Purpose: To investigate methods to enhance the use of existing Web Search engines to locate Gulf of Maine Environmental Information.
Description: Web masters place the word �GOMINFOEX� on their Gulf of Maine web site. This is a unique word that is not presently found on any existing web sites. Users are advised to use their favourite search engine to look for this word when searching for relevant environmental information for the Gulf of Maine. The use of the word �GOMINFOEX� in a search returns only those sites that are participating in the Gulf of Maine Environmental Information Exchange.
The word can be added as a meta-tag or hidden in the body of the HTML. It has been referred to as a �silly-word� to make it less intimidating to a non-technical audience (members of community groups, fishers, general public, school children, etc.) that is the primary client for this function.