OpenWebSearch.EU & OpenSearch
Gerben
Hi all, I just joined this list to for two reasons:
Firstly, to share a project possibly of interest to people here, that is the OpenWebSearch.EU project that was launched recently: “Over the next three years the researchers will develop the core of a European Open Web Index (OWI) as a basis for a new Internet Search in Europe.”
The idea of OpenWebSearch is to grow a modular ecosystem of crawlers, indexers, search algorithms and user interfaces; not a monolithic search engine. Perhaps the OpenSearch protocol could even play a role in this, e.g. to connect between user interfaces and search engines in this ecosystem.
Secondly, and more generally, I have been wondering if the
OpenSearch protocol could use more exposure. Especially with the
(domain) name opensearch.org having been repurposed for an
ElasticSearch fork, people looking for the OpenSearch protocol
might not find it as easily; and if they do, they might get the
impression it is an abandoned relic of the past — while to my
knowledge it is still the most relevant/only(?) protocol for
interoperable search engines.
Do any of you (and DeWitt most of all) have opinions on whether
the specification needs/deserves a website or other ‘home’ again,
perhaps with updated documentation, in order to promote its
continued use? Is there still interest in the OpenSearch protocol?
Kind regards,
— Gerben, NLnet (a partner in the OWS project)
