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On the evolutionary scale, 10 years isn't even a blip, not a blink,
not a breath in. It's hardly anything at all. But on the information
scale, especially in the years from 1997 to 2007, a decade is a new
mountain range, a new species, a new world.
FreePint has been covering this evolution revolution from tip to tail,
keeping up with changes in the business information industry as
they've happened. Now, as we celebrate our 10th birthday, we've
invited four top experts in their fields of finding, using, managing
and sharing information to explain what these changes mean from a
distance.
By the time you read this, the landscape is likely to have evolved
again - who knows what earthshaking ideas are rippling forth? Until
then, here are the hottest trends in the last 10 years. We'll keep an
eye on the seismograph while you read.
Find By Marcy Phelps
 During the past 10 years, the information industry has seen one
significant trend that I call DIY. End users are doing their own
searching, as well as creating and sharing their own content. The DIY
trend has affected all areas of search, including who's doing the
searching, what we are searching for, and where we do our searching.
It also has changed the role of the professional searcher, allowing us
to add analysis and other value to search. Several significant
developments during the past 10 years have driven this trend toward
DIY in search:
Google The Google.com domain was registered in September 1997, and the
company officially incorporated in 1998. By then, we were already
moving away from mediated searching. AltaVista, HotBot and other free
tools were helping end users find information on the Internet.
Librarians were teaching patrons how to access database products. But
it was Google, with its easy-to-use and clutter-free interface and
heavy investment in R & D that brought searching to the masses. Today,
'google' is a verb and search engines advertise directly to consumers.
Personalised search lets users control search results, and anyone can
even create their search engine. Not to be left out, the professional
online services discovered and began to target end users. Forget
professional-grade subscription fees, telnet and Boolean. To compete
with Google, these companies now offer pay-as-you-go pricing and Web
interfaces that make these products attractive to non-information
professionals.
Web 2.0 More user-generated content means we are now searching for
information in different formats; we're looking for up-to-the minute
content, and users are demanding a say in the look and feel of their
search tools. We are no longer limited to text-based content and peer-
reviewed articles. Now images, blogs, audio and video files, books and
other sources are routinely included in our searches. These new
resources have created a new sense of urgency, and we frequently need
content that was created just hours ago. As a result, we've developed
specialised search tools, and some search engines are experimenting
with combining their various indexes into Universal Search - which
displays all types of files in one results page. Comfortable with
online interaction and no longer content with one-size-fits-all
solutions, searchers today have the ability to create their own search
homepage and change how results are displayed.
Mobile Search Not only are we doing our own searching, we're doing it
anywhere we want. It wasn't long ago that we were chained to our
desktop at home, work or the library. Internet cafes whet our appetite
for searching on the go. Eventually laptops became lighter, and
wireless connectivity made us free to search anywhere. Now we use
handhelds. According to one study by Outsell, Inc., about two-thirds
of their respondents were using wireless handhelds. Among those, 71%
have moved beyond phone calls and text messages and access and use
'real' content on their handhelds. According to a recent article,
we'll soon be able to search Google Maps at the gas pump. And with
Google's recent entry into mobile operating systems, who knows where
this will take us.
Google, Web 2.0 and mobile search have paved the way for DIY searching
and, along with it, new roles for both information professionals and
end users.
Biography
As the company founder and president of Denver-based Phelps Research,
Marcy Phelps <mphelps@phelpsresearch.com> offers business intelligence
and market research for business executives. Marcy publishes a free
monthly e-mail bulletin, ResearchNOTES, with useful sites and tips for
Internet research. To subscribe, go to
<http://www.phelpsresearch.com/research.html>.
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