Real-Time Encyclopedia
Posted by: Rebecca Vnuk
Last month, a new free discovery engine called Mashpedia was launched. Mashpedia provides real-time results for specific queries, aggregating content from multiple Web feeds (Wikipedia, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, and more) to create article pages. Content is ranked with the most recent appearing first. Additional information and links can be added using Facebook’s Connect.
On its site, Mashpedia explains that it is not a search engine:
Mashpedia provides articles for specific topics such as concepts, subjects, personalities, events, places, companies, products, etc., but not for more broader, unspecific searches.
Since it has no archives of its own, Mashpedia is not “the old-fashioned type of encyclopedia.” It provides a current snapshot, “not one taken a year ago, or when an editor last cared to check.” Take that, traditional encyclopedias.
Of course, unlike traditional encyclopedias, Mashpedia operates without the benefit of an editorial hand, so all the usual caveats about using information found on the Web still apply. It is interesting, though, to see so much different content pulled together on one page. If you use fee-based online encyclopedias you’re accustomed to finding links to newspaper articles, images,videos, and Web sites, but not in real time. And on Mashpedia, you also get what’s showing up on blogs, Twitter, and Digg. Mashpedia might be especially useful as a one-stop shopping source for content on breaking stories. Today, for example, there are links on the home page for the crash of Polish Air Force Tu-154, the political protests in Thailand, and the just-concluded Masters Tournament, and these article pages are constantly refreshed.
(A word to Mashpedia, from an old-fashioned type: it would inspire more confidence if all the spelling errors on your About and FAQ pages were cleaned up.)
April 12th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
This is very interesting. I tested it out with a few topics — and it either did very well or very poorly, depending on how I worded my question. In general, it did provide information on the subject that I asked about.
However, I cannot call an application such as this an encyclopedia. By its nature, an encyclopedia provides a permanent and consistent description of a subject. This product gives ever-changing results, so that the information that you get one day will be different the next. While this is good for current events, it is not good for more staid topics such as algebra, grammar, or history. It is a cool product — but not one that I would ever use if looking for authoritative, accurate information.