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Wikipedia a la Cubana

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EcuRed

Here’s another wiki that has made the news in the recent days. While WikiLeaks has definitely garnered a large following around the world, there are other wiki sites that are worth talking about as well. Just the other night, my friends and I were talking about Cuba – the way of life there, tourism, etc. I didn’t think I would be writing about a Wikipedia-style web site focusing on this Caribbean island.

The web site is called EcuRed, and can be accessed at http://www.ecured.cu/.

It is basically an online encyclopedia which aims to “spread knowledge from a decolonizing, objective, and truthful point of view.” Unsurprisingly, the site received a massive amount of traffic, and due to this, it went down earlier this week. It’s been up since then, though, and visitors can read the articles – all 19,752 of them.

The whole site is in Spanish and is dependent on a government-run network. There are about 600 computer centers involved in the project as well as more than 1000 content developers. I do not speak or read Spanish, but thanks to Google Chrome’s translation feature, I was able to browse the web site.

If you are Cuban or have a love for this Caribbean isle, here are things you ought to know before joining the wiki fray:

  • Écuras is optimized for best viewing in the browser Mozilla Firefox , you can download by clicking here . We also put at your disposal a spell checker that integrates with Firefox to verify your spelling, install it by clicking here .
  • If you have connectivity problems downloading the offline editor .
  • It is imperative that before you begin, read What is Écuras .
  • Learn to appoint either an article with the title Conventions .
  • You can ask questions and provide knowledge on the corner of the FAQ .
  • There are models of articles that offer guidance on the structure of a particular item.
  • Look at this list of recommended templates .

That list was translated automatically so there might be some grammatical inconsistencies, but you get the picture.  What’s important, I think, is that it is a huge step towards Cuba’s opening up to the world.  Something to be excited about, don’t you think?

Slash the Web with Blekko, the New Search Engine

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Contrary to what some people think, there is a search engine world outside of Google. And, on the first of November, another contender has joined the fray: Blekko.

The newest search engine on the block has been described as the offspring of an imaginary union between Google and Wikipedia. There is no such union (at this point), but Blekko exists in beta version, and it seems to hold a lot of promise.

The idea behind Blekko is that users are given the responsibility of tagging web pages (through the use of slashtags) that are indexed by the search engine. According to the founders, this makes the search engine results more relevant as humans weed out the unnecessary or irrelevant results which computer algorithms come up with. Other advantages that Blekko offers:

  • Designed to weed out spam
  • Does not include results from content farms
  • Will offer better results as more and more pages are tagged by users

Of course, the search engine also has features similar to what Google has, such as the ability to apply filters to one’s searches.

Blekko did not come out of nowhere, even if this might be the first time you are hearing about it. It is the brainchild of Rich Skrenta, who has been working on the search engine since 2007. He is also known for being the driving force behind the Open Directory Project. Blekko has caught the attention of venture capitalists and has received $24 million in funding from various sources (e.g., U.S. Venture Partners, CMEA Capital, and Marc Andreessen of Netscape fame).

Watch the video below to find out more about Blekko from Skrenta himself.

blekko: how to slash the web from blekko on Vimeo.

That was a pretty convincing demo, although I am not sure if the average search engine user will take to slashtags. What do you think? Will Blekko be a serious player in the world of search engines?

Wikipedia Sports an Easier to Use and Edit Site Interface

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For a huge website with contents and edited by millions of people, it will definitely take a long time before a site overhaul is implemented. Such was the case for Wikipedia which just rolled out its new design and interface for its website – wikipedia.org. In fact, it took Wikipedia more than a year to redesign its site after a year of usability testing and consultation with everyday Wikipedia users. It was certainly a long and hard work, but if there’s one consolation that the folks at Wikipedia should have, it’s the fact that they’ve done a great job!

