the clusters as part of the filtering process. I especially like the way that I get all the results unclusterd at the outset.