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XODP was founded by David F. Prenatt, Jr. (aka XODP Editall netesq) on May 28, 2000 as a
discussion group and mailing list, and the XODP
eGroup™ has functioned ever since that time as a think tank and free speech forum for
progressive ideas about how online content should be generated and indexed, encouraging the critical analysis of various strategies and technologies
that are currently being used towards these ends in marketing and education. However, XODP's original focus was on
the role that human beings play as infomediaries in community-built Web indexes such as Netscape's Open Directory Project (ODP, aka "dMOZ"), the pioneer volunteer project
from which XODP's name is
derived. To this end, the XODP
Web site was officially launched on July 31, 2002 to showcase the XODP Web Guides™.
The XODP Web Guides are compiled by human editors who give meaning and value to the raw search results that are returned by search engine algorithms for frequently used search terms. An editor begins with a standardized HTML template, and fills in the HTML title tag with the exact text of the search term being targeted. After eliminating redirected URLs and spam, the editor makes certain that the meta data (if any) that has been provided by and for each URL in a particular set of search results is accurate, while simultaneously verifying that each URL is relevant to the underlying search term. If the meta data for a particular URL is missing or inaccurate, an editor composes an accurate title and description for that URL before including it in a particular XODP Web Guide. Moreover, when it is appropriate to do so, as it usually is, an editor composes an introductory blurb for the set of search results which comprise a particular guide. The search results are then sorted, grouped, and ranked and accompanied by whatever interrogatories may be appropriate. The end result is a comprehensive guide to the most relevant information resources that are available online for a particular search term. For example, based on research regarding the popularity of search terms used during the week ending Saturday November 22, 2007, the following XODP Web Guides were compiled or updated:
Given the fact that many of the Web sites indexed in the XODP Web Guides are themselves pointers to other comprehensive online information resources, some XODP Web Guides contain as few as 10 URLs. However, as is appropriate, some XODP Web Guides contain as many as 100 URLs; beyond this point, XODP Web Guides do not venture, as useful content gives way to noise. For more information about XODP, please see:
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Copyright 2007 by XODP Search Solutions™ All rights reserved. |
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