How the Ana Liffey Drug Project used a free Google tool to create the Addiction Search Engine
The Addiction Search Engine was designed to help people find reliable information on the web about addiction-related issues. It uses the free Google Custom Search tool and was set up by the Ana Liffey Drug Project, a not-for-profit organisation in Ireland. This case study explains how they did it.
Volunteers from the Ana Liffey Drug Project choose which websites to add to the Addiction Search Engine. When visitors type in a search query the Addiction Search Engine searches only these sites and, in some instances, the sites that they are linked to. Because addiction is an area on the web that attracts bogus websites, this means that the users of the Addiction Search Engine don’t have to trawl unnecessary or inappropriate websites.
How to set up a search engine with Google Custom Search
It’s quick and easy to set up a Google Custom Search Engine (CSE). Simply visit www.google.com/cse and follow the instructions. If you don’t already have a username and password for Google you’ll need to create an account first. Within minutes you’re able to start adding websites to your own search engine.
Refining the search results
A key feature of Google CSE is the search refinements function. Refinements are labels that can be applied to web sites. They appear as a list of links above search results and allow users to narrow their search. When a user clicks a refinement label, the sites that are labeled are given priority in the results.
How volunteers contribute to this project
It does require a significant level of time to maintain and refine the Addiction Search Engine. It’s important to ensure that the Custom Search is up to date and relevant and this is where having volunteers can be really helpful.
All contributors to the Addiction Search Engine give their time and expertise on a pro bono basis. The Ana Liffey Drug Project currently has six volunteers and all have a background in working in the field of addiction. Volunteers are given limited access to the Addiction Search Engine to add sites and decide which existing ’search refinement’ labels to apply to those sites.
Significantly, Google Custom Search allows for a capacity of 100 volunteer contributors; therefore, the recruitment of volunteers is an ongoing process and is an area with a lot of potential for development. The input of volunteers in sharing their expertise and energy is crucial to the ongoing success of the Addiction Search Engine.
What difference has the Addiction Search Engine made to the Ana Liffey Drug Project?
A key value of the Ana Liffey Drug Project is that they aim to take a wider role in society - they believe in partnership and have a local, national and international perspective. The development of the Addiction Search Engine has acted as a conduit to quality web based information for the wider community.
It’s allowed them to work in partnership with professional volunteers from outside their own agency. They also collaborate with other respected organisations, via their websites, to help promote quality information and support on issues relating to addiction. Using the web has brought new friends to collaborate with, such as the Swansea Drugs Project, Wales. Plus the Addiction Search Engine is helping to raise the profile of the organisation in Ireland and in other countries.
Advice for other organisations wanting to set up their own search engines
Be specific and identify your niche.
Prepare a plan for how you see your custom search engine developing. Do your research and take a look at good examples from other projects.
Be wary of jargon because the keywords and search queries that visitors to your website might use may not tally with the jargon used in your area of expertise/specialism.
Take time to learn how other Google features can assist your new Google Custom Search Engine. You could use Google Alerts to receive email updates of the latest websites, news items etc to be listed on Google, based on your choice of query or topic. For example, one of the email alerts the Project receives is on the topic of ‘drug addiction’. This lets them know about the latest web sites and articles to appear on Google and they can add the best of these to the Addiction Search Engine.
Measuring the success of your custom search engine
Google Custom Search provides statistics on the use of the Addiction Search Engine. That’s how the ALDP knows that there were 3,982 search queries in February 2008 and a grand total of 12,349 searches so far. The statistics facility, provided by Google, gives a clear picture of the ongoing use and success of the Addiction Search Engine.
You don’t have to have your own website to have a custom search engine. However, if you have your own domain name and webspace you can host your CSE within it. Recently, www.addictionsearch.net has been developed as the new home for the Addiction Search Engine. If you have your own hosting then the free Google Analytics tool can be used to get far more detailed statistics on site usage.
Other indicators of success include the ongoing telephone calls, emails and personal contacts made by people interested in the work of the ALDP having found the website and their specific interest in the Addiction Search Engine.
Advertising revenue
Google by default puts adverts on your CSE but non-profit organisations are allowed to switch them off. Originally the Project didn’t plan to include adverts on the website. However, not for profit organisations need to create revenue too and adverts can create a revenue stream that meets some of the cost of providing and developing the website. The eventual goal is to have a financially self-sufficient website.
The website is too new to gauge whether the revenue will be sufficient. However, between 18th February 2008 and 12th March 2008 the revenue earned from Ad Sense was $52. This could be improved on by ensuring the Ads that appear on the website are efficiently and effectively targeted: there is an option to exclude the URLs of inappropriate ads.
This case study was written by Jason King based on interview notes with Tony Duffin of the Ana Liffey Drug Project.The Ana Liffey Drug Project
Established in 1982, the Ana Liffey Drug Project was the first ‘low threshold - harm reduction’ type service in Ireland. This model has gone on to be replicated throughout Ireland by many other organisations. Ana Liffey Drug Project was originally set up as an alternative to the dominant abstinence based approach of the day. The project created a welcoming space where active drug users could look at their life and their options for positive change in a non-judgmental environment. The project espoused core principles of ‘Respect, Welcome, Participation and Rights’. These principles still apply today.
Tony Duffin
Tony Duffin is Director of the Ana Liffey Drug Project. Over the past 16 years Tony has focused his efforts on the issues of drugs, alcohol and homelessness. Tony has delivered, managed, designed and led innovative services that work with people actively engaged in problematic substance use. Tony qualified in the Diploma in Drug Dependence from the National Addiction Centre, London, in 1999 and the M.Sc. in Drug and Alcohol Policy, Trinity College Dublin in 2006.
