Yahoo makes the World’s metadata available through BOSS

I’m thrilled to spread the news further that we have just made available all public metadata (microformats, eRDF and RDFa data) that we crawl through the BOSS API. See the official announcement and commentaries throughout the Web.

This means essentially opening up all public data available to SearchMonkey applications, and thus making it possible for anyone to experiment with various forms of semantic search that go well beyond changing the way abstracts look. Consider for example the microsearch prototype I blogged about a few months ago, which showed rich abstracts, plus temporal and geographic visualizations based on metadata. You can now build something like microsearch in a matter of hours, and in a highly scalable fashion. Last, but not least, the terms of the BOSS API allows you to monetize your search engine in any way you want.

So if you think you can build a better search engine through semantics, this is a great time to start! All we ask is to give us feedback on what you do, minimally by tagging your experiment with the tag ‘bossmashup’.

SearchMonkey goes to the iPhone

A little bit of Semantic Web in your pocket… read the unofficial-official announcement and admire the screenshots!

Short article on Semantic Search

I’ve written a short article on Semantic Search for the Semantic Web zone of DevX.com, a developer’s site run by Jupiter Online Media, the folks behind semanticweb.com.

I begin with some argumentation as to why we need semantics in search. I talk about what I see as an interesting complementarity between recent advances in automated semantic tagging of natural text and other approaches to bringing metadata to the Web (such as exposing databases and APIs as RDF). Lastly, I went into a bit of detail as to how Yahoo’s SearchMonkey has been benefiting from Semantic Web technology in what we’ve been doing up to now, and the ways in which the widening adoption of semantic technology is driving us towards simplification.

Enjoy!

p.s. Also on DevX: an introduction to OpenCalais and SearchMonkey by James Leigh.

SearchMonkey and SemTech

If you are arriving to SemTech early this year or you happen to live in the Bay Area, come by the Yahoo! campus for the SearchMonkey launch party on May 15 (Thursday): you will have a chance to learn about the Monkey, talk to developers and product managers, and enjoy some free food. Be there or be a… banana.

I’ll be there in my semi-official position as Data Architect for SearchMonkey, and you will also be able to catch me at SemTech, where I’ll be both presenting under the title Making the Web Searchable and participating in a panel on Giving Web Search a Face-lift.

Looking forward to seeing many of my friends there!