Worldwide Lexicon project, call for volunteers

[Brian McConnell]

Worldwide lexicon... call for volunteers...

Hello. I am working on an open source project called the worldwide
lexicon (www.worldwidelexicon.org). The worldwide lexicon is built
around a simple set of SOAP methods that allow applications to
discover and communicate with dictionary servers throughout the web.
Think of this as GNUtella for dictionaries.

WWL aims to do two things: 1) provide a simple, easy to implement
protocol for locating and communicating with web dictionary and cyc
servers (there are many, but they all sit behind proprietary front
ends), 2) create a service similar to SETI at home that instead of
tapping PCs to crunch numbers, taps idle web surfers to contribute
data to dictionaries that accept public submissions.

The WWL protocol, because it is built on SOAP, will allow developers
to embed dictionary functions in a wide variety of applications. One
obvious example, a browser or text editor plug in that uses a few
lines of code to find an english-->arabic dictionary on the fly then
perform word and phrase translation queries (embedded translation
dictionary).

Another example, chat software that guides users in composing foreign
language messages. For example, I can read spanish, but have a
marginal vocabulary. A Jabber IM client that assisted me in
translating or picking spanish words on the fly would be very useful.
NOTE: WWL is not a translation system, its main purpose is to create a
simple interface that allows apps to find and communicate with
dictionaries, encyclopediae, and semantic networks.

It sounds complicated, but the individual elements of the system are
simple, and can be developed and tested independently of other
components.

The project will be announced at O'Reilly & Associates Emerging
Technologies conference where I'll be giving a talk, also watch for an
article on their site in early May. There is some introductory
material on the website today, full specs, documentation and tutorials
to be published in early May, shortly before the O'Reilly conference.

In the meantime, I am putting out a call to Python developers who
might be interested in contributing to this project. I am interested
in using Python for most of our code libraries. Of course, some
developers will prefer other languages, but I want to use Python for
as many tools as possible because it is an easy language to work with,
and will probably appeal to the type of people who will be interested
in WWL.

Thank you for your time. For more information, visit the WWL site
(www.worldwidelexicon.org), be sure to subscribe to the topica list to
receive updates and/or drop me a line.

Brian McConnell