andUNITE Social Network for Information Seekers

March 10th, 2008 by Charles S. Knight
Posted in Alts, Newcomers, News | No Comments »

andUNITE turns search engines into meeting places. By using andUNITE you will be able to see immediately during your normal Internet search at Google, et al who else searched for the same search terms as you did – no extra steps needed!

In this way, other users can help you directly, or, if the search engine results are of no help to you, perhaps you can help others. andUNITE is a unique, award winning Web service where you can find people with similar interests based on search terms. You can sign up anonymously and you always have full control of the privacy of all of your search terms. andUNITE is already fun with only two people and you don’t have to fill in just another profile page since the profile is created automatically by collecting your search terms.

Add andUNITE to your browser search box or install the toolbar for the full functionality including the “social layer” on top of the search result pages and see how exciting it can be to share your search terms with friends or anybody.

What is andUNITE?

* andUNITE is the Social Network for information seekers

* On andUNITE you are able to:
1. see what your friends are searching for at this moment.
2. meet people who have the same or similar interest because of their search terms.
3. see who else is searching for a search term of you.
4. and so on …

*”You are what you search!” – this is the core idea behind andUNITE. The search terms that one looks for on Google and other search engines, help to describe you on andUNITE.

*andUNITE is the only Social Network without an “Ablaufdatum” (expiration date); it always automatically adjusts to the interests and activities of its users.

*Your profile is defined automatically while you surf the Internet, assuming that you use the andUNITE-Toolbar or andUNITE browser search box.

 

The Next Web-BlogSo, jetzt ist andUNITE also schon wieder auf einem englischsprachigen Blog gelandet. Auf dem Blog von “The Next Web” wird ausführlich über uns berichtet. Unter der Überschift “andUNITE.com uses search info to match people” wird auch einmal recht ausführlich auf die ganz frühe Startphase von andUNITE eingegangen. Und als Schlussfolgerung schreibt der Autor Ernst-Jan Pfauth: “I think andUNITE is a promising project. It’s not a coincidence that they won a first price at an entrepreneurship contest from the German Federal Ministry of economics and technology.”

andUNITE uses search information to match people

Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor of the NEXT web blog, continues on:

These days everybody is talking about the ‘open’ trend on the web. So do I, since it’s huge. Yet I also notice another trend: finding similar persons. It looks like people finally discovered that the web is an ideal medium to meet like-minded people. Last week I discussed matching service Lovest.at, today it’s all about a German service that turn search engines into meeting places: andUNITE.

Read Ernst-Jan’s entire article here. Then give andUNITE a try and leave a comment after this post.

Recommendation Search Engine Clueray

March 10th, 2008 by Charles S. Knight
Posted in Alts, Newcomers, Reviews | No Comments »


Clueray invites you to their beta project:

Welcome! The purpose of Clueray’s recommendation engine demo is to show how our patent-pending IntentMatch technology can take users beyond the limitations of keywords – beyond the large collections of mixed-intent, mixed-quality results delivered by conventional keyword-driven search – to focused, high quality results which meet a specific information need.

 

Figure 1. Who hasn’t slogged through page after page of mixed quality, mixed purpose results returned by keyword-based search? Clueray’s IntentMatch technology allows users to focus on those documents which meet a specific information need.

Clueray’s recommendation engine is easy to use – just enter your keywords like you would with any other search engine, hit the button, and you’re off! The “focus elements” below the search box will help you narrow down the result set to meet your specific information need.

Have fun, click around, and let us know what you think! You can contact us at feedback@clueray.com.

Also, make sure to come back often, because new features are being constantly added to the beta.

First Some Disclaimers (because we know you’re going to ask)

Yes, we know it’s currently kinda slow. Remember this is early beta – we’re looking for feedback on the content and interaction (expect it to change significantly over the next weeks and months) plus we’re building our index on the fly. This means we’re actually going out to retrieve each of the 20 (or whatever) documents and doing the analysis in real-time. For now, you should expect to see response times between 15 and 30 seconds for a brand new query, a few seconds (max) for a repeat query.

