Volunteers Open Directory Project
25 June 2001 at 1:06 pm
Even the Internet needs volunteers according to a new web based Not for Profit called dmoz.org! This organisation is planning to build the largest human-edited directory and search engine on the web relying on a vast army of volunteer ‘editors’ from around the world.
It’s called the Open Directory Project and dmoz.org says the web continues to grow at staggering rates and automated search engines are increasingly unable to turn up useful results to the many millions of search inquiries.
So instead of fighting the explosive growth of the Internet, the Open Directory project provides a means for the Internet to organise itself, so like any community you get what you give.
This project provides the opportunity for everyone to contribute. Dmoz.org says it’s easy for volunteers to sign up. Just chose a topic you know something about and join.
The Project has a comprehensive set of tools for adding, editing, and updating links in seconds and organisers say that for just a few minutes of your time you can help make the web a better place and be recognised as an expert on your chosen topic.
Some of the sites already using the data from the Open Directory Project include Netscape, Lycos and HotBot, AOL Search and Google.
The Open Directory Project says it now has 2.6 million sites in its database, it currently uses 37,827 volunteer editors covering more than 380,000 categories and is growing at an average of 75,000 sites per month.
If you want to be a volunteer and place your “expertise”, web site or information on the ODP go to http://dmoz.org.
Let us know your experience by joining us on the Pro Bono Australia web site at probonoaustralia.com.au and click to have your say.
