For my first foray into the early stages of the Semantic Web I checked out hakia.com(beta), the web's first meaning-based search engine. A link had been provided on my online class homepage and I figured that I could check it out and complete another blog entry. Both very meaningful exercises.
I wasn't sure what exactly to search for, though. There are instructions above the search box that say to enter a question, sentence, phrase, or keywords. How about a keyWORD? I tried to think of a keyword which has multiple meanings (to see how the search engine would respond). I chose the word, "mobile", as in mobile/able to move, mobile phone, and Mobile, Alabama. Now you're probably figuring out why I wrote "Semantic Skynet = Alabama Tourism?" as the title of this blog post. Every result on the first page had to do with Mobile, Alabama. Mobile weather. Mobile real estate. Mobile attractions, nightlife, shopping, restaurants, photographs, etc. It would have been cool if I had really wanted all this info about Mobile, Alabama and had only typed "mobile" into the search box. There were, at least, some ads for wireless phones and service.
I also perused a review of Hakia at Read/WriteWeb and he/they actually asked questions. I didn't. Maybe I should have. Many times, I simply want a definition of some unfamiliar word and whichever search engine I use normally brings up a definition from an online dictionary within the first few results.
So, I was pretty surprised after that first search (and overwhelmed by the deluge of info about Mobile, Alabama). I'll definitely go back and enter more semantic search-appropriate queries. Like say, the great existential questions of life: Hakia, why am I here?
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Greetings from hakia.com! Thanks for giving us a test drive and bringing a poor search result to our attention. hakia is still in development and your continuous feedback is very important for us. Drop me an email (emre@hakia.com) if you'd like to get access to more information at hakia Labs. Cheers,
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