Yes, it can scale and will be (much) faster in the future. Really. The sum total of all our analyses currently takes a few hundred milliseconds on a single processor. The wait time you experience in the demo is almost entirely the network time required to retrieve the documents.

What it does:

In the first phase of our public beta, the user is able to focus the results based on the kind of document they are looking for, something we refer to as the document intent. Future versions will allow the user to add additional focus elements to more completely express their intent.

How it works:

Clueray analyzes each document and automatically identifies the “interesting” content on the page. Information (key features, specific content, etc) is extracted from the areas identified in the document and this is used to determine whether or not the document meets the specified information need and/or passes specifiec quality criteria. See our Technology Overview for a more detailed description of our unique technology.

What you’ll see:

Clueray’s results display highlights the ability of our IntentMatch technology to make sense out of large, unstructured collections of documents (like found on the web). It also highlights some of the analysis capabilities which are enabled by the kinds of things IntentMatch does. For example, the word cloud shown to the right of each search result (in the list view) shows the distribution of words in the “core content” area of the web page (eg. that part that isn’t the header, navigation bar or ads – the “interesting” stuff). It’s interesting to note that this word cloud doesn’t always correlate with the keywords chosen (because conventional search techniques don’t distinguish between “core” and “non-core” regions in a web page).

Of course we’ve also injected our opinions as to how we think a search interface should look (if you have opinions on this, we’d love to hear ‘em), flavored by our HCI mantra – there has to be a way for search to provide a heck of a lot more context before a user clicks on a link.

Finally, a sample results screen (using the default “List” view) is shown below. A sample results screen (using the default “List” view) is shown below. A description of the different results views can be found here.

 

Metasearch engine SortFix and search results

March 10th, 2008 by Charles S. Knight
Posted in Alts, Guest Authors, Reviews | No Comments »

SortFix is a metasearch engine that searches Google, Yahoo and dmoz. What sets it apart from other metasearch engines is the way it presents the search result. SortFix gives you a drag-and-drop interface which assists the user to describe a detailed and precise query.

I (Susanne Koch, co-editor of Pandia) talked to Yohay Barsky, SortFix’ CTO and co-founder based in Tel-Aviv, to get an inside view of search engine innovation: How did the SortFix team decide on features for their metasearch engine and what do they see as their contribution to web search?

Deciding on features for SortFix

Yohay Barsky: SortFix originated form a very basic question: How can we improve our search capabilities? We noticed that usually our queries don’t deliver the desired results, so we set out to find the best way to search.

We started monitoring our own search process and also examined the search strategies of a large group of volunteers. We discovered that our volunteers were divided roughly into two groups: Regular searchers and advanced searchers. The advanced searchers have a better finding rate. We wanted to design a search engine that could emulate the search strategies of these advanced searchers.

Pandia: Did you find the reason for the success of these advanced searchers?

Yohay Barsky: Yes. The better searchers type an initial query and then use these first results as a step towards improving the query. By examining the search results they start to get a feel for the topic and go on to upgrade their search query step by step.

However, there are some problems with this strategy: For one thing, it is practiced only by the advanced users. It can also be time consuming. Moreover even the better user rarely utilize the minus operator to remove unrelated subjects and other advanced operator (exact phrase, synonyms etc.).

Pandia: The Internet has been around for a while, but most searchers haven’t developed advanced search skills. How did you proceed to help them?

Yohay Barsky: We decided that a great search engine should provide an automated process imitating the search strategy of the advanced searchers. So we stared to develop a system that instantly scans the results for the user and extracts the most optimal terms (we call them “Power Words”) based on text mining algorithms.

But an efficient automated scanning is only part of the equation; The other part is the user’s individual needs; only the user can describe his precise needs. So, we also developed a novel SUI (Search User Interface).

