People Search Digest

If you’re looking for people search with a new twist, then you should attend to Attendi - a new social network knowledge database hybrid. Attendi aims at searching what’s in people’s heads, as expressed via online chats. It is the “search engine of personal experience.” Ready to have your brain indexed?

Members (affectionately called Attendis) are, and do. Attendis first create a personalized profile indicating their areas of expertise, hobbies, and interests. Users can also link to their own blogs, social networks, or just websites they find interesting. The site then dynamically creates tags that define what each person knows and cares about. Attendis can also add their own tags if desired.

When a user searches for a topic on Atendi, the search results include a list of profiles of other Attendis whose tags match the keywords requested. A really innovative feature offered is profiles which indicate whether or not a user is online, even if they are using another instant messaging service. If a user is interested enough, he or she can initiate a chat discussion to ask questions about a particular topic. Every chat is archived, indexed, and becomes content for future search results making every user part of a live search engine.

Constructed on top of the Lucene open-source search engine and Jabber instant-messaging protocol, Attendi provides information where sites like Google and Wikipedia still fall short. Join Attendi to get all the answers to the more in depth questions that only another human can provide.