Uh-oh Monday was a holiday here and tuesday was catching up, so now Wednesday is the day to post a new monday-connect
Given how much people lament web search being “broken” and many reaching for GenAI to funnel them answers, I am re-assured to find alternative, open source approaches to discovery of the interesting corners of the web. That’s what I found in Marginalia Search
It’s designed as a tool of both search and discovery that prioritizes non-commercial content. It collects no information nor tracks from its users and is compliant with GPDR. It carries a strong statement of its philosophy
Marginalia Search is an independent open source Internet search engine operating out of Sweden. It is principally developed and operated by Viktor Lofgren …
A search engine’s ability to answer natural language queries comes at the cost of its ability to discover websites. The more human the answers become, the less human the results become. This has lead to a web that feels both small and lonely.
Rather than trying to explain, give it a try. And @cjnewton I think you will like this as much as rabbithole 
My test search on “open education” brought many familiar results, so I tried a Marginalia search on open pedagogy, finding quite a few new and interesting resources.
One of the features is you can filter results for Academic sources on open pedagogy
And you find more curious and likely obscure to the Big Giant Search Engines with filters like vintage or forum discussions.
Most often people equate web searching with finding exact “answers” hence the appeal of GenAI search, but more often than not I am looking to discover and find a broad range of results, to me its a difference of search being a narrowing funnel or wide spray.
Mostly I appreciate this is an effort of mostly one developer to counteract the search monopolies. But don’t take my word for it, give Marginalia a try yourself and experiment with the different search tools and filter.
(nice to see they seem to index OEGlobal and OEG Connect, humble brag!)
Do you know something we should feature as a monday-connect ?? I’m always lookign for curious and interesting web things.
