A non-commercial Firefox extension that reads Content Labels is now available – the working name is Search Thresher.

In case you’re wondering, a thresher is a machine that sorts the wheat from the chaff

How it works

When conducting a search using an engine such as Google, Search Thresher highlights Web sites that make claims about conformance to a standard, best practice or code of conduct. It does this by annotating each search result with a colour coded icon. Clicking on an icon provides more information about the claims being made. This means you can learn more about the trust that site owners wish to claim *before* entering their Web site.

In the example below we conducted a search for information about blogger and podcaster Tom Raftery. Tom’s own Web sites have been independently audited and certified for Web accessibility compliance and therefore annotated with a green tick.

Sites that don’t make any claims are annotated with a red X and sites which make claims about themselves receive an amber tick. More detailed information can be found on the Search Thresher site.

Continue reading Firefox extension that supports the Semantic Web…