1) Factual is a self-described “open data repository.” Like Wolfram Alpha, a “computational knowledge engine” that launched earlier this year, Factual seeks to create order from chaos by allowing anyone to share and mash open data on any subject, structuring information in database-like tables.
2) Unlike Wolfram Alpha, which is a closed system with data “curated” by employees, Factual has adopted a Wikipedia-like model which allows anyone to create, structure or even edit data in Factual tables. [Company founder Gil] Elbaz hopes this open model [they have about 10,000 tables as of today] will encourage community participation, enabling Factual to grow rapidly and enjoy widespread adoption.
3) As good as Google is at understanding open web content, it struggles to access this “deep” or “invisible” web content, largely because Google can’t easily interact with the user interfaces of databases. (Google is experimenting with structured data, most notably with Google Squared and Fusion Tables, but these are Google Labs projects and don’t appear to be major initiatives for mainstream search.)
4) Factual is allowing registered users to edit data, but rather than adopting Wikipedia’s “edit and replace” model, Factual lets people add information to a table without overwriting or deleting existing data. It then uses a consensus-based model to settle on the most authoritative facts to display. Elbaz says this makes it difficult to impossible for a charlatan to corrupt data with incorrect entries.
5) Search results, however, are very different [vs. Google and other engines}. Because Factual is searching data, you’re presented with the name of data tables, along with the fields in the table. You can sort results by relevance, table name, last updated, author, views, rows or user rating. Once you click through on a result, the table is displayed very much like an Excel spreadsheet.
The article goes on to provide more background, explain Factual result sets, discuss how to create your own tables and mashups.
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