Jimmy Wales, founder of online encyclopedia Wikipedia, is planning to build an online commercial search engine that would compete with Google and Yahoo.
Information Week reported that the search engine, code-named Wikiasari, would combine open source technology and human intervention to deliver more relevant results, "Human intelligence is still the best thing we have, so let's let humans do what they do best, and computers do what they do best commented Wales. "Wikiasari combines the Hawaiian word for quick, "wiki," with the Japanese word "asari," which means "rummaging search."
At a time when a recent survey has suggested that more than 60% of Scots regularly surf or 'Wilf' (which stands for 'What was I looking for?') perhaps this is just what is needed. The internet is becoming increasingly big business, with online publishing and more to the point advertising (take YouTube as an example) being taken seriously this venture is not surprise.
However - as those of you on the bleeding edge of technologoy will be aware - all the major search engines are introducing elements of "social" or interactive web searches into their offerings as part of a move towards "web 2.0". Take, for example the advent of social bookmarking, RSS tagging and customised micro-search engines as a few examples. You can try a few "social bookmarks" by clicking on the link below and play your part in the web:
