Vannevar Bush was a true visionary and in his essay "As We
May Think" he describes many technological process that have come to pass
and are still in use today. He was able to think about how information needs to
be used and collected. The department store analogy on pg 9 was the best one
for me. I take for granted everything that happens at the push of a button. Now
people can just swipe a card with a smart-phone. I never really thought about
how many things are included on my card. Name, dob, expiration date, account
number, security number, bank name and it can also reveal my balance, transmit
info directly to my account, and give the clerk all the above info in an
instant. wow.
He also describes the "Memex," and advanced workstation
where people will be able to bring up past documents with a button and bring
them up on a screen. The process he describes is no different than scanning and
image into a computer and storing it on a hard drive. He then talks about the
way colleagues can share this information with one another by calling it up
with a button.
He can think of all the way information is used and stored but he
still doesn't come up with a reliable way to call upon that information. He
states that "the human mind operates by association, everything doesn't
necessarily have one correct place or path" (9). While the memex provides
a way to call something by name, it doesn't solve the issue of association.
I think that today we are coming closer to being able to search by
emotion or idea rather than key terms. Modern examples include Pandora radio,
it doesn't just play music from a genre, it works off the song before it and
responds to your 'likes' and 'dislikes'. There are countless playlists on
youtube that have been compiled to form list such as "relaxing study mix."
The playlist may have rock, trance, instrumental, etc, because they appeal to a
certain emotion or action. This may not help find a scholarly article but it's
a start.
In order to perfect the act of searching for information, we need
to rely on humans all over the world reading and responding to information. Like
the playlists and blogs, the internet has enabled everyone to become a critic.
We can log in and potentially write a review for every product we own, every
book we've read, and every movie we've ever watched. I use the website
RottenTomatoes every time before I go to the theatre. They give separate
ratings based on the critics and users opinions. I am able to read comments and
see exactly what people thought about while watching it. Furthermore, people
make references to other movies and lead me down that path as well. One could
argue that I have found a majority of my favorite movies through association
like this. With people writing about how they feel and descriptions beyond mere
summary, we are closer to being able to search simply based on emotions and
associations.
In the age of technology, our information can only be harnessed by
cooperating with other humans. Our social networks are growing and the number
of people online is astonishing. Collaborating through these networks will be
essential in utilizing the information we have at our fingertips.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l592XptAI-w
No comments:
Post a Comment