Monthly Archives - July 2011

Faster and efficient search using Apache Lucene/SOLR

The  new search platform is now available  based on Apache Lucene/SOLR . NJVID has transitioned from using Amberfish to the Lucene search platform. To see the new search feature click on http://www.njvid.net/s.php?query=journalism.

With this new platform NJVID can pull data from various data resources (XML, databases) and it offers a faster search retrieval and indexing mechanism. NJVID also has the ability to scale our search servers as per the service demand.

The following are some of the changes on the NJVID website:

  • Ability to search videos as well as learning objects provided by commercial video vendors and user created annotations (clips).
  • Search highlighting: The search term is highlighted in bold and larger text in the title, description and any other fields that the search term was found in, making search more accessible.
  • Users (public and logged in) can choose to see only the videos that they have access to. Users from Institutions that have subscribed to commercial videos and learning on demand users will see more results after they have logged in. (the search is performed taking into account their institution and the user id).
  • If you have subscribed to Learning on demand service, you have the option to not just list or unlist the video in search listings but also to choose to show in search listings for those users who have the rights to watch the video.
  • Narrow down your search based on publisher, subject, genre and other terms based on your initial search.
  • Have a  ‘NOT’ condition on your search – http://www.njvid.net/s.php?query=math+-basic

To learn more about what’s possible with Lucene/SOLR, point your browser to http://lucene.apache.org/solr/features.html

The following are the features that existed and are still a part of the new search: