SV: [Sigia-l] Findability

[Gunnar Langemark]

Finding PeterV posting on findability, I half suspected that he would
introduce this scenario:

XFML - eXtensible Faceted Metadata

as in syndicated, sharable, and personal category system - as a means to
give back the power to the user.

If each of us have our own category system - we will be able to reclaim some
of the power of the "categorizer".
I'm aware that this scenario "is asking for it" - when it comes to new types
of spam and such, but the struggle between the power of the service provider
(corporation, search engine, index service) - and the user, seems to me to
be oscillating (just love that word) - between the two - in eternity.

IAs will probably keep working on making content "findable" - be it as seen
from the contents "point of view" or the reader/users point of view. In
certain commercial settings there is no doubt that this work is done in the
interest of the corporation. In other settings it may prove harmful to the
service provider if they tangle too much with categories (I just recently
noticed that Yahoo and certain other services have "sold" my name - so that
when I search for "Langemark" - which is my name and my domain - the search
engine has the audacity to ask me if I really mean "Langemark" and not
"Lyngemark").
Put in the words of Aristotle's Rhetoric - these services loose in a major
way when they put their own ETHOS on the line in order to make a fast buck.

Realizing that even the most "behind the scenes" and unnoticed search
engines and similar services, do not always serve the good of mankind -
users will eventually pick up, and educate themselves. This is not a fast
process, and it has hardly begun yet. But tools for personal search,
categorization and "content aggregation" are popping up everywhere now, and
they will - IMHO - drive the development in categorization, taxonomy and
personal findability.


Just my opinion.

(PS: Sweet revenge: I ran this through my spellchecker - and it suggested
Langemark in the place of Lyngemark :) )

Gunnar Langemark
Skranten 9
3600 Frederikssund
Denmark
phone +45 47383904/mobile: +45 26277736
mail: gunnar at langemark.com
www: www.langemark.com