Da Vinci Planet » Social Computing http://www.davinciplanet.com A blog on productivity tools, tips and hacks for Web professionals, including topics on search marketing (SEO and SEM), Web analytics and on-line trends Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:02:54 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Why an Open Source Search Algorithm is the Answer http://www.davinciplanet.com/why-an-open-source-search-algorithm-is-the-answer/ http://www.davinciplanet.com/why-an-open-source-search-algorithm-is-the-answer/#comments Tue, 08 Jan 2008 04:06:24 +0000 Da Vinci http://www.davinciplanet.com/why-an-open-source-search-algorithm-is-the-answer/ Google is known for their free services, open APIs and their “don’t be evil” motto. For most part they aren’t evil, but keeping their search algorithm a secret is just plain evil. Microsoft is known as a closed source software giant with a desktop OS monopoly. What makes Google any different when they have a proprietary search algorithm and they have a Web monopoly? Why don’t they open their search algorithm? The reasons are very similar to why Microsoft has kept their code closed and ironically Google too can become victim of the power of social computing and open source.

Wikia Search launched today and while there has been much criticism, their principals make total sense:

  • Transparency – Openness in how the systems and algorithms operate, both in the form of open source licenses and open content + APIs.
  • Community – Everyone is able to contribute in some way (as individuals or entire organizations), strong social and community focus.
  • Quality – Significantly improve the relevancy and accuracy of search results and the searching experience.
  • Privacy – Must be protected, do not store or transmit any identifying data.

    • Google gives “guidelines” on how to make Web sites more SEO friendly, but why not offer complete transparency to their algorithm? The first reaction is because the algorithm is very, very complex and that an open source algorithm could be abused by those that find loopholes. Well it is already being abused by Black Hat SEO practices and that is exactly why it should be socially driven and open source! It is the very reason why open source solutions like Linux and Apache are a success: Open and engaged communities have much more combined knowledge than closed communities can ever have – even more than the smart Google engineers. For now Google is riding the wave that Microsoft did in the nineties, but sooner or later they will come under pressure and will be faced with the decision to open up their algorithm or not.

    To me, the four principals of Internet search that Wikia Search has identified defines what Google means by “don’t be evil” and while their alpha release may be disappointing I applaud Wikia for doing this. Just like open source supporters have fought Microsoft, I believe the social computing community will be fighting Google some day. An ungrateful irony.

    ]]>     http://www.davinciplanet.com/why-an-open-source-search-algorithm-is-the-answer/feed/ 4     Web 2.0 Explained in Video http://www.davinciplanet.com/web-20-explained-in-video/ http://www.davinciplanet.com/web-20-explained-in-video/#comments Sat, 03 Mar 2007 16:20:15 +0000 Da Vinci http://www.davinciplanet.com/2007/03/03/web-20-explained-in-video/ A picture says a thousand words and so I guess a video says a thousand pictures This video plays with words and really does explain Web 2.0 faster than words or pictures can do alone. It’s a mini lecture on social computing: The evolution of the Web into Web 2.0 and how Web 2.0, the “Machine”, is us and how it is using us to grow. It demonstrates how user generated content, tagging, blogs, and wikis have revolutionized the Web and that we need to rethink how we do things. The video moves very fast, but it’s worth watching twice.

    ]]>     http://www.davinciplanet.com/web-20-explained-in-video/feed/ 0     The best social video sharing websites http://www.davinciplanet.com/the-best-social-video-sharing-websites/ http://www.davinciplanet.com/the-best-social-video-sharing-websites/#comments Mon, 27 Nov 2006 03:14:41 +0000 Da Vinci http://www.davinciplanet.com/2006/11/26/the-best-social-video-sharing-websites/ YouTube was hugely popular even before the Google announcement, however, the deal generated a ton of press and media coverage. YouTube and Metacafe attracts users through their AFV-style video clips, but, with the growth of broadband and the addictive audience that these social video sharing websites provide, it looks like Google is the catalyst for making on-line videos and movies mainstream. There still isn’t a standardized on-line video/movie format or protocol, but this type of momentum will certainly help – especially for publishers who are struggling to find a recipe that works. And while off-line publishers and media companies are trying to find a way to monetize on-line video, users are embracing free on-line services like YouTube, Metacafe and Brightcove. For now, the best thing to do is to use these services and learn from them. You can find an interesting comparison of YouTube, Google Video, Metacafe and Soapbox here.

    ]]>     http://www.davinciplanet.com/the-best-social-video-sharing-websites/feed/ 5     Wink social bookmarking that combines Digg and Google http://www.davinciplanet.com/wink-social-bookmarking-that-combines-digg-and-google/ http://www.davinciplanet.com/wink-social-bookmarking-that-combines-digg-and-google/#comments Fri, 29 Sep 2006 02:30:58 +0000 Da Vinci http://www.davinciplanet.com/2006/09/28/wink-social-bookmarking-that-combines-digg-and-google/ I quite accidently stumbled on the search engine/tagging site Wink tonight. Quite accidently because I was looking for an update on the freeware presentation creation software called Wink: DebugMode (more on that Wink in another post). Since social bookmarking, tagging, social networking, social computing and all other social whatever stuff has been the topic at work over the last week, the Wink search engine really caught my attention.

    Wink is a search engine that integrates tag results from multiple sources such as del.icio.us, Digg, Yahoo MyWeb (and we’re adding more). It gives you the freshest information on the web by serving up the most relevant tagged links for your search. We crawl and index tags from all over the web, and serve them up with web results, for a combination of freshness and accuracy. We also include other user-contributed content, such as answers from Wikipedia that you’ll find under the Wink Answers tag, which is added by people like you. We also provide Google search, because tag coverage is still thin in some areas, and while tag results are really interesting, we know what you want sometimes is best found on Google.

    Wink doesn’t seem to be publicized as much as most, yet it has substantial user base. So I decided to put it to the test by comparing Wink with Digg using a few search terms, e.g. “seo wordpress”. Digg by default sorts by recency, but even when sorting by most diggs Wink still had better results (i.t.o. quality of links). I liked it enough to create my own profile ;)

    Wink
    Wink Blog
    102 resources on Social Bookmarking Sites – listable.com
    55 Social Bookmarking Sites to Promote Your Blog Articles – webloghits.com

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