Kids Search Cloud Widget

Today, I'm testing Quintura for Kids, a search cloud tool designed for kids. It also has an embedable widget. The search engine is drawing on a woefully inadequate database, but I'm interested in how it works, what it looks like, and how it presents results rather than the results themselves. Below is a box showing the results of a search for genealogy. You can "mouse over" the cloud terms, click on a cloud term, click on a link, or type a new search term into the search box.

If interested, go to www.quinturakids.com.

Propadoo - socializing testimonials

Propadoo is a "Positive Reinformcement EcoSystem" for the web. Basically, it's a widget that works by just adding a code snippet to your blog or website. People can then leave you compliments or positive comments by clicking on an icon generated by the code snippet. The free version takes the blog or site visitor to Propadoo's web site to leave their comments which are then sent back to the blog/site owner. For a fee, the "props" can be left in a simple pop-up window that is then forwarded to the blog or site owner, streamed to the website live, posted automatically to Twitter or Facebook, or several other options.

KillerStartups describes it as follows:

a service whereby testimonials and referrals are socialized by the use of elements such as profiles and pictures that let everybody know exactly who is who. And the Twitter influence is felt in the way that testimonials are provided - they are streamed on your the in a manner not that dissimilar to how tweets are displayed on the public timeline of Twitter.

The way the system works involves creating links to prompt people to prop you. These are placed not only on your site or blog but also on e-mails, and the resulting feedback will be automatically collated for you to weigh up.

In addition to being employed to generate higher sales, a system such as this one lends itself to complementing colleagues and giving recognition to city workers by recognizing what they have done for you.

This system is free both for companies and individuals. All that is required is creating an account beforehand, and that is done in less than 30 seconds.

Read more: http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/propadoo-com-centralizing-referrals-testimonials#ixzz0ebNZpPSh

From Propadoo's own web site:

Individuals are using Propadoo by:
Make their compliments count by using Propadoo to preserve and promote them
Complimenting colleagues for a job well done
Recognizing teachers, coaches, civil servants etc. for going above and beyond expectations
Using positive reinforcement by telling someone what they’re doing right

There are some interesting posibilities here. I like the idea even if they haven't done exactly what I would have done with it...



I've signed up for the free account. Give it a try!

Light of the World Garden

Sorry, this is my only blog, so here's a non-genealogical posting:

Sculptor Angela Johnson is creating a "Light of the World" sculpture garden at Thansgiving Point near where I live. Here's links to some videos about it and her:

Drag to Top

Dragtotop is an interesting tool I came across today. I show the results of a search for "Family Search" here at right. Drag to Top pulls things from Google, adds twitter and news feeds, Google images, Google video, and gives a spot for comments. If you disagree with the top hits, you can drag from the full Google results to move what you think is the best hit to the top. The next Drag to Top user who performs the same search will see the one you dragged up. Over time, the more people who drag a particular hit to the top, the more it "sticks" to the top of the list. Hmmm. I guess you'd call it a search engine with social rankings modifying Google's page rankings.

I like the idea as well as the presentation and inclusion of Twitter, images, videos, etc. I wouldn't call it an earthshattering breakthrough or even something I would use regularly, but it's a great idea that portends things for the future.

From their own description:

Dragtotop.com is a manual search engine optimized by you, where you decide what is important and what should be on top. Simply drag what you like from web, images, videos and news search results to the top and let others in on the secret. Ranking your site on the first page has never been this easy.

While the Google search engine is very popular, Dragtotop brings all of what Google has and allows the users to simply Drag any site to the top and create their own search results. Search Dragtotop as you would search Google. When you find a result you like, just Drag It to the central column. Dragtotop has three columns, the first column on the left is search results from Google ; the second column shows user generated Drags and the third column is ads. Let's assume you searched for Car Dealers. The results are pulled from Google.com. If you like a search result on the third page, Simply Drag that site to the central column and next time someone searches for Car Dealers, the search result you dragged will show at the top of the second column, while the regular search results from Google will show in the first column. Your Drag will move down the list only when others drag new results on the exact same keywords.

www.dragtotop.com

ReFrame It!

I've been checking out an interesting FireFox Extension called ReFrame It. It allows any FireFox user to add the reframeit extension, then leave comments on any web page. Other reframeit users can see the comments when they go to the same pages, and add comments on the comments left by others. It essentially allows for commenting on web pages--you can even highlight specific parts of any web page to comment on a specific part of the page.

The disadvantages are that only other reframeit users can see the comments you left or make their own, and that it only works in FireFox. So at present, we have a tool which allows a group (think any group, team, family, or community) to share comments on any web page in the context of the web page. Even in its present form, it has a lot of potential. However, if widely adopted, the entire web could become commentable.

I played with it to add comments to the FamilySearch Wiki Home page-- see screen capture. We got a comment from a third party (the first two comments were me and my wife) which actually led to a change on the Wiki Home page. Not a bad idea...

See reframeit.com.

Odiogo, Podcasts, and iTunes

Six weeks ago, Odiogo launched a new, free service which will convert your blog text to audio and then broadcast the audio of your blog as an Internet radio broadcast, commonly called a podcast. This isn't exactly new, but what extends this interesting service even further is a new agreement with iTunes. ANY blogger can now have their blog postings converted to audio for free, and the audio podcasts will show up available as a subscription on iTunes.

This means I can subscribe to Eastman's Genealogical Newsletter on my mp3 player and listen to his newsletter postings as I drive to work--even before the newsletter is sent to my email! Yes, Dick has already jumped on the bandwagon and his newsletter is odiogo-ized. I can have my own blog postings converted to audio and set up my own "Internet radio channel" for others to follow my ramblings (I know, who would want to...?). The text to speech converter is pretty good, too.

Exciting.

Check out www.odiogo.com

Ancestry Member Connect

Ancestry has pre-announced their member connect social network and posted an image of their screen design. It's well worth taking a look. It certainly is an exciting time as leading web sites in the genealogy and family history industry try to move into the social networking world. Ancestry's blog post - http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/06/19/coming-soon-a-new-way-to-connect-with-others-researching-your-ancestors/. A partially functional preview of FamilySearch (Alpha) is also showing at http://labs.familysearch.org/alpha/index.php.