From the Editor: Searching the (Recent) Cruiser Past
By Larry Lempert
On occasion, a reader asks me, as Cruiser editor, when a particular article appeared that this reader wants to surface but whose publication date he or she can pin down only vaguely in memory—"Oh, maybe a couple years ago." Unfortunately, your editor's memory likely is even more vague than yours. Knowing this, I've long wished—as I'm sure hordes of readers do—that the Cruiser had an article index.
Well, it doesn't, and given the intense hands-on labor this would require, it ain't gonna (unless some enterprising, computer-savvy CCAer can figure out a way to do it programmatically). But responding to these occasional inquiries, I've been surprised by how effective a simple Google search can be. Since January 2021, all Cruiser articles upon publication are posted on the CCA website, https://canoecruisers.org. Google does index the website, a lo and behold, a searched-for Cruiser article often pops right up.
A website reminder, before even going down this road: if you do have a pretty good idea when an article of interest was published, an effective avenue is to look in the website Document archive. You have to be logged in to get to this archive. From the green navigation pane on the left, go to Members Only > Documents > Newsletters. You can view full PDFs of issues going way, way back. And since 2021, each begins with a full table of contents, an added finding aid beyond just searching the PDF. Let's say you want to find coverage of the 2023 Potomac Downriver Race, and you know the race takes place annually in May. It's a dead-on bet that the coverage will be in the May-June 2023 issue (a better guess than March-April or July-August).
Most inquirers, though, can't place a possible publication date precisely enough to find it in the Documents archive without a lot of trial and error. So, on to Google. All it takes is a likely key word or phrase, best limited via Google syntax to the CCA website. The dreary winter weather, for example, has me thinking about paddling in luxuriously warm climes, and I remember reading about CCAers taking a trip to Mexico. I enter a Google search that consists of no more than this: site:canoecruisers.org Mexico. "CCA in Mexico"—the compelling trip report by Mark Brenneman in the January-February 2023 Cruiser, with enticing photos, is Google hit #1.
The obvious constraint is that you have to come up with a word or phrase that really encapsulates the article. The method works especially well for articles focused sharply on an individual—for example, the In Memoriam/remembrance articles about members that, sadly, the Cruiser runs more and more often these days. The site identifier and the person's name typically are quite enough. This works too for profiles of members who are alive and well; site:canoecruisers.org Sandrine Deglin downriver race easily returns as the #1 hit the Cruiser Q&A with Sandrine, "Getting to Know You: Downriver Race Winner Sandrine Deglin," July-August 2021.
The encapsulating term doesn't have to be an obvious name or place. The #1 hit for site:canoecruiers.org attainment returns Gus Anderson's interesting thoughts on the virtues of upstream paddling, "Attaining Satisfaction in the Time of COVID," January-February 2021.
The method comes with no guarantees, but it's a lot better than nothing. Note well, though, that it only works for content starting in January 2021. Give it a try!
I referred above to coming up with a "key word." This does not tie in at present to the more technical web device "keyword," which refers to a term embedded behind the HTML curtain by an author or editor. In theory such keywords give enhanced weight in searching. Adding this kind of tagging is something that I'm looking into going forward, which if done might improve Google searching even more.