Powerset Launches as Wikipedia Tool - Better With People?
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While I liked Powerset's results, I didn't see this as that much of an improvement over what I'd find in Wikipedia itself. But I've read several reviews of the technology, which led me to believe it might do better with people. In a fit of whimsy, I asked a celebrity-related question. Powerset could be the next great gossip columnist:
But what if I'm not exactly sure of what I'm looking for? Or what if I'm doing general research and want to discover what's out there for certain important figures? Danny Sullivan wrote an excellent article that compares what could be found at the three major search engines and Powerset for Henry VIII. I have to see what Powerset can do with Abraham Lincoln. Here's the screen shot:
The main listing shows the president, but there are tabs that lead to a film, book, and Pullman car by that name. Next to the beginning of the Wikipedia article is structured information from the Freebase database. Below that you can find Factz from Wikipedia. These are items that show that Powerset's technology understood, on some level, that Abraham Lincoln did certain things: he took office, won elections, made speeches, and so forth. You can click on the button labeled “more” to find out what else he did.
You can drill down for more information on any of these points, and you might be surprised as to where you're led. As a technical note, Powerset uses AJAX to smooth out the drill-down process. Here's an example:
Well, I wouldn't have expected the phrase “Abraham Lincoln wrote decision” to lead me to a “Saving Private Ryan” reference. Danny Sullivan did somewhat better when he researched Henry VIII with Powerset. He found that Henry VIII built Pendennis Castle, which is mentioned in an article on Falmouth, Cornwall – but not in the main Henry VIII page. To be fair, though, the “Saving Private Ryan” reference also wasn't in the main body of the Abraham Lincoln article – and since I didn't watch the movie, I now know something about it I didn't know before.
Next: Where Powerset Fits >>
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