Blair Helberg
ENG 444
Professor Krause
April 2006
“Cutting Edge” of Web Tools for Writers Essay
Everyday, people are coming up with "genius" ideas to enhance
writing on the web. Yet, only a handful of these ideas really get
used on a daily bases by the mass majority of individuals. While
reading our class website, I came across PreFound.com. This
website is a terrific idea, and incredibly easy to understand. Now if
you would -- please allow me so explain all the wonders of what
PreFound does.
PreFound is a human-indexed Internet. It allows people to see
what other individuals have gathered by-hand from all places on
the web, and have shared with the PreFound.com community. The
website also gives these human users a technology which allows
them to simply and efficiently gather and tag information, then
share it with the PreFound.com community if they wish.
PreFound.com cuts through the clutter of a typical search
engine (such as Google) because actual human beings have already
sorted through all the "junk" of previous websites which are not
needed. The human touch is the key element which is present in
PreFound.com, which is not found in Google or any other search
engine.
PreFound has three specific features which helps you seek and
share information with other individuals.
(1) SEARCH. You can always go to the website and search any
topic of your choice and see what other people have found on the
web about it. Plus, it is free -- and you never have to sign up or
sign in to use it.
(2) SAVE. This is for Finders and Featured Finders only. [paying
customers.] If you are interested in sharing links you have found on
the web, then this is where you sign up. This way, all the useful
information is not hidden from the rest of the geeks..I mean cool
people out there who share all the awesome interests you have.
(3) SHARE. After you sign up with PreFound.com, you can share
your links in three ways: 1. Using the PF finder, PreFound's next-
generation link tagging and collecting toolkit. 2. Sharing your
links by posting them directly to PreFound.com, or 3. Importing
them from a tagging site to PreFound.com.
Instructions on how to accomplish the above tasks are quite
simple. There are links and directions on the website explaining
how to do everything correctly without making an error.
I believe that PreFound.com is useful for web-based writers,
because it brings people with the same hobbies, goals, religions,
careers, etc. all together. For example: If someone in California is
writing a paper on 1974 model trains, and someone in London goes
on PreFound.com, and types in 1974 trains, they can see what one
another has found and help each other out with a paper, project,
website, etc. The person does not have to fish through various
electronic search engines. They can see what actual human beings
have found themselves and what information they have
picked out manually. Thus, the information will generally have more
validity, because of the fact human touch has sorted through the
websites, and if the information was useful to one person, it most
likely will be useful to another.
I think that PreFound.com is also a great tool for web-based
writers, because it is great practice for what might be in store for
writers in the near future. Human touch is the main focus for
PreFound, and it is only the bare minimal for people helping other
people out. In the future, I believe there will be a lot more "human
contact" within computer programs and PreFound had started it off.
It has bonded bridges people helping other people in the seach
engine world, and I think it can really enhance the way writers think
and view their audiences, if people they do not even know, are
helping them find their research along the way with systems such
as PreFound.
In any circumstance, PreFound.com has gone the extra mile which
Google, Yahoo and all the other search engines hasn't -- and that
is why it will help web-based writers become better writers. Human
touch is the key, and PreFound has accomplished that.