Wikia Search

Infobox Website
name = Wikia Search



caption = The Wikia Search homepage in Firefox
url = [http://search.wikia.com search.wikia.com]
commercial = yes
type = Search Engine
language = English and multiple translations
registration = optional
owner = Wikia Inc.
author = Jimmy Wales
launch date = January 7, 2008
current status = active

Wikia Search is a free and open-source Web search engine and a part of Wikia (originally Wikicities) operated by Wikia, Inc., a for-profit company founded in late 2004 by Jimmy Wales and Angela Beesley.cite web | url = http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.03/wiki.html?pg=4 | title = The Book Stops Here | publisher = Wired News | accessdate = 2007-08-01 | date = 2005-03-13] The "public alpha" was launched on January 7, 2008. [ [http://alpha.search.wikia.com/ The "public alpha" of Wikia search project] ] This roll-out version of the search interface was widely criticized by reviewers in mainstream media. [cite web | url=http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2008/01/07/search_wikia/ |title=Wikipedia founder's search engine gets bad reviews |accessdate=2008-01-07| last= |first= |date=2008-01-07 |work= |publisher=] [cite web | url=http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2008/tc2008017_308710.htm |title=Critics Wallop Wikia |accessdate=2008-01-10| last= |first= |date=2008-01-08 |work= |publisher=Business Week]

On June 3, 2008, an upgraded version of Wikia Search was released with additional features such as improved screen display and facilities for users to rate, edit and enhance the search results. In particular, it offered users the possibility of adding pertinent URLs to the results displayed and deleting any misleading results with immediate effect. [ [http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/109092 Wikia Search opens its doors, Heise Online] , 6 June 2008.] The improvements were widely welcomed by a number of former critics. [ [http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9093278 Second Wikia Search version gets backing from former critics, Computer World, 4 June 2008] ]

By August 2008, Wikia Search held a 0.000079% share of the search market in the U.S., compared with Google's 70.77%. [ [http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/081908-wikia-search-cuil-trailing-google.html Wikia Search, Cuil trailing Google by a long shot] , Network World, 2008-08-19] Google is also conducting experiments with page ranking based on user feedback, but Jimmy Wales responded that Google's random tests and a closed algorithm are different from the open community-oriented, so called "crowdsourcing", attempts of Wikia Search. [cite news |first=Clint |last=Boulton |url=http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/Google-Search-Ranking-Feature-Threatens-Wikia-Search/ |title=Google Search Ranking Feature Threatens Wikia Search |work=eWeek |publisher=Ziff Davis Media |date=2008-08-28 |accessdate=2008-09-07]

The search engine

Features

The search engine's result pages currently provide access to three major components:

* a web search engine,
* a social network service and
* a wiki, which hosts so-called mini-articles

Mini-articles

A prominent feature of the search engine are the human-written mini articles.Mini articles are short articles about the topics given by their title.They are currently hosted by a Wikia wiki.

Whenever a search query is issued, the results page looks in the wiki for a mini article with a name that matches the search query. If a matching article is found, its first two lines are displayed in a box above the search results. If no matching article exists, the search user is given the opportunity to write a new one.

ocial network

The user interface is tied in with a social network application, called [http://svn.swlabs.org/foowi/ foowi] .Users can create an account for the application and fill in a profile.The system currently links the wiki login to the social network login. Profile functions include "Status", "Basic profile", "White board", "Albums", "Friends", "Personal" and "Work".

Web search engine

The web search engine consists of the following components:

* Crawler(s) (Grub),
* Indices, the search engine proper (three selectable indices, by default an index that uses Nutch)
* and browser based results presentation (written in Javascript).

The results presentation uses XML-formatted requests to query the index. The XML format used is called [http://search.wikia.com/wiki/Tech/Open_Index Open Index] and can be used to query indices other than the one at Internet Systems Consortium (ISC) .The results presentation includes an option to select a different index to be used (out of three).

Organization

The servers that implement [http://not-quite-ready-yet.index.swlabs.org/ the web search engine's default index] are owned and operated by the ISCcite web|last=Jonas|first=Trevor|url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/google/20080107005632/en|title=Wikia, Jimmy Wales Unveil First Public Alpha of Open Source Search Project|publisher=BusinessWire.com|date=January 07, 2008|accessdate=2008-05-10] .Although the index servers were donated to ISC, the index server's domain name still remains the one of the Wikia Search software labs, [http://swlabs.org/ swlabs.org] The Javascript [http://re.search.wikia.com/search-a3.js code that fetches search results from the index server] directly refers to the [http://not-quite-ready-yet.index.swlabs.org/ current index servers] .] . The search engine's [http://alpha.search.wikia.com/ main page] and [http://re.search.wikia.com/search#foobar result pages] themselves are served by Wikia (note that the result pages' content is retrieved from the index server at swlabs.org, not from wikia.com).

