Create Search Agent
The principle behind Boolean search is the foundation on which NewsMachine’s service is built. Below is a guide on how to create a MediaAgent
Create an agent
There are three different types of agents at NewsMachine. You can either create agents that monitor media sources, MediaAgent ™ or you can create agents that monitor specific websites, SiteAgent ™, or one that monitors specific social media SocialAgent.
This page describes the creation of a MediaAgent.
After logging in, go to Agents> Create MediaAgent .
You start by entering general information about your agent. Give the agent a descriptive name and click on if the agent is a personal agent (private) or if it is an agent to be shared with others in a working group (shared).
Select sources
Click on edit media list to select which sources you want the agent to look in. If you click for default, the agent will monitor all sources included in your subscription.
Choose keywords
Under the Agent’s search profile, there are the following three boxes. It is these three boxes that together create your search string.
Or-box: the words you enter in this box here automatically have the operator or between them. So you do not have to print words, but they are there anyway. If one or more of the words in this box appear in a document, it generates a hit. For each new keyword, take a new line.
Between the or-box and the and-box there is an invisible duck. And-box: the words in this box refine your search. All words in this box must be included in the document for it to be a hit. If you type (or followed by the keywords and end with), you state that one of the words in the document is enough for it to be a hit. Between the and-box and the note-box there is an invisible note.
Note box or Stopword box: This is the box where you enter the stop words, the words preceded by a note. You do not need to print the word note. If any of the words in this box are included in the document, no hit will be generated.
Search and save
When you have filled in all the information in the upper part of the Agent, you must confirm your information. You then have three options, Cancel, Search and Save or Save. If you select Cancel, the information will not be saved and if it is a new agent, it will not start working in that case. If you press Search & Save, you activate the agent and ask it to perform a historical search. A search is performed based on your search profile as far back as there is material. If you choose to press Save, you activate the agent, but it will not perform a search back in time, but will start searching from the moment of activation and forward in time.
Additional settings
In the Notes field, you can enter comments for your own memory. For example, what changes you make to the agent. If you share the agent with several users, it is extra important to note down the changes each one makes. What is written in this field does not affect the search.
The choice per recipient is relevant if you want all recipients to receive reports in different the standard formats that are pre-selected for them. This means that you can set the format in which everyone should receive their reports.
Alert period: Here you select how often you want your real-time alerts to be sent. You can select When it happens or the hits are delayed and collected for 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes before they are sent. For example, if you have selected When it Happens, you will receive the matches immediately, but this may involve many emails. Short delays can be very important sometimes, but 22 notifications containing the same information can be too much sometimes. This can happen when, for example, a news agency broadcasts an article. You can then instead ask the agent to wait a while and gather and group the meetings and send you several meetings in the same email, with, for example, a 30-minute delay.
Search scope: This menu corresponds to the scope function presented in the chapter NewsMachine’s search technology. The difference here is that the option you choose applies to the entire search profile and not just to a particular word. If you select the Title, the agent will thus only search in
the headings of the documents and after headings that match the search profile you have uploaded. The most common option is to select the Entire document. If you want, you can always choose to use scope in written form inside the keyword boxes in the way we explained in the section Boolean search technology.
Stock exchange lists: This function is for removing hits from stock exchange lists. For example, if a company is mentioned in a document with a high proportion of reported figures, you can in the menu if you choose exclude lists, choose that these hits are not picked up. Thus, if you choose to include lists, these hits will be included.
My Agents
Under Agents> My agents, you have an overview of all agents. Here you can see general information about them. You can see if an agent is active or inactive. If you choose to disable your agent, it will take a break
the search for matching documents. With a simple click, you can deactivate an agent or choose for it to become active again.
You can also see if an agent is public, personal, or shared. General agents are agents provided by NewsMachine’s editorial staff. You activate them by selecting subscribe. Once you have chosen this, you can change and make your own version of (personalize) these agents. Personal agents are agents you have set up for your own use. Shared agent can be of two types. Either it is an agent you share with others and you do not have administrator rights to, that is, you can see the results from
agent but has no right to make changes to it. Or you can have a shared agent where you are the one who has administrator rights and can change the agent while others share the results from the agent. Do not confuse this with getting reports, which we will explain in more detail later.