Federated Search (Emphasizing WorldWideScience.org)
as a Transformational Technology
Enabling Knowledge Discovery
Read the ILDS paper: May 2010 – Federated search as a transformational technology enabling knowledge discovery: the role of WorldWideScience.org
published in: Interlending & Document Supply Vol 38 Issue 2 pp. 82-92
Federated Search (Emphasizing WorldWideScience.org)
as a Transformational Technology Enabling Knowledge Discovery
InterLending and Document Supply Conference
October 20-22, Hannover, Germany
Walt L. Warnick, Ph.D.
Director
Office of Scientific & Technical Information
United States Department of Energy
OSTI Mission
To advance science and sustain technological creativity by making R&D findings available and useful to DOE researchers and the public.
Science progresses as knowledge is shared
OSTI Corollary:
If the sharing of knowledge is accelerated, then discovery is accelerated.
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
– Isaac Newton 1676
Profound implications for everyone in the information business.
Knowledge Investment Curve
Pace of Scientific Discovery
Vertical Axis = the pace of discovery
Horizontal Axis = the %, from zero to 100, of R&D funding for sharing scientific knowledge.
Knowledge Investment Curve
Pace of Scientific Discovery
Percentage of R&D Funding for Sharing of Scientific Knowledge at 0%.
If there were no sharing, there would be no progress.
Knowledge Investment Curve
Pace of Scientific Discovery
Percentage of R&D Funding for Sharing of Scientific Knowledge at 100%.
If all resources went to sharing, there would be no resources for research itself, and no progress.
Knowledge Investment Curve
Pace of Scientific Discovery
Decision makers affect the pace of discovery when they determine the fraction of R&D funding dedicated to sharing.
Optimum Sharing is between 0% and 100%.
But before we can accelerate the sharing of knowledge
… we must dispel the misperception that popular search engines are already doing the job.
Google
Yahoo
MSN
Much of science is non-Googleable
The Deep Web is Huge
In fact, the vast majority of science information is in databases within the deep web – or the non-Googleable Web – where popular search engines cannot go.
We in the information business need to recognize this gap between availability and need, and seize the opportunity to …
Provide science information consumers with better tools.
The web is transformational technology for sharing knowledge
The web is still young and will certainly hold surprises as it evolves.
Just as another well-known transformational technology held surprises …
1903
1918
2010
Eclipsing Current Search Technology
Google is capitalizing on this early era of web technology and is hugely successful, powering more than half the world’s searching.
But we must remember that we are just in the beginning of this transformation. Further technological transformations may very well eclipse today’s search technology!
A new, promising technology is now emerging: federated search.
We need systems, such as federated search, that probe the deep web
Federated search drills down to the deep web where scientific databases reside.
Surface Web
Deep Web Databases
Unlike the Google sitemap protocol solution, federated search places no burden on the database owners.
Our emerging solution: federated search
Science Accelerator: Integrates key DOE databases
Science.gov: Integrates 14 U.S. science agencies – 200 million pages of science information
WorldWideScience.org: Integrates science information issued by over 60 Nations – 400 million pages of global science information
WorldWideScience.org History
Concept introduced by OSTI Director, Walt Warnick, June 2006, Bethesda, Maryland
Bilateral U.S.(DOE)/U.K. (British Library) partnership, January 2007, London
Demonstration of first prototype, June 2007, Nancy, France
Multilateral governance structure WorldWideScience Alliance, established June 2008, Seoul
Dr. Jan Brase, German National Library of Science and Technology
Common ingredient: International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI)
• Searches 61 science databases and portals sponsored by governments and national institutions in 61 countries
• Covers scientific literature from over three-fourths of the world’s population
• Includes a vast quantity of science (over 400 million pages), much of which is grey literature
• Proving WWS "deep web" value, recent analysis shows only 3.5% overlap with Google and Google Scholar
• Current research in multi-lingual translations technologies will enable searching of non-English databases from within applications such as WWS
• Prototype allows users to select their preferred language. Queries are translated into the languages of the databases being searched and results are then returned in the user's language
• We are committed to launching Multi-lingual WorldWideScience.org at the ICSTI Meeting in Helsinki in June 2010
OSTI, through federated search, ensures access to non-Googleable science
Volume of Content Made Searchable by OSTI
WorldWideScience.org:
400,000,000 pages of Global Scientific and Technical Information (STI)
These web-available pages would fill 62,000 traditional 2-feet deep file drawers.
Science.gov:
200,000,000 pages of U.S. Government STI
These web-available pages would fill 33,000 traditional 2-feet deep file drawers.
STIP Collection:
11,400,000 pages of U.S. Department of Energy STI
These web-available pages would fill 1,900 traditional 2-feet deep file drawers.
Amount of Data Transferred in FY08: 9.95 terabytes
Through OSTI products, librarians, researchers and the public can access a science page count comparable to, but not duplicative of, Google's entire science content
Is there a better solution for a high quality science search tool just over the horizon?
We think so…
Live Federated Search Tools + Crawled Indexes
For Example:
WorldWideScience.org + crawled indexes
The stage is set for the future
We are ready to scale up our efforts in federated search.
A billion-page, high quality science search tool may be available soon to spread ideas, increase learning, and further accelerate the progress of science.
Cognition Budget
• Making more info available is not enough
• It must be presented more conveniently – easier and faster to find
• To this end, relevancy ranking is being reinvented for federated searching
Try WorldWideScience.org!


