j’s blog

Wikipedia Plus Dynamic Search Term Suggestions = WikiWax

Wikipedia Plus Dynamic Search Term Suggestions = WikiWax

Surfwax has just launched its LookAhead search term suggestion technology combined with Wikipedia into a new site calledWikiWax. Over 600,000 Wikipedia index terms are listed with more than 2,000,000 LookAhead rotations available. Remember, you’ll see LookAhead offering suggested entries prior to clicking the search button.

What’s a term rotation?

LookAhead automatically rotates Wikipedia index terms, so you can find Abraham Lincoln under both Abraham Lincoln and Lincoln, Abraham. LookAhead automatically inserts a comma after the first word on topics that are rotated, e.g., Abraham, Lincoln.

Another example. A term rotation could also help find the entry for the Boston Tea Party. Of course, it would be found if the searcher enters Boston Tea Party. However, term rotation will also point out the entry if the searcher begins their search by first typing the words “tea party.”

By the way, after clicking the search button, you’re taken directly to the article on the Wikipedia.org site.

Also, should you find LookAhead oddly familiar to Google Suggest, be aware that Surfwas was actually offering this technology months before Google Suggest, combined with with their news search engine. I blogged about LookAhead and something similar from AOL in this January post.

Posted by Gary Price on Mar. 21, 2005

Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.

Nextaris Overview and Learning Center
Purpose of Nextaris [Top]
In simple terms the purpose of Nextaris is to save you time, make your online life easier, and open new vistas for your use of information on the Internet. In other words, to take you beyond search — to function as your personal Internet information toolkit — to help you search the Web, save what you find, share what you find, create journals (blogs), comment on what you find and have saved, and to optionally publish the information you have gathered — a one-stop process; seamless, simple — taking you to the "other side of search".

Studies show that over 80% of Internet users rely on search to find information. Most use major search engines such as Google, while more sophisticated users rely on specialized engines for searching specific content such as blogs, news, and databases. As a result, the major search engines (Google, MSN, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves) are moving to incorporate additional features such as personalization and localization into their search capabilities. But these major engines have yet to address what users actually do with search results.

Enter Nextaris — achieving the next level (terrace) in efficient use of information on the Internet.