So, have you checked out Wikipedia? Did you notice the following enhancements:

  • Look and feel – Wikipedia now sports the “vector” theme which makes it easier to find the site’s essential functionality.
  • Navigation – Tabs at the top of each Wikipedia page clearly identifies whether you are reading or editing a page. A collapsible navigation was included on the left sidebar that you can use to hide items that you are not using.
  • Editing improvements – The editing toolbar is no easier to use. Formating pages is simpler and more intuitive. In addition, a table wizard was introduced to make it easier for you to create tables as well as a new find and replace feature that simplifies page editing.
  • Link wizard: An easy-to-use tool allows you to add links to other pages on Wikipedia, or to pages on external sites.
  • Search improvements – Improved search suggestions that easily gets you to the page you are looking for.
  • Pediapress book creator: – Use the Book Creator from selected Wikipedia articles. This will be saved as a PDF so that you can read it anytime, anywhere.
  • Updated Puzzle globe and wordmark – The Wikipedia globe and wordmark have been enhanced and improved.

    • There you go. What can you say about the new interface of Wikipedia. Will you using the site more now?

    Will Wikia Open Search Kick Off Search Wars?

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    Jimmy Wales has announced that the open source Search Project, Wikia will finally open to public in coming January. The announcement is a crossfire as Wikia seeks to eat out of Google’s pie while the search giant itself seeks to grab Wikipedia’s share of attention with its Knol project.

    The search front has hardly seen a big competition for several years. Google has been a clear leader followed by Yahoo, then Microsoft’s Live Search and then the plethora of other firms that take a nibble at the wide search market. Does Wikia have what it takes to dunk Google?

    To answer that we need to first take it look at what Wikia has to offer. Many sites have gone on to call it human powered search and social search while it is actually an open search engine. While Digg and other social bookmarking sites let users only rate the articles, with the proprietary algorithm taking care of actual rankings, Wikia’s algorithm is going to be up and available for users to tweak. And while Mahalo, Cha-Cha and other such people powered sites let people actually sort content for relevance, Wikia is still as much about the algorithm as any other computational search engine.

    Google has a lot riding on it in terms the investment made by marketers and publishers in Google’s AdSense service. In the search industry inertia of adoption is one big factor. Technology is not the only thing that matters. People don’t prefer to change habits.

    Wikia’s major premise is transparency of search algorithm. While this might seem a valid argument (since we use so much information delivered via search, it makes sense to know the exact calculations that went into assessing the relevance of the links), open algorithms are an open invitation to manipulation. It is the very fact that the Google algorithm is not open to manipulation that sustains search based marketing.

    Perhaps Google’s Knol project itself was played out to kill the major fuel to Wikia – Wikipedia. With the content already out there, Jimmy Wales’s focus may have been to capitalize on growing Wikia and Wikipedia in a web that moved out Google.

    Wikia’s arsenal includes Grub, the company that makes distributes web crawlers, another essential component of the open search engine.

    Rhetoric aside, Wikia is not expected to deliver immediate results. The search site will have to grow with its community and come to size. When it comes to search, there have been several great technologies but that alone seems insufficient to move users away from Google. While skeptics galore, it is going to be Wikia Vs Google (atleast round one) in 2008.

    Going Beyond Google

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    We all agree that Google is the single most important source of information these days. Sometimes, however, it could be a good idea to go beyond the websites that big G will show you for specific terms and search queries.

    There is an interesting article on CIO.com covering exactly this topic. The article is titled “Six Techniques to Get More from the Web than Google Will Tell You,” and it lists sources and tips that you can use to find specific information or to complement your researches. The six tips are:

    1. Use search engines and Wikipedia to find quality research sources
    2. Search blogs for specialized experts who sift through the Web for you
    3. Study business school websites
    4. Find statistical data on government sources
    5. Research trade groups and online publications for current topics and best practices
    6. Visit the library for more research sources and online data

    Now, you might ask yourself, isn’t Google supposed to find all the stuff on blogs, business school websites and governmental portals anyway? The answer is yes, but these websites will not necessarily appear in the first page of Google, and people rarely go beyond these initial results.

    That is why it might be a good idea to explore some of these sources directly.