[Webpub] Announcing MIT's Google implementation

[Suzana Lisanti]

Dear Colleagues,

We are happy to announce the implementation of Google at MIT.  Last fall, Information Services and Technology, IS&T, conducted a discovery project to assess the best search service for MIT's 1 million web pages (see http://web.mit.edu/ist/discovery/search).  We heard strong support from the MIT community for the Google search engine. IS&T has now licensed the Google search engine for use at MIT.

Tomorrow, Wednesday November 3, we are launching a phased rollout that will seamlessly replace the free Google search on the MIT home page, run by Google, with a licensed version of Google run by IS&T. 

By running our own installation of Google, MIT can control the frequency and completeness of the indexing. In addition, search results can be returned in a look and feel that is customizable by each department's webmaster.  

IS&T will continue to support the Inktomi search engine until departments have migrated their web site search forms from Inktomi to Google. Within the next few weeks, we will provide examples of Google search forms on the web, as well as tips for maximizing search engine ranking and customizing the look and feel of the search results.

Periodic announcements will follow, including documentation about customizing searches.  Please try the new Google search from the MIT home page, beginning tomorrow, and send your comments to google at mit.edu.

Thank you,

Suzana Lisanti, Hubert Pham, Mark Silis
Information Services & Technology (IS&T)