Technical

I think this will be my first technical post on this blog. Here i am writing some ideas that does not exist as of now but i strongly feel that these should be implemented. These ideas are some observations from me - things that i would like to see or features that i would like to use. They may be technical challenging or not (but if facebook can be a hit, then anything can be!). The idea behind this exercise is to document them and a little subtle idea is to see if they are implemented lets say 3 years from now. So here it goes:

1. Culture + wiki + kosmix:
Kosmix creates a homepage for every search query by searching and indexing data that looks like a webpage. Currently into health, autos etc, it creates a webpage for any heatlh disease, treatment etc. Wiki lets you add content, normal users can add content, edit it , verify it etc. Kosmix just searches data from internet, categorizes them, and displays in a good fashion giving links and references. Data includes video, audio, imiages, text links, good webpages, maps, etc - its a huge list. Now looking at internet i do not see a centralized place where i can get cultural information. What i mean is like lets say i am looking for sikh culture, how they conduct their prayers, information about gurdwaras, its architecture, sikh traditions, gurbanis, songs, meanings, info about pagdi, how to tie a pagdi etc. This is one such culture, similar ideas such as in arya samaj - how to conduct a hawan, its ingredients, sholokas, their meanings, different bhajans etc. Things like what spicmacay is doing, info about indian classical music, carnatic etc, its all part of our culture. So there is a huge list. And there are many cultures. So what i want is :

1. The search engine should be able to search all results pertaining to culture, make a webpage for each culture, categorize the webpage into lets say - prayers, temples, Gods, traditions, origins, images/videos of customs, languages spoken, grammar of languages and all sorts of things.
2. Allow the functionality for users to add/edit content, upload photos, videos, bhajan/aarti recordings etc, allow users to rate content.
3. A search engine does everything dynamically , i.e. given a query it creates a webpage of that query dynamically. I want to have a static webpage with content added by
(a) crawling web, this content will be refined by ratings and user inputs
(b) By users who write their experiences, add videos etc
4. Provide a search option for things that do not already exist. So lets say i want to know some culture followed by people in Andaman Islands..if it does not exist, create a webpage for it.

Advantages:
1. Example Case scenario: I want to know how to tie a pagdi, i go to the sikh culture, i look around for a video/tutorial. If it exits, i see it and then rate it. If it doesnt exist, the search engine gets the best possible results for me.
2. It will provide a centralized place for all cultures. It will be a great place to learn about our roots and history. In the current age, several of us has felt that they still dont understand their identity. It will be a warehouse of all information possible. For e.g. i can not write k,kha,ga in hindi, leave alone sanskrit. I dont know its grammar. I can always go to this website and look at this kind of stuff. (Sidepoint - One can add tutorials to learn language etc)
3. One can look at other cultures to know more about them.
4. Can be linked with tourism - temples, muesuems with map info etc
5. Many cultures are becoming extinct day by day, many languages of andaman islands are spoken by only 100 people today, after 20 yrs no one will know that they even existed. I want to document them here.
Advantages are many and mainly social.


Revenue model:
1. Ad sense.....
2. I dont know...i just want to do it because i feel like it...somebody should sponsor..please!


2. Right to Information
Its simple - a place to apply for information from govt offices using internet. You go online, fill a form, submit it, and the information that you seek is searched from the official documents (automatically) and the relevant information is emailed to you. The search is intelligent enough to say that these documents are confidential and you cant see. I agree the main challenges here will be to get the permission from govt. to allow to index all these documents and provide this kind of service. But my point is that such kind of application do not exist. If someone makes it and proposes it, who knows someday we will have it online. Mind you that RTI was not approved till 2005 and it looks so obvious that such kind of act should be there from the beginning. But it wasnt. Similarly, this kind of software is obvious. Technically also it will require some skill - machine learning to understand scanned docs, indexing them , searching them etc. May be it reuires some human intereference too to check that the results are valid etc. Google has already implemented most of its modules for different applications but for this purpose there is no application. Moreover, it is not only in India, such applications exist nowhere. We can also do this: Each office has a kiosk. you go there and submit your query and your results are printed then and there. We can by-pass the bureaucratic procedure that exists today. This way people without internet can also use such feature. Ability to read and write is however required.
Revenue model: Govt should pay this application.