International Search Now Online

In case you had not seen, our international search engines are now online. Leading think tanks from Africa, China, Latin America, the Eurozone, the UK, and more. Among other things, these will allow you to see how certain issues are seen in particular areas of the world. 

And we are building more. We currently are testing engines for Indonesia and Israel, getting feedback from experts, and are putting together more search engines on other regions. 

Another key feature, about which we will write more is that we are expanding our thematic search. For now, check what already is available under the More tab. 

Searching Health Policy: Medical Error

We just launched the engine for health policy, specifically focused on the US. It is a policy field that our team here is less familiar with, so we will consider expanding/changing the targeting. Still, we already see fairly good results on policy issues. We searched medical error, which is a major policy issue. On the left, results from the general Google search, on the right from Find Policy. (Click to enlarge.) 

Searched November 7, 2013. Click to enlarge. 

The general Google results are interesting if you are indeed looking for general information, again kicking off with Wikipedia. Find Policy, though, does well if you are looking for policy and research, and the numbers. Even the one line blurbs give you a good introduction to the issue already. There is a good mix of institutions. We cannot promise that all results will be as rewarding, but we do think this case (our first try of the Health engine) shows that Find Policy can give you ideas worth searching.

Illustrating Difference: Intervention in Mali

Here another illustration of how Find Policy is quicker at retrieving the information you may be looking for, when checking what is going on in the world of politics and policy. Mali was much in the news, earlier this year. So what does Google tell us about the intervention? One search with the general engine (left) and with the Foreign Policy engine of Find Policy.  As with the other ones, click on the image to take a closer look.

Search on November 6, 2013. Click to enlarge.

How do the results compare? General Google gives you Wikipedia, which is a useful site but if that is what you want you could go to Wikipedia straightaway. The scholarly articles, highlighted on the left, do not relate to policy, but rather to medical intervention. The Guardian and Al Jazeera are interesting, though. (Also, Find  Policy has advertising, see our FAQs.)

Still, we think Find Policy does the type of fine job that you'd find useful. The engine gives you a richer picture on Mali's intervention, with more nuance. There are diverse sources (Brookings, Chatham House, United States Institute of Peace), offering deeper takes, including a short video. We are not saying that it will return better results every single time. But we think it is much more likely that you will get better results with Find Policy than with a general search.

More illustrations to follow.