If dolks are uncomfortable with the commercial nature of Google and SphinxSearch works as well or nearly as well, I vote for the SphinxSearch options as well as long as it truly is easy. Google is my home page and I consider it an "old friend" and am sometimes reluctant to try new things, but I definitely think that we need something to help us easily navigate wikieducator...all the more so as it grows. J.
Alison Snieckus <[email protected]>
Sent by: [email protected]
03/06/2010 03:22 PMPlease respond [email protected]
To [email protected]
cc
bcc Joyce McKnight/SUNY
Subject Re: [WikiEducator] Improving our our search capability -- WE need your advice
I've been pondering this request for community input re: including the Google Custom Search Service on WikiEducator.
I agree with Joyce, "...commitment to ease of use for on-the-ground educators" should be a driving force in this decision. Yes, absolutely. We need a search facility that 1) feels comfortable for less tech-savvy users and 2) generates useful results.
Adding the Google search box seems an obvious choice, and as Wayne and others noted appears to meet our requirements for a non-core functionality, but I have to say, I don't feel comfortable with adding it (for reasons I can't seem to put into words), even noting that I installed the custom google search (available for installation and use to members when they are logged in) awhile back when the instructions for how to do so were posted on this list. But that was my personal choice; I wasn't choosing...and recommending...a search engine for everyone.
Thanks Joshua for suggesting the SphinxSearch MediaWiki Extension. I do recognize the limitations of the mediawiki search capability and don't think "do nothing" is a reasonable option, even in the nearterm (I can still remember my first few days trying to find my way around WikiEducator, not knowing the limitations of the search functionality).
I tried Sphinx on the example site. Seems very easy and comfortable. I'm interested to learn how it decides the ranking of results. SphinxSearch gets my vote, at least knowing what we know now.
Lastly, I just want to reiterate Kirby's mention that search is only one way to find what you are looking for: "Having another human show me around, based on first hand experience, is often more satisfying than running a search engine (not that it's either/or)." WE do need more of this....portals, categories, navigators, handbooks. I'm hopeful that these "expert" created collections will grow in number and complexity as the depth and breadth of the content to be organized expands.
Thanks, Wayne, for promoting community decision-making.
Alison
http://wikieducator.org/User:ASnieckus
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