There used to exist a DASL WG and its main proposal included a framework for sending Search requests to Web servers (including WebDAV servers). The framework was complemented by one proposed syntax for searching the resources stored directly on that server according to their metadata values. Another syntax for the same framework could easily allow some Web servers to act as search aggregators or proxies for other repositories -- including not just a larger group of Web servers but also non-HTTP URLs could be returned. Now the DASL WG doesn't exist, but the work still continues on the WebDAV WG mailing list. http://www.webdav.org/dasl/ Lisa > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-ietf@xxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-ietf@xxxxxxxx] On > Behalf Of wang liang > Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 11:21 PM > To: ietf@xxxxxxxx > Subject: Building a new work group for public information > retrieval protocol, ask for advices. > > > After publishing the message "propose some information > retrieval protocols > for Internet", we received many advices. Now we > want to build a new work group for this issue, asking for > more advices. > Information retrieval service may exceed E-mail > service and become the most import service of Internet, so we > can't neglect > it. > > The reason to build a work group for public information > retrieval protocols > lies in the disadvantage of current commercial > search engines and the improvement in future public search system. > > The faults in commercial search engines. > > 1 In technology. Now no search engine can cover 60% of all > the pages on > Internet. The average update interval of their web > pages database is almost one month. This is mainly because no > of them can > close keep up with the explosive web pages on > Internet. But the web page is only one kind of information > resources. There > are still many other resources such as video, > special databases, BBS, etc. Could you image single search > engine company > can efficiently administer all these information > resources? > > 2 In business model. Now many search engine companies are > concerned with how > to make profit from company users by > advertisement and ranking prominence, but never consider what its real > customers will feel. Search engine originally is tools > for the convenience of Internet customers, but search engine > companies have > to apply advertisement or selling ranking > prominence, somewhat inconvenient to information retrieval, > to maintain > their subsistence. In other words, search engines > make money at the cost of inconvenience of most Internet > users, but not its > high quality of search service. > > 3 Except search engine, all the services of Internet such as > E-mail, BBS, > and FTP are all based on public protocol. There is > no secret technology in these services. But the information retrieval > service, may be the most important service on Internet, > is still dominated by few search engine companies. Many > experts know the > basic "Pages Ranking" algorithm, but no one know its > detail, which is commercial secret. No public surveillance, > no real candid > ranking algorithm. but We all know another world > famous algorithm very well, "money can elevate ranking > score". This may not > comply with the basic rules of Internet, a public > and free world. > > 4 In any free market, customers should be the God forever, but not few > companies. > > > The improvement in new public search system, DRIS (Domain resources > integrated system) > > 1 In technology. DRIS will build the information retrieval > infrastructure of > Internet. DRIS applies a hierarchical > distributed architecture to manage all the information on > Internet, just > like DNS. Its main principle is (organization level > -conventional database system)-(main sub country Internet > level-metadata > harvest system)-(country level-distributed search > system).In easy words, like web pages system, every DRIS > server in bottom > level like a university will download and index all > the web pages in its local network and then send the metadata > to higher > layer. All the other resources are also integrated in > this method. So DRIS will improve the performance of Internet > search engine > in recency, coverage and so on. > > 2 Management. Who will control the DRIS? It's administrated > by none of us > but every of us. DRIS is managed by its users and > coordinated by a public organization, just like management > method of DNS. > Every organization is its customer and also its > builder. It's just the real truth of Internet. DRIS is an > opening system, > which needn't any profits from its users and of > course need not any advertisements. > > 3 The basic idea of DRIS : "search should be the internal function of > Internet and every one should have his own search > engine". DRIS just provide the rude search results (like the > results in > current search engine). Many intelligent search > systems can apply DRIS as their data source and provide high > quality of > personal or commercial search service. So commercial > search engine can still survive in the way it should be. > > 4 Although DRIS gives us an excellent and promising solution > for the new > public Internet search system, this can't ensure the > establishment of DRIS. One important principle in technology, the best > technology is the technology that can meet the urgent > demand in society. This is just the secret of DRIS. In our testbed, in > organization level, only few universities have the web > search engine for the school network. Say nothing of union > search system > that can efficiently integrate all its information > resources such as ftp, BBS and special databases in library. > It's the demand > in third layer. Sharing the information > resources between different organizations is also an > attraction, which is > the demand to build the second layer's DRIS. In the > top layer, integrating all the information resources on > Internet may be the > dream of everyone. > > 5 Practice is the only principle to judge a theory. Now we > have built some > experimental third layer's DRIS servers in HuBei > Province. I can only say that things just should like this. > > > > Protocol Series of > DRIS(for work group) > Description of Working Group: > > With the rapid increase of the web pages, the coverage of > search engines > will become poorer and the update interval will be much longer. If the > current architecture of search engines is still in use, it will be an > impossible mission to find the precise and comprehensive > information in the > future. This problem will be more serious when IPV6 > technology is widely > implemented in communication networks. The problem of "Too > much information > means no information" may become a disaster with information > explosion. To > solve this problem, there should be an efficient information > management > system for Internet. > > In this group, Domain Resource Integrated System--DRIS will > be proposed. > DRIS is a distributed information retrieval system, which > will build the > information retrieval infrastructure for the Internet and also can be > regarded as a kind of Internet information management system. > > DRIS is a hierarchical distributed search system and comprise > three kinds of > information retrieval system, conventional > database system, distributed search system and metadata > harvest system. We > will first define the basic search system and then > define the entire DRIS. > > Specific work items are: > > 1 Standard distributed search system. It defines the > platform-independent > search interface and a collection description > standard for heterogeneous information resources. An I-D "information > retrieval protocol for digital resources" has been > proposed. > (http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-liang-irpdl-03.txt) > > 2 Standard metadata harvest system. A protocol based some > available opening > standard like OAI will be proposed. It will > define a standard metadata that can be compatible with most > database system. > > 3 Standard public web pages search system. There are many > kinds of database > system. As long as they can provide the standard > distributed search interface or comply with the metadata > harvest format, > they can be brought into DRIS in appropriate layer. > But web pages are special for its distributed character and > astronomical > amount. To efficiently integrate web pages on > Internet, DRIS will build a public opening web pages > database, which will > strictly comply with the principle of (organization > level-conventional database system)-(sub country Internet > level-metadata > harvest system)-(country level-distributed system). > (More information: Make search become the internal function > of Internet. > http://arxiv.org/abs/cs.IR/0311015) > > 4 DRIS. It will define entire DRIS. It includes its whole > architecture, the > relation between different nodes, etc. > (more information: Evolution:Google vs.GRIS. > http://arxiv.org/abs/cs.DL/0312024) > > 5 DRIS and IPV6. The cooperation with IPV6 WG will be > proposed. IPV6 will be > the most distinct feather of next generation > Internet.IPV6 is still in improving and any technology that > can benefit the > Internet all can be added to the IPV6 system. > Since the searching is the main service of most user of > Internet and this > service is not so satisfied to us in current > Internet, why not take this request into account when build the new > Internet. For example, in IPV6, all kinds of data flows > are assigned a priority, and then Internet can guarantee a > high priority to > the data flow of DRIS. So there may need some > considerations for the relation between DRIS and IPV6. > > The detailed information about DRIS could be found in > http://www.lib.hust.edu.cn/dl-lib/English/main.htm > > Ask for more advices. Thanks > > > >