Case Studies

Wikimedia Foundation

OSC partners to improve Wikipedia’s search relevance

Realizing both teams were working in parallel a on machine-learning plugins for Elasticsearch, OSC and Wikimedia joined efforts to develop the Elasticsearch Learning to Rank (LTR) Plugin. The Elasticsearch LTR project proves orgs can deliver the highest gains when they don’t rely on black-box, proprietary search vendors. With open source machine learning methods, each team can create the most optimal solution to their needs.

Armed with the Elasticsearch LTR plugin, OSC and Wikimedia improved relevance of Wikipedia site search. As Erik Bernhardson, Wikimedia Discovery Engineer, noted after the first deployment:

Learning to Rank increased our search relevance 20-40% across Wikipedia

OSC and Wikimedia continue to work hand-in-hand on the Learning to Rank plugin, with contributions from Yelp, Snag, and other organizations.

Read the interview » and the news story »