Note: Many topics at this site are reduced versions of the text in "The Encyclopedia of Networking and Telecommunications." Search results will not be as extensive as a search of the book's CD-ROM.

According to the BotSpot Web site, "a bot is a software tool for digging through data. You give a bot directions and it brings back answers. The word is short for robot, of course, which is derived from the Czech word robota -meaning work."

That pretty much says it all. In terms of the Internet, a typical bot visits Web sites and searches for information you request. But the bots don't visit all the sites on the Web every time you request a search! The wait would take forever! What most bots do is compile a list of Web sites and the information on them into a large database, and then index the database. When you request information, you're not using the bot yourself. You are only accessing the results of its work. Most Internet search sites use this technique.

Bots are also referred to as agents. In addition, bots are used for data mining, which refers to digging information out of databases using a series of refined searches.

The topic "Search and Discovery Services" provides a more detailed look at search services on the Internet.

Copyright (c) 2001 Tom Sheldon and Big Sur Multimedia.
All rights reserved under Pan American and International copyright conventions.