Best Essay earns cash, plus CIL publication and conference appearance
SANTA FE, N.M., Aug. 11, 2008 — The "Predict the Future" writing contest launched by the Federated Search Blog (http://www.federatedsearchblog.com) has extended its deadline to October 31 and enriched the prizes available to the winner.
The contest challenges participants to write an essay that describes the landscape of federated search technology in 10 years. An independent team of judges will choose first, second and third prize winners, who will earn cash prizes of $500, $250 and $100 from Deep Web Technologies, sponsor of the Blog. Additionally, the winning essay will be published in Computers in Libraries and the author will present the scenario at the Computers in Libraries Conference in Spring 2009. Travel expenses will be paid by Deep Web Technologies.
"We extended the deadline to accommodate the many library educators who wanted to use the contest as a class assignment and I'm eager to hear these fresh voices," said Sol Lederman, lead blog author. "We're also thrilled with the additional participation of Computers in Libraries. With their help, the contest has evolved to become a significant opportunity for the winner to build a presence in this industry in the very best way: by sharing insightful, creative thinking."
The contest asks writers to submit original, unpublished essays in English and of no more than 1,500 words. They are encouraged to comment about such issues as the role of Google in federated search, the type of features federated search will include, how the open source movement will impact the industry or whether there will be an entirely new search paradigm.
Essays will be judged by a panel of noted industry experts: Marshall Breeding, Roy Tennant, Miriam Drake, Carl Grant, Judy Luther, and Peter Noerr. They will evaluate essays based on writing quality, originality, and vision.
Employees of Deep Web Technologies are not eligible. For complete contest rules or to submit an essay, visit http://federatedsearchblog.com/category/contest/.
About Deep Web Technologies
Deep Web Technologies (http://www.deepwebtech.com) creates custom, sophisticated federated search solutions for clients who demand precise, accurate results. Founded by industry thought-leader Abe Lederman, Deep Web Technologies created the powerful Explorit Research Accelerator, software that searches, retrieves, aggregates and analyzes content from deep web databases – data that is inaccessible to general search engines. Serving Fortune 500 companies, the Science.gov Alliance, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Defense Technical Information Center, scitopia.org, WorldwideScience.org and a variety of research and library alliances, Deep Web Technologies has built a reputation as the "researcher's choice" for its advanced, agile information discovery tools.
Deep Web Technologies is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where it has earned four Flying 40 Awards as one of the fastest growing high-tech companies.
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