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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Hello, I am notoriously bad at lurking, these days. So I
apologise if I am repeating something old, or speaking at odds with the general
direction.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I am speaking as a ‘search’ visionary, not a
computer expert. I see ‘search’ as being more powerful than the old
concept of ‘library’. I have hopes for what will someday be
available, and that is why I tried to make contact as soon as I heard of Wiki
Search.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Two or three major points, which I hope intersect with this
venture in some way:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Configurable ranking algorithms. I imagine that there must
be more or less complicated ranking algorithms that ‘weight’
various factors such as ‘type A spam’, ‘type B spam’, ‘authoritativeness
among other non-spam pages’, ‘commercial content’, ‘specificity’,
etc. etc. I would like to see some user choice in
making those weightings. In other words, if a ranking could be simplified as
100 weighting factors, let a user fiddle with those factors. Several ‘standard’
weighting assignments would always be available, but the user would have the
opportunity to ‘interpolate between weighting vectors’ or even ‘create
a weighting vector from scratch’. Weighting vectors could be widely
shared. Probably some committed souls would do their best to create a ‘weighting
vector closely matching google performance’. This kind of ‘open weighting
source’ freedom would eliminate the current one-weighting tyranny of
google and others.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Commercial taint: On one hand, commerce is immensely
powerful, and can fund useful things. On the other hand, it can diminish free
and fair access. Even though I have always heard that Google does not accept
pay for rank, my sense is that somehow, a large commercial venture can achieve
high rank SOMEHOW. (By linking to its own websites, by continual SEO.) Isn’t
it true that Google has the possibility of political influence, for example
simply not ranking a large category of pages if they don’t match the
prevailing trends?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I have two thoughts:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>1. The first is that with an ‘open source weighting
system’, any company (Ford?) or consortium (Better Business Bureau) can
provide a search gateway with their own weighting system. If they have a way of
providing extra value while pushing their own members, such an initiative can freely
try to attract users.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>2. The second is a ‘government responsibility’
idea that may not go down well with all. Just as the Library of Congress
evolved into a nationally supported gateway to information, I have this feeling
that LC should also be supporting and promoting a NEUTRAL CONFIGURABLE search
engine such as Wiki Search. Of course this could only work if it is not run by
ideologues. Maybe it should be an international effort? I think open access to
information via search is the library of tomorrow. We don’t want a Coca
Cola TM library, in many cases we want a Community Library.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Talk first, think later. Now I will take a look at the alpha
site. Thanks for your patience.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Jim Papadopoulos<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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