The TEK Search Engine

The Internet has the potential to deliver information to areas of the world that have no other information resources.  High telephone and ISP fees – in combination with low bandwidth connections – make it unaffordable for many people to browse the Web online.  We are developing the TEK system to enable users to search the Web using only email.  TEK stands for  “Time Equals Knowledge,” since the user exchanges time (waiting for email) for   knowledge (contained in the email).  The system contains three components: 1) the client, which presents a graphical interface to the end user, 2) the server, which performs the searches from MIT, and 3) a reliable email-based communication protocol between the client and the server.  The TEK search engine differs from others in that it is designed to return low-bandwidth results, which are achieved by special filtering, analysis, and compression on the server side.  We believe that TEK will bring Web resources to people who otherwise would not be able to afford them.