SortFix’ search user interface features

The image below and the list of features show how SortFix proposes to help people search better and easier.

sortfix alternative search engine search interface

* Drag & drop function: The user can easily expand or restrict his search query by utilizing the “Power Words”.
* The “Boxes” methods is a very central concept at SortFix: It enables a clear overview on the current search query, quick and easy query upgrading and utilization of advanced operators.
* “Power Words” box: This feature enables an easy and full overview of the extracted related terms.
* “Add to Search” box: Drag terms here to add them to the search query.
* “Remove” box: Drag terms here to exclude them from the search results.
* “Dictionary” box: Searchers often start a new search with only little knowledge of the subject and unfamiliar with the related terms. Drag words to the “Dictionary” to get a definition instantly.
* Visual operators (”exact phrase”, “OR”, “synonyms”): Increase and simplify the usage of advanced operators (available to registered users only).
* “Standby” box: Sometimes users encounter terms that they may wish to explore later. The “Standby” box saves these terms for the user (available to registered users only).

Pandia: Do you have indications that this innovative search interface makes searching the Web easier?

Yohay Barsky: Yes. After extensive testing and developing (alpha and closed beta) we proved that the combination of efficient text mining and intuitive, easy and fun user interface enables any user to improve his search and to find previously unreachable information.

Pandia: What is SortFix’ contribution to web search?

Yohay Barsky: Basically, you can say that using SortFix is the same as moving from DOS to Windows. You no longer need to remember or type commands and you can drag and drop instead of typing.

Your productivity increases, but there is more to it: In recent years more and more users state that they suffer from “search fatigue”: They are unable to find the information they need or it just takes them to much time.

Search engines have tried to improve the relevancy of search results for more than a decade mainly by various ranking algorithms. However, most users only use queries of 2-3 words. This is often insufficient to describe their exact needs. Because of this, the ranking algorithms receive only a partial input from the users and do not have sufficient information to make an accurate comparison between the results.

Our methodology and user interface helps the user to describe his exact needs in detail and precise queries and provide the search engines’ ranking algorithms with a detailed and complete input.

View a SortFix video tutorial

Panelists Chosen for SES NYC Search Engine Panel

March 10th, 2008 by Charles S. Knight
Posted in Alts, News | No Comments »



My Search is Better Than Your Search


The entrepreneurs and those who dare to do things differently have shaped the web and search as we know it. Is innovation dead? We at Search Engine Strategies and AltSearchEngines don’t think so. Though most experts agree there will be no “Google Killer,” there will be several emerging technologies that will shape the way we search, find and retain content.

Speakers:

* Kevin Ryan, V.P., Global Content Director, Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch

* Charles Knight, Editor, ReadWriteWeb network blog, AltSearchEngines

Panelists:

Tom Wilde, CEO EveryZing

Vipin Jain, CEO retrevo

Steven Krein, CEO OrganizedWisdom

Michael Brown, CEO HealthPricer

Mark Cramer, CEO Surf Canyon

Details available at the SES New York site here.

Die Schlaue Suchmaschine für Verbraucher

March 10th, 2008 by Charles S. Knight
Posted in Global | No Comments »

Clewwa sucht die von Ihnen gewünschten Informationen innerhalb eines vorgegebenen Katalogs von Internetseiten. Dieser Katalog umfasst Seiten ausgewählter Behörden, Umwelt- und Verbraucherverbände, Universitäten und Forschungseinrichtungen, Unternehmen, etc.

Clewwa nutzt nur Internetseiten, die sich mit relevanten Informationen zu den Themen Lebensmittel, Kosmetik, Textilien, Tabak, Bedarfsgegenstände, Futtermittel, Pflanzenschutz, Tiergesundheit, Umwelt und Gentechnik auseinander setzen. Dabei werden die Internetseiten wichtiger Akteure in den jeweiligen Themengebieten berücksichtigt, ohne Ansehen der vertretenen Positionen.

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