What Can A Search API Do For Me?
Posted on December 13th, 2005
Alexa came out with a Web Search Platform today that provides fee-based access to a gigantic repository of web data. It doesn't look like the sort of thing you'd tool around with just for fun-- at least, I'm not about to fill out the Account Request form and answer the "How do you plan to use the platform?" question with "um, whatever seems cool?"
From looking through the documentation Alexa provides and thinking about what this platform could be used for, though, I had a couple ideas that might still pan out if they were brought to bear with the Google or Yahoo search APIs. The sorts of things I was thinking of were:
- Show me every document that has ever referenced my website.
- Show me every document from my website, especially from the very very beginning
- Show me every document that mentions X, where X is a keyword representing some subject that I want to do research on.
Not exactly jaw-dropping, stop everything and check this out kinds of ideas, you know? Although I'm reading a book right now called Database Nation which talks a bit about the concept of a "data shadow", and there's a lot of applicability there in terms of cataloguing how much information about you is actually public, versus how much you think is public. Outside of that, though, it seems like the stream of information I need from the Internet is really, really thin. Needing is of course different from wanting, but wanting can get you into greed and gluttony so it's not as good a gauge.
I used to work with someone who was considering a career change and at one point said something to the effect of: the novelty of the Internet had worn off. There wasn't the same sense of urgency that there had once been when it came to checking out some new site, or doing something on the Web that previously hadn't been feasible or even possible.
At the time that didn't make a lot of sense to me because I had a "so many programming languages to learn about, so little time!" sort of mentality. Which I've since shook off, more or less. The ebbing of newness that the guy I worked with noticed is a lot more apparent to me lately.
It's not that there still aren't good ideas to be had, because of course there are. It's more that the number of things you can do with a computer and/or a connection to the Internet isn't changing a whole lot. This past year the only new thing I've done is learn how to make telephone calls over the Internet at low or no cost. Everything else has been variations on previous themes. I have better tools at my disposal and all, but mostly the same opportunities to use and apply them.
All of which begs the question, what am I not using a computer for that maybe I could be? I think the answer may be in the kitchen.