Here is a dilemma: lots of information is online, but it is
hard to find. Here’s another: search engine technology based
on keywords has trouble finding the information you need because of
the inherent ambiguity of human languages. Here’s a third: systems
that help us find what we need based on our personal preferences
expose more of our personal information to others who may or may not
care about our privacy.
Researchers
developing precise search software,
By Greg Kline Sunday (News-Gazette.com (Champaign, IL),
February 26, 2006) reports on some research being done at the University
of Illinois into new ways of thinking about searching and finding
information and addressing issues of privacy. The article describes
“Data mining” in
the humanities, genomic research, new ways to catalog and search non-textual
materials such as images and more.
What about privacy? This is particularly relevant in light of recent
reports that, when Congress thought it killed John Poindexter’s
“Total Information Awareness” program, most of the privacy-invading
programs survived, but the privacy protecting part of the program
was killed. (See:
TIA Lives On, By Shane Harris, National Journal, Feb. 23, 2006, and
Taking
Spying to Higher Level, Agencies Look for More Ways to Mine
Data, By John Markoff, New York Times,
February 25, 2006).
John Unsworth, the dean of the UI Graduate School of Library and
Information Science believes that this particular dilemma might
be solved by a professional class of trained, bonded, “trusted
stewards of information,” which library and information science schools
like his could be put to work producing.
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