PHA-Exchange> World's poor to get own search engine

[claudio]

From: "Dieter Neuvians MD" <neuvians at mweb.co.za>
> World's poor to get own search engine
> -------------------------------------
>
> Source: BBC News - 15 July, 2003, 07:42 GMT 08:42 UK
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3065063.stm
>
> By Alfred Hermida
> BBC News Online technology editor
>
> People in poor countries could soon have a new and cheap way to get hold
of the
> wealth of information on the internet.
>
> The search engine is being developed at MIT labs in Boston. Researchers at
the
> Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are developing a search engine
de-
> signed for people with a slow net connection.
>
> Someone using the software would e-mail a query to a central server in
Boston.
> The program would search the net, choose the most suitable webpages,
compress
> them and e-mail the results a day later.
>
> "More and more we are creating an information divide in the world and this
can
> help narrow that divide and have a huge benefit in that sense," said
Professor
> Saman Amarasinghe of MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science in Boston.
>
> The thinking behind the TEK search engine is that people in poor countries
are
> short of money but have time on their hands, whereas people in the West
are
> cash-rich but time-poor.
>
> "The idea is that developing countries are willing to pay in time for
knowl-
> edge," explained Prof Amarasinghe.
>
> "In the West when we surf we want the information in the next two seconds.
We
> are not willing to wait."
>
> Filtered results
>
> The researchers say current web technology such as search engines is
focused on
> the needs of the West.
>
> By contrast, people in poor countries face problems such as the speed and
cost
> of an internet connection, let alone the huge amount of webpages thrown up
by
> search engines.
>
> "Let us assume you are in Malawi," explained Prof Amarasinghe, "and the
computer
> lab does not have access to the telephone line all the time."
>
> "If you want to find some new information about malaria, you are prompted
with a
> message that says 'we are going to send a query through e-mail, it is
OK?'.
>
> "At night, when the phone line is available, the teacher can dial out and
send
> the queries."
>
> The request is sent to computers at MIT in Boston, which then search the
inter-
> net and gather webpages.
>
> To avoid a glut of information, the software then filters the results and
> chooses the most relevant. These are then sent back to the computer in
Malawi so
> that they can be stored in the machine's internet cache.
>
> "Next morning the teacher can connect, download that e-mail and when the
stu-
> dents arrive, they can browse through those pages the way they would if
they had
> full internet connectivity," said Prof Amarasinghe.
>
> The program keeps a record of all the information sent to avoid wasting
band-
> width by re-sending the same webpages.
>
> CDs in libraries
>
> So far the program is in its early stages, with a small number of people
trying
> it out.
>
> But the researchers aim to have a beta version ready to be tested in the
next
> three to four months.
>
> Once they have sorted out any bugs, they intend to make it freely
available to
> anyone.
>
> However, the team realise the program is too big to download over a slow
and
> poor net connection.
>
> Instead they are thinking of sending CDs to libraries so that people can
borrow
> and install the software on their machines.
>
> They are also considering trying to persuade computer sellers in
developing
> countries to install the program on machines.
>
> --
> More information:
>
> "Searching the World Wide Web in Low-Connectivity Communities"
> Proceedings of The 11th International World Wide Web Conference
> Global Community Track, May, 2002.
> Adobe PDF file (20 pp. 350 kB):
> http://tek.sourceforge.net/papers/tek-www02.pdf
>
> To download a 'Alpha' Version of the software go to:
> http://tek.sourceforge.net/TEKdownload.html
>