Launched in January in Alpha form Wikia Search, an opensource project, didn’t exactly set the browsing world on fire. The searchengine, however, did house some interesting but dormant features.
One of those was the ability to edit, annotate and re-ordersearch results. This feature has just been added to the site, opening up thepossibilities of an editable searching platform.
Now when you use Wikia Search you are given a choice to amendthe results. Next to your chosen result, a series of options pop up: Edit, Annotate, Spotlight, Comment, Delete.
Much like any wiki, this gives yousome control over what comes up and in what order when you search for things.
Paint it white
There is some measure of control within Wikia Search, inthat the search engine offers up white pages that can’t be altered. These pagesare monitored by volunteer editors. If you don’t agree with the chosen whitepages, though, you can vote to rid them of their immunity. This is said to keepspam and vandalism down.
The creators of Wikia Search have four organisationalprinciples: Transparency, Community, Privacy, and Quality.
A statement on thewebsite says: "Search currently lacks openness in how the systems andalgorithms operate, in the form of open source licenses as well as open contentand APIs. This must change."
With these new editable options, Wikia Search has taken onestep closer to honouring search transparency.
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05-06-2008
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