MSR and Bing Announce Speller Challenge to Researchers and Students

Bing and Microsoft Research are enlisting the help of researchers and students from around the world to take part in the Speller Challenge. We are all familiar with the experience of search engines providing results based on a common misspelling or type:

This technique, called Spelling alteration, is the predominant way for search engines to translate typing errors, alternative spellings, and synonyms with the goal of providing the best results to you on the first try.

However, this approach is not perfect. My spelling error could be your perfect query. The Speller Challenge is looking for a better way to determine which results a search engine should provide and how alternatives should be represented.

The top five competitors will receive the following:

First place       US$10,000

Second place   US$8,000

Third place      US$6,000

Fourth place   US$4,000

Fifth place       US$2,000

To learn more about the challenge including details on participation please click here.