Screen2.0

feature // 2008.05.29 08:01:01 [hh]

"Powerset": semantische Suche für "Wikipedia" & Co

Mit "Powerset" soll nach dem Willen der Schöpfer die semantische Suche mit natürlichsprachigen Fragen (derzeit nur in englisch) Einzug in die Web-Suche (derzeit nur in "Wikipedia" und "Freebase") halten, mit hoffentlich relevanteren Suchergebnissen als bei "Google" und Co. Screen2.0 schaute sich die Public Beta an.

Daß das Projekt immer noch in Beta ist, das sieht man nicht nur am Umfang der durchsuchten Inhalte. Während einige Anfragen wie etwa "When did John Lee Hooker die?" sehr präzise Antworten produzieren, sind andere genau so gut oder schlecht wie in "Google".

Das in San Francisco ansässige gleichnamige Unternehmen Powerset, ist Venture Capital finanziert und bereits seit 2005 an der Entwicklung der Engine.

Das Mission Statement des Unternehmens:

"Powerset’s goal is to change the way people interact with technology by enabling computers to understand our language. While this is a difficult challenge, we believe that now is the right time to begin the journey. Powerset is first applying its natural language processing to search, aiming to improve the way we find information by unlocking the meaning encoded in ordinary human language.

Powerset’s first product is a search and discovery experience for Wikipedia, launched in May 2008. Powerset’s technology improves the entire search process. In the search box, you can express yourself in keywords, phrases, or simple questions. On the search results page, Powerset gives more accurate results, often answering questions directly, and aggregates information from across multiple articles. Finally, Powerset’s technology follows you into enhanced Wikipedia articles, giving you a better way to quickly digest and navigate content.

A San Francisco-based company, Powerset was founded in 2005 and is funded by Foundation Capital, Founders Fund, Paperboy Ventures, and a number of angel investors."

Fragen und Antworten

Why is Powerset search limited to Wikipedia?
Wikipedia is a primary destination for millions of people worldwide who want to find high-quality, detailed information on a wide array of topics. By initially focusing on the Wikipedia collection, Powerset showcases how our technology not only improves search results, but provides new ways to aggregate, summarize and navigate information. Of course Wikipedia is only a starting point. In the coming months, Powerset will expand our product offerings with additional premium content and exciting new features.

What is Freebase?
In addition to Wikipedia, Powerset provides instant answers and dossiers from Freebase, an open, community developed database of the world’s information provided by Metaweb.

What does the name “Powerset” mean?
In mathematics, the powerset of a set S, usually written P(S), is the set of all possible subsets of S. You can read more on the powerset page.

What are Factz?
Factz are concise representations of information extracted from sentences. They are represented in three parts: the subject, relation and object (e.g. Oswald shot JFK). Factz are one way that Powerset represents the meaning of a sentence. Of course, Factz do not always represent truth, but rather propositions that are asserted in the text of Wikipedia.
On the search results page, you will often see Factz for general topic queries. These Factz are collected from pages across Wikipedia. Click a word in one of the three columns to see the sentences that support the selected fact.
On a particular topic page, you can see the Factz extracted from the given page in the outline. Click on one to scroll directly to the sentence from which the fact was derived.

What browsers does Powerset support?
For the best experience, Powerset recommends using Firefox 2, Safari 3, or Internet Explorer 7. Some functionality may not be available in Safari 2, IE6 and Opera.

Weitere Informationen: www.powerset.com

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