Hi -
I'm working with a small, 100% F/OSS online services company that has a
contract to create a faceted search facility for non-profit artist communities
across the country. For example, if a San Francisco artist was looking for a
performance space in Chicago, she could use this to find a performance space
seating 500-1000 with sound amplification and other "facets". Data will
initially be statically imported from an initial set of 4-6 participating
organizations, but is expected to grow to many more feeds - probably via RSS -
in the foreseeable future.
I've been looking for open source platforms that can provide us the
capabilities we're looking for without much luck. We've talked to Siderean
who will give us their Seamark server for (nearly) free since we're building
for use by non-profits, but I'd really rather not use commercial code if I can
help it. (Sticking to open source will enable us to re-use the technology for
future projects non-profit and civil advocacy clients.) But I have to say,
they have a nice solution.
Anyway, I've been looking a bit at RAP, Swish-E, Redland, SIMILE, Sesame,
Flamenco and the OAI-PMH initiative, none of which are really aimed at faceted
search, though they offer tools to help. I've got some experience with RDF
from the P3P and FOAF communities, but I am in no way an expert, and truth be
told, I'm a bit at a loss to even understand the architecture of such a search
engine.
Any insights and/or suggestions will be most welcome.
BTW: I also have a small contract available for a month or two part-time work
to help with this project. Please do not post this offer elsewhere.
Thank you,
=Fen
-- Fen Labalme
Technology Consultant
CivicActions, LLC
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