The social network, like the results presentation, is hosted by Wikia [http://search1.wikia.nocookie.net/] .

[http://search.wikia.com/wiki/Search_Wikia Search Wikia] , the wiki currently hosting the mini articles, is hosted by Wikia. The wiki's content is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) [http://search.wikia.com/wiki/search:Copyrights The copyrights page of Search Wikia] ] . Although formally owned by Wikia, Wikia's management have stated that they want the wiki's user community to govern the wikicite mailing list
last=Beesley
first=Angela
authorlink=Angela Beesley
title=Re: Mandate
mailinglist=searchwiki
date=2008-02-04
url=http://lists.wikia.com/pipermail/searchwiki/2008-February/000101.html
accessdate=2008-05-12 ] , as is custom with Wikia wikis in general.

History

On December 23, 2006, Wales made a passing comment regarding the possibility of a wiki-based internet search.cite web|last=Doran|first=James|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-2517026,00.html|title=Founder of Wikipedia plans search engine to rival Google|publisher=The Times|date=December 23, 2006|accessdate=2007-01-06] The result was extensive media coverage in multiple languages, in outlets like "The Guardian", the "Sydney Morning Herald", and online editions of "Forbes" and "Business Week" publishing the statement as an announcement, forcing the company to re-brand and relaunch its previous search engine proposal under the temporary name of "Search Wikia". [ [http://search.wikia.com/wiki/search:About About search] ]

In a later interview, Wales attempted to clarify several issues. He said that funding received from Amazon.com was not specific to the search project and also restated that Wikia and Wikipedia have separate management, even though they shared three key stakeholders. When asked whether the project was "formally announced", he said it was partly planned and partly a response to news coverage. [cite web|url=http://searchengineland.com/061229-193718.php|title=Q&A With Jimmy Wales On Search Wikia|publisher=Search Engine Land|date=2006-12-29|accessdate=2007-01-06]

On 31 January 2007, at a talk given at New York University, Wales announced that Wikia plans to build a search engine rivaling those of Google and Yahoo based on the kind of collaborative cooperation which has been so successful in developing Wikipedia, arguing that "search should be open, transparent, participatory, and democratic." [ [http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197003494 Wales: Search Wikia Will Succeed Where Google Cannot] , InformationWeek, 5 February 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2007.] He later suggested this new approach could account for five percent of the search market. [ [http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUST34811320070308 Wikipedia founder says to challenge Google, Yahoo] , Reuters, 8 March 2007. Retrieved 9 March 2007.]

On March 10, 2007, Gil Penchina, chief executive officer of Wikia, stated in an interview that the goal for the project is to get five percent of the search market and that a release date for services was not scheduled. "We're really trying to build a movement to make search free and open and transparent," Penchina said. "We have some servers up and people are hacking away." The free and open-source approach of utilizing programmers and users around the world is different from that used by major search providers such as Google and Yahoo, who keep most of their code secret, and could provide a search engine that lets users edit and fine tune its results. [Jonathan Thaw, [http://www.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_5406665 Wikia plans editable Web search engine] Dead link|date=October 2007, "Bloomberg News", March 10, 2007]

On December 24, 2007, Wales announced that Wikia Search had entered "private pre-alpha" [cite web |url=http://lists.wikia.com/pipermail/search-l/2007-December/000845.html |title=private pre-alpha invites available |accessdate=2007-12-24 |last=Wales |first=Jimmy |date=2007-12-24 |work= |publisher=] [cite news |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/24/AR2007122401567.html |title=Wikia Search Project to Launch Jan. 7, Wales says |accessdate=2007-12-24 |date=2007-12-24 |publisher=The Washington Post] .

References

;News reports
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/technology/01wales.html "Something Wiki Is Coming to the Web Search Market"] , "The New York Times.com", January 1, 2007 — about "Wikiasari", an upcoming search engine
*Leap of Faith: Wikia's new search engine relies on the human touch to outsmart Google. Does it stand a chance? Martin Miller, Los Angeles Times Magazine, March 2, 2008, pp. 36–40.
*Evans, W. [http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/nbReader.asp?ArticleId=40606 "We Find it All: Wikia's New Social Search Engine"] , Information Today, Inc., January 8, 2008.