Teoma
Encyclopedia
Teoma, pronounced chawmuh (from Scottish Gaelic teòma "expert"), was an Internet search engine
founded in 2000 by Professor Apostolos Gerasoulis
and his colleagues at Rutgers University
in New Jersey
. Professor Tao Yang
from the University of California, Santa Barbara
co-led technology R&D. Their research grew out of the 1998 DiscoWeb project. The original research was published in the paper, "DiscoWeb: Applying Link Analysis to Web Search".
Teoma was unique because of its link popularity algorithm. Unlike Google's PageRank
, Teoma's technology (Subject-Specific Popularity) analyzed links in context to rank a web page's importance within its specific subject. For instance, a web page about "baseball" would rank higher if other web pages about "baseball" link to it.
Many parts of Teoma's relevancy algorithm were based on the methodology IBM
developed for its CLEVER project
.
Teoma was acquired by Ask Jeeves
on September 11, 2001, and has powered ask.com and other international Ask Jeeves sites (such as ask.co.uk, ask.jp) and Ask Jeeves Spain since then. On 26 February 2006, Teoma was rebranded and redirected to Ask.com
.
The Teoma algorithm is now referred to by Ask.com as the ExpertRank algorithm.
The official word on Teoma from Ask.com in May 2010: "We re-launched Teoma.com in mid-April 2010 to provide a simplified interface for everyday keyword web search. Teoma.com's organic results will be similar to, but not exactly the same as, those on Ask.com, primarily for testing purposes, but also to provide a more simplified search experience.
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
founded in 2000 by Professor Apostolos Gerasoulis
Apostolos Gerasoulis
Apostolos Gerasoulis is the co-creator of Teoma, an Internet search engine that powers Ask.com. Gerasoulis is a former Professor of Computer Science at Rutgers University; he co-founded Teoma along with his colleagues at Rutgers in 2000. Gerasoulis has appeared in TV commercials for Ask.com.-...
and his colleagues at Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. Professor Tao Yang
Tao Yang (Teoma)
Tao Yang , is an American computer scientist. Yang is the Chief Scientist and Senior Vice President of Ask.com for web search. He is also a tenured full professor in Computer Science at University of California, Santa Barbara.-Biography:...
from the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
co-led technology R&D. Their research grew out of the 1998 DiscoWeb project. The original research was published in the paper, "DiscoWeb: Applying Link Analysis to Web Search".
Teoma was unique because of its link popularity algorithm. Unlike Google's PageRank
PageRank
PageRank is a link analysis algorithm, named after Larry Page and used by the Google Internet search engine, that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of "measuring" its relative importance within the set...
, Teoma's technology (Subject-Specific Popularity) analyzed links in context to rank a web page's importance within its specific subject. For instance, a web page about "baseball" would rank higher if other web pages about "baseball" link to it.
Many parts of Teoma's relevancy algorithm were based on the methodology IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
developed for its CLEVER project
CLEVER project
The CLEVER project was a research project in Web search led by Jon Kleinberg at IBM's Almaden Research Center.Techniques developed in CLEVER included various forms of link analysis, including the HITS algorithm....
.
Teoma was acquired by Ask Jeeves
Ask.com
Ask is a Q&A focused search engine founded in 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen in Berkeley, California. The original software was implemented by Gary Chevsky from his own design. Warthen, Chevsky, Justin Grant, and others built the early AskJeeves.com website around that core engine...
on September 11, 2001, and has powered ask.com and other international Ask Jeeves sites (such as ask.co.uk, ask.jp) and Ask Jeeves Spain since then. On 26 February 2006, Teoma was rebranded and redirected to Ask.com
Ask.com
Ask is a Q&A focused search engine founded in 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen in Berkeley, California. The original software was implemented by Gary Chevsky from his own design. Warthen, Chevsky, Justin Grant, and others built the early AskJeeves.com website around that core engine...
.
The Teoma algorithm is now referred to by Ask.com as the ExpertRank algorithm.
The official word on Teoma from Ask.com in May 2010: "We re-launched Teoma.com in mid-April 2010 to provide a simplified interface for everyday keyword web search. Teoma.com's organic results will be similar to, but not exactly the same as, those on Ask.com, primarily for testing purposes, but also to provide a more simplified search experience.
External links
- About Teoma - from the official site.
- Teoma
- Wayback Machine archive of Teoma.com