DC search got another update yesterday to improve unsatisfactory (IMO :P) ranking algorithm.

Special Thanks to jgpaiva for reporting cases where topics were not ranked fairly and for helping us testing candidate scripts. :Thmbsup:

Among other optimizations, a few new content-based factors have been introduced to penalize/award matching topics individually to give more accurate (relative) relevancy.


For search query "donation", results generated by original SMF 1.1.3 search script:



And results generated by our working DC search:




Well, I'm sure there's is still plenty of room for search improvement -- I'm happy to look into problems to work out updates in the short time possible, if needed, anytime. So do not hesitate to post feedback/bug report here!! TIA  :Thmbsup:

Cool! I played and loved a few of these little life suckers there.

For members here who like to share Flash Game of the Day with us, this site is a must.

And v nice mouse-over game descriptions too. :Thmbsup:

Here's a v interesting google video on Human Computation (don't know if it's the actual forerunner of image labelling):

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8246463980976635143

Luis von Ahn is an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University,  ... all » where he also received his Ph.D. in 2005. Previously, Luis obtained a B.S. in mathematics from Duke University in 2000. He is the recipient of a Microsoft Research Fellowship.

ABSTRACT Tasks like image recognition are trivial for humans, but continue to challenge even the most sophisticated computer programs. This talk introduces a paradigm for utilizing human processing power to solve problems that computers cannot yet solve. Traditional approaches to solving such problems focus on improving software. I advocate a novel approach: constructively channel human brainpower using computer games. For example, the ESP Game, described in this talk, is an enjoyable online game -- many people play over 40 hours a week -- and when people play, they help label images on the Web with descriptive keywords. These keywords can be used to significantly improve the accuracy of image search. People play the game not because they want to help, but because they enjoy it.

I describe other examples of "games with a purpose": Peekaboom, which helps determine the location of objects in images, and Verbosity, which collects common-sense knowledge. I also explain a general approach for constructing games with a purpose.