Forum Posts Feed
Is Semantics search the end of 'information organization'?
< Next Topic | Back to topic list | Previous Topic >
Posted by Dellu
Apr 16, 2018 at 06:07 PM
The new technology (https://books.google.com/talktobooks/) arising from Google camp is quite astounding.
A semantics search; new form of technology in action (have been theorized for ages; nobody dared to put into action).
With the advent of new technology capable of searching your “thoughts” rather than mere technical terms that we are inclined to forget, it is becoming quite plausible to get away with the whole idea of organized knowledge.
A nice article on the technology: https://qz.com/1252664/talk-to-books-at-ted-2018-ray-kurzweil-unveils-googles-astounding-new-search-tool-will-answer-any-question-by-reading-thousands-of-books/
Could semantics search replace the whole business of ‘information organization’ or ‘information management’?
What do you guys think?
Posted by Dellu
Apr 16, 2018 at 06:16 PM
I personally tried a couple of searches with the Talk to Books. I am totally impressed with the results.
The only challenge, so far as I can see, is the technology is owned by a corporation that might not have the interest to share it to the good of humans. We cannot rely on a technology that is owned by a greedy company that would be glad to ‘enslave’ us if it can. I feel hopeless on that side.
But, I still feel hopeful that the technology would inspire universities or other public units to develop a similar open system (semantics search) that we all could own and use.
Posted by Paul Korm
Apr 16, 2018 at 08:01 PM
The latest incarnation of a Memex, perhaps?
Semantic search has been around for a while. It depends on the quality or robustness of the search algorithm and the quality and breadth of the corpus that is searched. Since Google has invested billions in accumulating a massive corpus, it would be hard for a “benign” academic institution to catch up.
You might be interested in some of the research published in this area through the ACM (Association of Computing Machinery), which has a number of SIGs specializing in semantic computing, search, hypertext, and related fields.
Posted by bartb
Apr 19, 2018 at 04:29 PM
I don’t know if it could be a replacement. But it would be a great tool to add to the KM toolbox.
Posted by Dellu
Apr 19, 2018 at 06:01 PM
Paul Korm wrote:
>You might be interested in some of the research published in this area
>through the ACM (Association of Computing Machinery), which has a number
>of SIGs specializing in semantic computing, search, hypertext, and
>related fields.
Thank you. I am totally unaware of the academic literature on this. I am checking it out.