Earlier this month, a beta test for a new Italian search engine was launched in Padua, Volunia . The site takes its name from “volo” (flying) and “luna” (moon) and was created by Padua-born Massimo Marchiori, who explains the name by saying: “I wanted to evoke the quantum leap my social search engine delivers”.
Marchiori, who invented the HyperSearch algorithm used by Larry Page to develop Google while working at MIT in Boston, decided to return to Italy to explore the opportunities in his homeland and is now a professor at the University of Padua.
The University rector Giuseppe Zaccaria states: “It’s a very positive signal if Marchiori has chosen to come back to his town and university for a new challenge. We have nothing to fear from the rough and tumble of international exchange and we are ready to support him”.
The search engine offers browsers two principal features. When you enter a new website, a toolbar offers you a variety of options. One of these options is to create a personal map of the site’s sections, called “overflying the content”. Another option is to use the “media” button to instantly display multimedia content to enhance and quicken your search.
One of Volunia’s most important innovations is the social box, a feature that allows you to see how many other people are visiting, or have visited, the site you are browsing and enables you to contact them directly. This feature is described as “a fantastic way to make friends with people that share your interests.” The social box offers a whole new way for Internet users to socialise.
During this first month on-line, Volunia has generated very mixed reactions, but this is just the beginning for this ambitious Italian project.
